Image of the Week

Light and Darkness

  • Published26 Sep 2017
  • Reviewed26 Sep 2017
  • Author Charlie Wood
  • Source BrainFacts/SfN
Image of a Ganglion
Richard Wingate, Wellcome Images.

When light from this image hits the light-sensitive cells in your retina, those cells translate that physical information into the electric language of the brain. Shortly after, retinal ganglion cells (like the hamster version pictured above) relay those signals deep into your brain’s visual processing center. Retinal ganglion cells live in the retina for easy information gathering, but their long axons braid together to form the optic nerve, which ferries visual signals to the brain’s core for processing.

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