The sophistication of the visual cortex can be simplified through understanding that the neurons found in this region are distinguished by the kind of stimulus that each detects.
There are three major groups of feature detectors in visual cortex. These includes simple cells, complex cells and hypercomplex cells. The simple cells are the most specific since it responds to the geometric characteristics of the stimulus such as the lines of particular width, orientation, angle and position within the visual field. The complex cells are similar to simple cells. What differentiates one from the other is that they respond to the proper stimulus in any position within the receptive visual field. In addition, some of the complex cells respond to particular lines or edges moving in a specific direction opposite the receptive field. Lastly, the hypercomplex cells are responsive to the specific length of the lines. It is believed that the information from all feature detectors conjoin in to result in the visual stimulation perception.
