The Eye as the Window to Brain Science: Fields of Neuroscience Created from Eye Research
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensory and Motor Neuroscience".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 41
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The visual system has long provided a valuable entry point to studying the mechanisms underlying brain systems, significantly advancing multiple fields within neuroscience, and has fostered new methodologies for the exploration of neuronal structures and their functions, driving innovation across the sciences. The scientific exploration of the visual system can be traced back to pivotal inventions, such as the 1851 invention of the ophthalmoscope and the formulation of the Young–Helmholtz trichromatic theory of color vision, a century before we had proof of the three color cones. The model, which elucidates the red–green–blue basis of color vision, has become foundational for understanding sensory system functions, spearheading the field of psychophysics and influencing visual artists as well as contemporary technologies such as flat-panel displays. It is fascinating that the artistic techniques of the pointillists and the display technologies of smartphones both leverage this trichromatic theory.
It was the establishment, in the 1960s, of neurobiology programs at Johns Hopkins and Harvard that caused an explosion of research into the working of the visual system, as the eye provided a window to examining mechanisms used throughout the brain, but was accessible and had an easily controlled stimulus. This quickly led to the creation of numerous new fields of study, laying the groundwork for much neuroscience research, with the next decades unlocking retinal neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and neurophysiology, which profoundly shaped these fields and led directly to a rise in developmental neurobiology research and AI-based evaluation of fundus images in disease.
The reports in this Special Issue examine key areas of visual system research that illuminate various domains within brain sciences. We categorize six distinct fields, each of which has fostered significant advancements in neuroscience, ranging from those that were prominent half a century ago to areas emerging in recent years. The common thread connecting these disciplines is their intellectual heritage. We explore the impact of vision research across the following fields of neuroscience: sensory system function, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, developmental neurobiology, and neurological health and disease.
Dr. George Ayoub
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- sensory system functions
- neuroanatomy
- neurochemistry
- neurophysiology
- developmental neurobiology
- neurological health and disease
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