About the Eye and the Brain

 About the Eye and the Brain 

By Tom Stevens

Humans are very visual animals...we use our sense of sight to interpret much of the world around us. What we see is called "light." However, what we see is really only a small part of the entire "electromagnetic spectrum."    

What happens in the eye?  

The light comes in through the lens. The photoreceptors in the curved retina are activated. The information travels from them to the optic nerve. The two optic nerves send signals to the brain.   So what also happens?  

Our eyeball distorts the image because the retina is curved

and Our eye lens inverts the image.  

also   Each eye has a blind spot at the back of the eye where the retina’s photoreceptors are blocked by the optic nerve. This blind spot is as large as the palm of your hand when your arm is outstretched.    

Our two eyes double the image.    

The two optic nerves send this to the brain. This is what our brain does...  

Straightens the distortion, flips the image upright, focuses the two images into one, makes the image three dimensional, and fills in the blind spot. Pretty Amazing!  

Tom Stevens is an artist who works in oil, inks, archival pigment prints, mixed media, and sculpture. See more of his work here.

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