page_title: Visual cortex
section_title: Primary visual cortex (V1)
hierarchical_section_title: Visual cortex / Primary visual cortex (V1)
caption_attribution_description: English: Low magnification micrograph of visual cortex. LFB stain. Related images Drawings of the cerebral cortex.
context_page_description: The visual cortex of the brain is that part of the cerebral cortex which processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Visual information coming from the eyes passes through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus and then reaches the visual cortex. The part of the visual cortex that receives the sensory inputs from the thalamus is the primary visual cortex, also known as visual area 1, and the striate cortex. The extrastriate areas consist of visual areas 2, 3, 4, and 5.
  Both hemispheres of the brain contain a visual cortex; the visual cortex in the left hemisphere receives signals from the right visual field, and the visual cortex in the right hemisphere receives signals from the left visual field.
context_section_description: The primary visual cortex is the most studied visual area in the brain. In mammals, it is located in the posterior pole of the occipital lobe and is the simplest, earliest cortical visual area. It is highly specialized for processing information about static and moving objects and is excellent in pattern recognition.
  The functionally defined primary visual cortex is approximately equivalent to the anatomically defined striate cortex.  The name "striate cortex" is derived from the line of Gennari, a distinctive stripe visible to the naked eye that represents myelinated axons from the lateral geniculate body terminating in layer 4 of the gray matter.
  The primary visual cortex is divided into six functionally distinct layers, labeled 1 to 6. Layer 4, which receives most visual input from the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), is further divided into 4 layers, labelled 4A, 4B, 4Cα, and 4Cβ. Sublamina 4Cα receives mostly magnocellular input from the LGN, while layer 4Cβ receives input from parvocellular pathways.
  The average number of neurons in the adult human primary visual cortex in each hemisphere has been estimated at around 140 million.
caption: Micrograph showing the visual cortex (pink). The pia mater and arachnoid mater including blood vessels are seen at the top of the image.  Subcortical white matter (blue) is seen at the bottom of the image. HE-LFB stain.
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