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The idea that the picture in our heads is not located in a particular place in our brains, but is the rather the result of patterns of activity across the neocortex makes sense. The act of seeing involves a host of different neuronal signals that then require either conscious, or subconscious (or both) interpretation. Upon reaching the fovea, the image must be determined and isolated from several photoreceptor cells (cones and rods). This act alone involves multiple cortical visual areas within the neocortex, which takes this sequence of information and allows the brain to generate the picture in our heads. This sequence of neural networks, that begins with the retina, made me wonder about the existence of other types of vision.

            In this sense, I do not mean to refer to the types of vision that result from structural defects in the eyes (such as myopia (shortsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism ( a misshaped, asymmetrical lens)). Rather, I’m curious about how the brain is able to precisely locate and distinguish one’s “objectivity” in reference to our environment. In my experiences with roller hockey, for example, it seems to me that players use three main types of vision; identification, association and peripheral.  Identification provides the picture that allows one to determine the context and content of the environment. For example, this picture allows a hockey player to identify the puck from the floor. Subsequently, association with past experience allows the brain to take the picture produced by identification to locate the object with in the environment (depth perception, i.e. how close is the puck to the boards?) and thereby, allow for the generation of a proper response. Finally, peripheral vision provides a hockey player with yet another picture, which provides information about one’s immediate surroundings.

            Since this picture from our head is the result of a distributive system, do these types of vision correspond to different regions in the brain? Moreover, how many types of vision do we actually possess with in our neocortex?