Lab 1 - Overview of the Nervous System
Cerebral Lobes - Occipital Lobe
The most important function of the occipital lobe in humans is in processing visual information. On the lateral surface of the hemisphere find the lateral occipital gyri. On the medial surface note the prominent and deep calcarine fissure. The calcarine fissure separates the occipital lobe into two parts: 1) lingual gyrus (inferior part), and 2) cuneus (superior part). The visual (also known as calcarine) cortex consists of the gyri that lie on either side of the calcarine fissure. In the visual cortex of each hemisphere, there is a representation of the contralateral half of the visual world. This representation is like that of the motor and somatosensory cortices, and has a topographic organization that provides a spatial map of the visual field.
