PSYCH 1XX3 Chapter Notes - Chapter module: Optic Chiasm, Retina, Amacrine Cell
6 Apr 2016
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Retina paper-thin sheet that covers back of the eye, made up of a complex network of neural cells in 3 dif. layers. Back layer = where photoreceptors are (translate physical stimulus of light into neural signal that brain can understand. They are located at the back because they get their nutrients from an area at the back of the eye called retinal pigment epithelium. Optic disk has no photoreceptors and is basically our blind spot. Light enters eye, passes ganglion and bipolar cells, and then must hit photoreceptors on retina at the back of the eye. At this point light is converted to a neural signal that"s sent from the receptors to bipolar cells, and on to ganglion cells, whose axons make up the optic nerve. Horizontal cells and amacrine cells allow areas in retinal layer to communicate with each other. *some visual processing is done in the retina before signal reaches brain.
