Synonyms
Definition
The dorsal pathway is a visual system that stretches from the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe to the posterior parietal cortex. Also known as “where” or “how” stream, it seems to be responsible for the location of objects in space and for the guidance of actions (Binkofski and Buxbaum 2013). It has been defined as anatomically and functionally separated from another pathway, known as “what” stream, which is located in a more ventral position and has been related to perception of objects.
Structural Organization of Visual System
To understand the anatomy and functionality of these two pathways, we must first know the way in which the visual system is organized. More specifically, it is necessary to understand how visual information flows from the retina to the visual cortex and what visual mechanisms exist in the cerebral cortex.
Visual Processing from Retina to Visual Cortex
The specialization of the ventral and dorsal pathways described...
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Recio, L.A. (2022). Dorsal Pathway. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_1235
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