Figure 2. Locations and Connectivity of Cerebral Cortical Areas of Rhesus Monkey (Macaca mulatta) Involved in Visual Perception.

Because of the similarity of its visual functions to those of humans, the vast knowledge of the organization of its cerebral cortex, and the richness of its behavioral repertoire, the rhesus monkey has been an extremely powerful model for understanding the brain bases of visual perception.

(A) Lateral view of cerebral cortex of rhesus monkey. Front of brain is at right and top of brain is at top of image. Superior temporal sulcus is partially unfolded (dashed line) to show visual cortical areas that lie within. Differently shaded regions identify a subset (visual areas v1, v2, v4, v4t, mt, mst, fst, stp, teo, it) of the nearly three dozen distinct cortical areas involved in the processing of visual information.

(B) Connectivity diagram illustrating a subset of known anatomical projections from retina to primary visual cortex (v1) and up through the inferior temporal (it) cortex. Most projections are bi-directional.

Source: Figure prepared by author.