Parvocellular Neurons

Definition

The parvocellular pathway is one of three primary visual pathways (magnocellular, parvocellular, and koniocellular pathways) traveling subcortically from the retina to visual cortex via the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Cells in the parvocellular pathway (P pathway) are specialized for detecting color. Information from the P pathway is thought to feed primarily into the ventral visual stream (i.e., to visual association cortex in the temporal lobe). Experimental ablation of the P pathway results in the loss of color vision, as well as impairments in the perception of fine detailed texture and shape analysis.

Current Knowledge

Of the three major visual streams in the primate visual system, the parvocellular and magnocellular (M) pathways have received a great deal of investigation, while less is known about koniocellular (K) pathway, which has only recently been discovered. In general, the M and P pathways are considered to be independent systems, each serving distinct...