visual perception visual perception visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the visible spectrum reflected by objects in the environment. this is different from visual acuity, which refers to how clearly a person sees (for example "20/20 vision"). a person can have problems with visual perceptual processing even if they have 20/20 vision. part of a series onpsychology outline history subfields basic types abnormal behavioral behavioral genetics biological cognitive/cognitivism comparative cross-cultural cultural developmental differential evolutionary experimental mathematical neuropsychology personality positive psychodynamic psychometrics quantitative social applied psychology applied behavior analysis clinical community consumer counseling critical educational environmental ergonomics food forensic health humanistic industrial and organizational legal medical military music occupational health political psychometrics religion school sport traffic lists disciplines organizations psychologists psychotherapies research methods theories timeline topics psychology portal the resulting perception is also known as vision, sight, or eyesight (adjectives visual, optical, and ocular, respectively). the various physiological components involved in vision are referred to collectively as the visual system, and are the focus of much research in linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and molecular biology, collectively referred to as vision science. visual system main article: visual system in humans and a number of other mammals, light enters the eye through the cornea and is focused by the lens onto the retina, a light-sensitive membrane at the back of the eye. the retina serves as a transducer for the conversion of light into neuronal signals. this transduction is achieved by specialized photoreceptive cells of the retina, also known as the rods and cones, which detect the photons of light and respond by producing neural impulses. these signals are transmitted by the optic nerve, from the retina upstream to central ganglia in the brain. the lateral geniculate nucleus, which transmits the information to the visual cortex. signals from the retina also travel directly from the retina to the superior colliculus. the lateral geniculate nucleus sends signals to primary visual cortex, also called striate cortex. extrastriate cortex, also called visual association cortex is a set of cortical structures, that receive information from striate cortex, as well as each other. recent descriptions of visual association cortex describe a division into two functional pathways, a ventral and a dorsal pathway. this conjecture is known as the two streams hypothesis. the human visual system is generally believed to be sensitive to visible light in the range of wavelengths between 370 and 730 nanometers (0.00000037 to 0.00000073 meters) of the electromagnetic spectrum. however, some research suggests that humans can perceive light in wavelengths down to 340 nanometers (uv-a), especially the young. under optimal conditions these limits of human perception can extend to 310 nm (uv) to 1100 nm (nir). study