Click on an area of the brain for a description of what it is and what it does.

Visual stimulus - something in the environment that will evoke a response from the visual system; light energy, photons.

Optic nerve - (or optic tract) Cranial nerve II, bundle of axons from the ganglion cells of the retina that carries visual information to the brain.

Lateral geniculate nucleus - thalamic nucleus that receives incoming visual information.

Optic radiation - Neural pathway from each lateral geniculate nucleus to the primary visual cortex or striate cortex.

Visual cortex - Also called the striate cortex, it is the region of the occipital lobe of the cerebral hemispheres in which primary visual information is processed.

Visual association cortex - Association areas occupy large areas on the surface of the brain and integrate information from diverse sensory and/or motor regions. The visual association area lies anterior to the visual cortex.

Frontal cortex - In vertebrates, the anterior portion of the cerebral hemisphere. Contains the primary motor cortex and the prefrontal cortex.

Motor cortex - The region of the cortex that is devoted to control of motor neurons innervating somatic muscles; includes primary motor cortex, the premotor cortex, and the supplementary motor area.

Thalamus - A subcortical structure, a part of the diencephalon that serves as a relay station for almost all sensory information.

Oculomotor nucleus - Cranial Nerve III, controls most eye muscles.