How does the brain create an uninterrupted view of the world? (2024)

By: Julia Layton|Updated: Jun 9, 2023

If you've ever made your own movie using a camcorder, you've probably noticed that the picture can be pretty shaky as you move from one image to the next. In all but the steadiest hands, there's an unstable transition between one focused object and the next. But for most of us, our eyes -- the video cameras of our brain, if you will -- suffer no unstable transition as they move quickly over a scene. The world remains stable no matter how quickly or erratically we change our focus.

Scientists have known about and even understood this phenomenon for decades. To achieve a stable view despite quick eye movements, the eyes do an amazing thing: They take before and after shots of every focused image and compare them in order to confirm stability. That sounds a little complicated, but the process itself is pretty straightforward (and ingenious): Before your eyes actually sense an object, your brain takes its own picture of that object for comparison purposes. It knows where your eyes are going to move next, and it forms an image of the object that precedes our conscious, visual perception of it. Then, when our eyes do perceive that object in a sensory way (meaning we can see it), our brain has already laid the framework for a smooth transition. There's no shakiness and no instability. The brain has anticipated what our eyes are going to see, and it uses that anticipatory image for comparison to make sure the world has indeed remained stable in the split-second between the before shot and the after shot.

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So the process is in the books. But scientists have spent at least 50 years trying to find out how the brain manages this feat. A study published in the online edition of the journal Nature offers insight into the mechanism that lets our brain see what our eyes are going to see before our eyes even see it. Scientists believe they have found a neural pathway that may explain the brain's anticipation of our eye movements. (Neurons are the message carriers in the brain. They form pathways that carry signals from one part of the brain to another.)

Before we can understand exactly how this process works, we need to know a little about the various parts of the brain. Read on to learn more.

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Parts of the Brain

How does the brain create an uninterrupted view of the world? (2)

Before we get to the pathway itself, let's define a few of the major brain areas the study reports as being involved in conveying the information:

  • Midbrain: The midbrain links the parts of the brain that control motor functions and voluntary ear and eye actions.
  • Thalamus: The thalamus receives sensory information (coming in from the ears and eyes) and passes it on to the area of the brain that handles that particular sensory data. It also assists in the exchange of motor (movement) information between various parts of the brain.
How does the brain create an uninterrupted view of the world? (3)
  • Motor cortex: The motor cortex is involved in controlling voluntary movements, like eye movements.

The thalamus is located in the somatic sensory cortex, and the motor cortex is in the frontal lobe. The visual cortex delivers data to the sensory cortex telling it what our eyes are perceiving, and the sensory cortex interprets it.

What the study discovered is a pathway between the motor cortex and the visual cortex that activates visual neurons before the eye itself actually moves. According to one of the study's authors, Marc Sommer of the University of Pittsburgh, a signal from the motor cortex tells the visual cortex to shift its focus to where the eye is planning to move next. This neural pathway starts in the midbrain, which has access to data from the motor cortex related to eye movement.

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This data indicates what the eye is about to do next -- it's a copy of the signal the motor cortex is sending to the visual cortex to tell the eye to move. Neurons in the midbrain pass that information on to the thalamus, which sends the information to neurons in the visual cortex, telling them to shift their "perception window" to match the upcoming command. The new, unperceived image from the shifted window arrives at the somatic sensory cortex, where it is soon joined by the visual image perceived by that same shift a moment later. When the somatic sensory cortex interprets the visual signal coming in from the primary visual cortex, it compares it to the prior view of the same scene. As long as both views are the same, it interprets "stability" and simply filters out any shakiness in the transition from one visual image to another.

The study's authors expect this finding to lead to further understanding of other uninterrupted sensory transitions, such as the constant perception of sound that occurs even as you turn your head in different directions.

For more information on the brain and sensory perception, take a look at the links on the next page.

Frequently Answered Questions

How does your brain keep track of everything you see?

The brain keeps track of everything we see by storing visual information in our memory.

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More Great Links

  • Sommer, MA, Wurtz, RH. "Influence of the thalamus on spatial visual processing in frontal cortex." Nature. Nov. 8, 2006.http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/index.html
  • Bryner, Jeanna. "New study reveals the brain's ‘steady cam’." MSNBC.com. Nov. 10, 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15654780/
  • "A 'steady cam' in brain helps us see straight." The Times of India. Nov. 12, 2006. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/420311.cms

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How does the brain create an uninterrupted view of the world? (2024)

FAQs

How does the brain create an uninterrupted view of the world? ›

When the somatic sensory cortex interprets the visual signal coming in from the primary visual cortex, it compares it to the prior view of the same scene. As long as both views are the same, it interprets "stability" and simply filters out any shakiness in the transition from one visual image to another.

