What is the Visual Brain?
Sight is the primary sense through which we perceive the world around us. This is the case as well for most of the animals on earth. Even though our sight as humans not nearly as powerful as that of a hawk or a spider, a large portion of our brains — some say as much as half — is involved in some way with vision. The parts of the brain that help us see objects and tell what they are, are referred to collectively as the visual brain. Most vision takes place in the rear portion of the part of the brain called the cerebrum. This area is what is called the visual brain, and it consists of two equally important halves: the dorsal stream, and the ventral stream. The ventral stream is the lower part of the cerebral cortex between the cerebellum and the brain stem, and in technical terms is known as the inferotemporal cortex. In the ventral stream, visual data from the optic nerves is processed in a way that helps us determine the identity of what it is were are looking at. When we recognize
