Koniocellular Pathway Explanation
The koniocellular pathway is also known as the K-pathway. It connects the retina to the thalamus. Some researchers have suggested that visual attention and object recognition are functions of the pathway responsible for processing chromatic (color) information (Fernandez & Solomon, 2018). The firing speed of light-sensitive cells on the K-pathway is lower, which makes them known as “off cells”. In the dark, these cells become active, aiding in the detection of visual contrasts and edges (Fernandez & Solomon, 2018). Alternately, the “on” cells in K-pathway are those that fire faster when they see light. When exposed to light, these cells become active and contribute to the detection of brightness and color (Fernandez & Solomon, 2018). Photoreceptor cells in the retina called S-cones are sensitive to short-wavelength (blue) light and provide inputs to both “off” and “on” cells in the K-pathway (Fernandez & Solomon, 2018). Furthermore, the receptive fields of K-pathway cells, which are the regions of the visual field to which a certain cell is sensitive, are heart-shaped (Fernandez & Solomon, 2018). Cont…