The Neuroscience Of FMRI: Unlocking the Mysteries of The Visual System

Researchers have started using the fMRI visual system and MRI ambience to map out the changes that take place in our brains when we see the visual world. The FMRI system produces images based on the small activities that happen in our brains whenever new visual information is received. At the same time, the MRI ambience gives patients a peaceful experience to get more accurate results. With the help of neuroscience, these four mysteries revolving around our visual system have been solved.

Optical Illusions

• Did you know that most things you see are made up by your brain?  
• Our minds subconsciously bind our expectations of reality to what we perceive. Past experiences then fill the gaps created. 
• The neuroscience of the fMRI visual system helps in navigating the activities of the brain, and it has been speculated that this illusion is created in the visual cortex. 
• Another study has revealed that a small part of our brain lights up whenever we look at an image of a person, but this does not happen when we look at materialistic objects or other animals. 
• Thus, our visual system is not wholly responsible for what we see; our mind creates a visual representation of the world.

Stability of visual world

• Have you ever wondered how we can focus on one object despite being bombarded with visual information? This is because the brain selectively processes the information that is relevant to us. 
• The rudimentary part of our brain that receives, perceives, and processes visual information is the visual cortex.
• There are 4000 neurons in the first layer of the visual cortex for every 10 lateral geniculate nuclei. The brain constantly does its job as a visual processor to calculate and process the information received by the visual cortex to provide a stable and precise image of the visible world.

Butterfly effect

• For many decades, the research model of the visual cortex was based on the conception that information flows unilaterally. 
• However, recent studies have reported that the visual cortex is a swirling feedback loop that is layered upon layers.
•  This feedback produces an effect called the butterfly effect. For instance, you can replay an incident multiple times in your mind to comprehend the situation more clearly. 
• The changes that happen in LGN amplify the feedback loop into a process known as “recurrent excitation”, building a perception level that no computing machine has ever achieved.

Gamma Rhythms

• The astonishing discovery in three research papers published in 2018 revealed that the visual system produces gamma rhythms, oscillations of low energy (30–100 Hz frequency), which are generated by the firing of neurons in wide cortical circuits. 
• Regulation of body temperature and brain organization are processed by these rhythms. 
• Gamma rhythms are connected to our drowsiness, sleep patterns, and dreams. Hence, we see visual dreams in our subconscious state of REM sleep because of the gamma rhythms produced by our visual system.

MRI Compatible Transport