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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology pp 1–5Cite as

Magno-, Parvo-, and Koniocellular Pathways

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Synonyms

Geniculate pathways; M, P, and K pathways; Parallel visual pathways; Retinogeniculate pathways; Retinogeniculocortical pathways

Definition

Magno-, parvo-, and koniocellular pathways are the three visual pathways in primates. These pathways are established at the level of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus. They are formed of morphologically distinct cellular layers that receive information from different types of retinal ganglion cells and project to different layers in the primary visual cortex.

Anatomical Considerations

The LGN layers of each of the three visual pathways have a specific cytoarchitectonic structure. The names of the pathways are derived from these structural characteristics [1, 2]. Magnocellular (M) cells have relatively large bodies (lat. Magnus: large), parvocellular (P) cells have smaller bodies (lat. Parvus: small), while koniocellular (K) cells (gr. Konios: dust) are very small.

As can be seen in Fig. 1, structural differences between...

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Jasna Martinovic

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  1. Jasna Martinovic
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Correspondence to Jasna Martinovic .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Color Science & Imaging Lab, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Renzo Shamey

Section Editor information

  1. Color research & application, Pennsville, NJ, USA

    Rolf Kuehni

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Martinovic, J. (2019). Magno-, Parvo-, and Koniocellular Pathways. In: Shamey, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_278-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_278-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Magno-, Parvo-, and Koniocellular Pathways
    Published:
    14 September 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_278-2

  2. Original

    Magno-, Parvo-, Koniocellular Pathways
    Published:
    21 September 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_278-1

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