How does our brain make sense of the world? ›

The brain can be viewed as a modelling machine. It takes in information from the senses and from internal information, and constructs a continuous world model, including the self and the representation of the body.

How the brain constructs our perceptions of the world? ›

The Perceptual Process

For example, receptors in the retina transform the light refracted off the object into electrical impulses. These electrical signals are then transmitted from one neuron to the next and are processed. From this, a conscious sensory experience – perception – occurs.

How do our brains reconstruct the visual world? ›

From infancy, our brain learns how to construct a three-dimensional en- vironment by interpreting visual sensory signals like shape, size, and occlusion, how objects that are close obstruct the view of ob- jects farther away.

How does our brain create reality? ›

Because our brains are structured to construct categories based on the function of things rather than what they look like, or taste like, or smell like, humans can create something called 'Social reality,' which is where we collectively impose a function on objects that the objects don't have by virtue of their ...

How does the brain make connections to the real world? ›

Neurons have many thin projections extending from the cell body, called dendrites and axons (Figure 1). In general, dendrites receive signals from the outside world or from other neurons, and axons send signals to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

How do we sense and perceive the world? ›

Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. It also includes what is known as proprioception, which is a set of senses that enable us to detect changes in body position and movement. Many stimuli surround us at any given moment.

How does the brain generate thoughts? ›

Practice and repetition create skills

When you have a thought, neurons in your brain fire up and create electrical impulses. These impulses tend to travel along similar pathways and release tiny chemicals called neurotransmitters along the way.

How does the brain hallucinate our reality? ›

Your brain, he reveals, hallucinates your reality. The way things seem is just your mind's best guess at what is going on – a best guess influenced both by evolution and by your own personal history. These factors are deeply embedded in the functioning of the visual system to shape your perception.

What role does the brain play in perception? ›

Perception is highly selective; the brain constantly decides what information is important enough to reach our consciousness. An international team of researchers has now shed light on brain activities associated with subjective perceptual shifts, finding characteristic patterns of brain waves in the prefrontal cortex.

How does the brain create vision? ›

The visual cortex is one of the most-studied parts of the mammalian brain, and it is here that the elementary building blocks of our vision – detection of contrast, colour and movement – are combined to produce our rich and complete visual perception.

How do we perceive the world visually? ›

Visual perception involves the input of visual information via the optic nerve and associated activation of other brain structures and circuits that produce behaviors in response to perceived images.

What creates reality? ›

Consciousness, which emerges from the exchange of information via chemical and electrical signals in the brain, allows life to have a notion of awareness of its environment. The brain, the most complex piece of matter in the known universe, creates reality.

How does the brain see the world? ›

A part of the brain called the visual cortex is responsible for vision. The brain contains over 100 billion brain cells called neurons, and they work in “levels” to help you see the world—from a basic level in which you perceive simple shapes up to higher levels where you understand complex patterns.

How does the subconscious mind create reality? ›

The same thought-energy that permeates everything in the universe also flows through you. Each time you think or feel, you shape the nature of the thought-energy that surrounds you and flows through you—thereby contributing to the creation of your reality.

How does the brain perceive virtual reality? ›

Their sight, hearing, smell and touch are absent from the real world thus the brain thinks the virtual world is real. Because of this the cells take in information and create “schemas” that impact how students will react to a real-world environment.

How do humans make sense of the world? ›

The dynamics of psychology — cognition, perception, learning, emotion, attitudes and relationships — all play a significant role in how humans see themselves and the many elements in their environment.

How does your brain make sense of your environment? ›

Sensory stimuli from the eyes, ears, and such are converted to electrical signals and then transmitted to the relevant parts of the sensory cortex that process these inputs and induce perception.

How does the brain help the sense organs in sensing the world? ›

Specialized cells and tissues within these organs receive raw stimuli and translate them into signals the nervous system can use. Nerves relay the signals to the brain, which interprets them as sight (vision), sound (hearing), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and touch (tactile perception).

How does the brain know everything? ›

The brain sends and receives chemical and electrical signals throughout the body. Different signals control different processes, and your brain interprets each.

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