A new Yale School of Medicine (YSM) study has uncovered surprising new details about how our eyes process what we see. When we look at something, our visual system breaks down different aspects of the scene—such as color, contrast, and motion—and processes those components separately. It’s called parallel visual processing and it’s what allows our brains to work out what we’re seeing so quickly.

This separation of information starts in the retina, and scientists have thought that separation is maintained as the information travels through the visual system. But in a study published in Neuron, researchers have found that information channels are more integrated than previously thought. This may help cells process weak visual signals, such as low-light conditions, the researchers say.

“We found that while different channels can deliver their own features, they’re also interconnected by underlying electrical circuitry,” says Yao Xue, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the department of ophthalmology and visual science at YSM and the study’s first author.