How Do You See?

How Do You See? You see because waves of light strike objects around you and bounce back to your eyes. The light passes through the pupil of the eye and forms a picture on the retina.

The retina is a special layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye. The light pattern stimulates the cells of the retina. These cells send a “picture message” to the visual center of the brain – and you see!

Do you know that the picture received on the retina is upside down? But your brain translates the messages from the nerve cells in your eyes into a picture that is right side up.

We don’t ‘see’ with our eyes – we actually ‘see’ with our brains, and it takes time for the world to arrive there.

Our eyes collect visual information and begin this complex process. They take in tons of information about the world around you — shapes, colors, movements, and more.

Then they send the information to your brain for processing so the brain knows what’s going on outside of your body. You can see that the eye’s pretty amazing.

What is the most important part of the eye? The cornea helps the eye focus as light makes its way through. It is a very important part of the eye, but you can hardly see it because it’s made of clear tissue. Like clear glass, the cornea gives your eye a clear window to view the world through.

Content for this question contributed by Jennifer Rymarski, resident of Ware, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA