Devise better ways to prevent and treat vision loss due to amblyopia and strabismus, and to advance medical science by understanding the human visual system. Various Images, Videos and Talks related to the research are available. In the Laboratory for Visual Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco, we are seeking to discover how visual perception occurs in the human brain. The function of the visual system is to guide our behavior by providing an efficient means for the rapid assimilation of information from the environment. As we navigate through our surroundings, a continuous stream of light images impinges on our eyes. In the back of each eye a light-sensitive tissue, the retina, converts patterns of light energy into electrical discharges known as action potentials. These signals are conveyed along the axons of retinal ganglion cells to the lateral geniculate body, a relay nucleus in the thalamus. Most of the output of the lateral geniculate body is relayed directly to the primary visual cortex (striate cortex, V1), and then to surrounding visual association areas. To understand the function of the visual pathways, our research is focused on 5 major themes: * Organization of Primary Visual Cortex * Mapping of Extrastriate Visual Cortex * Amblyopia and Visual Development * Strabismus and Visual Suppression * The Human Visual Cortex

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