Visual Pathway Diagram – Retina to Visual Cortex

All 10 parts on the diagram

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Eyes to chiasm 6

Optic nerve The fibers of one eye, from the retina to the chiasm.
Optic chiasm Where the fibers from the two nasal halves cross over.
Left visual field What is seen to the left; the right cortex handles it.
Right visual field What is seen to the right; the left cortex handles it.
Nasal half of the retina The inner half of each retina; its fibers cross at the chiasm.
Temporal half of the retina Each retina's outer half; its fibers do not cross.

Chiasm to cortex 4

Primary visual cortex The strip of occipital lobe where the pathway ends.
Optic tract Fibers for one half of the field, from chiasm to thalamus.
Lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) The relay in the thalamus where the tract’s fibers end.
Optic radiation The fan of fibers from the thalamus back to the cortex.

How this list was compiled: Every name and detail line was checked on 2026-09-30 against Kenhub, Visual pathway, https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/the-visual-pathway; and Wikipedia, Visual system, Optic chiasm, Optic tract, Lateral geniculate nucleus, Optic radiation, Visual cortex and Retina, text only. Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry. Own original drawing; nothing traced or copied. Licence: own work

How it works

This visual pathway diagram shows the eyes and the brain from above, with the optic chiasm labeled on the brain where the fibers cross. One tint marks everything that carries the right half of the visual field, another the left.

Read the full guide

From the field to the chiasm

To label the parts of the visual pathway, start at the top. The left half of the visual field lands on the right half of both retinas, and the right half on the left. Fibers leave each eye in the optic nerve. At the optic chiasm the fibers from the nasal half of each retina cross; those from the temporal half stay on their own side.

From the chiasm to the cortex

After the chiasm each optic tract carries one half of the field from both eyes. It ends in the thalamus's lateral geniculate nucleus. The optic radiation runs from there to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe.

Follow one tint from the bar at the top to the back of the brain: it always ends on the opposite side.
Nasal means toward the nose; temporal means toward the temple.

Questions and answers

What is the order of the visual pathway?

Retina, optic nerve, optic chiasm, optic tract, lateral geniculate nucleus, optic radiation, primary visual cortex. The cortex lies in the occipital lobe, at the back of the brain.

Which fibers cross at the optic chiasm?

Only the fibers from the nasal half of each retina, the half nearer the nose. The fibers from the temporal half do not cross. After the chiasm, each side of the brain receives the opposite half of the visual field from both eyes.

Why does the right side of the brain see the left visual field?

The image on the retina is reversed, so the left half of the field falls on the right half of each retina. The crossing at the chiasm then brings both right halves together in the right optic tract.

Is this the answer key to “label the components of the visual pathway”?

That sentence is a publisher’s labeling activity. This page shows the same components on a drawing of our own, so the layout differs, but the names are the standard ones.