Intro | Primary Auditory Cortex | Central Fissure | Frontal Lobe | Lateral Fissure | Primary Motor Cortex | Occipital Lobe | Parietal Lobe | Primary Somatosensory Cortex | Temporal Lobe | Primary Visual Cortex
Part 1: Image-Mapped Tutorial
Part 2: Matching Self-Test
Part 3: Multiple-Choice Self-Test
Primary Visual Cortex is located at the posterior or rear pole of occipital lobe. Visual information is conveyed to this region for the processing and encoding of the visual world. Damage to this region will cause an inability to see in that area of space represented by the damaged neurons.
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Primary visual cortex is also known as striate cortex due to its streaked appearance under the microscope. Projections to this region convey information from the opposite (contralateral) visual field. For example, extensive damage to striate cortex of the left hemisphere will cause blindness in the right visual field (the left side of the world external to the viewer). This is called cortical blindness. Surrounding the primary visual cortex is a secondary area (or prestriate cortex) that contains additional maps of the visual field for encoding some of the more complex aspects of the visual world such as color. More information on visual cortex will be found with Figures 15 and 16.