Human retina has built-in "clockwork" to synchronize visual signals

Visual signals from neighboring retinal cells can travel vastly different distances to reach the brain - and yet we don't see a scrambled, delayed picture. New research from IOB Basel reveals why: the retina itself synchronizes these signals before they leave the eye.

Published in Nature Neuroscience, the study shows that retinal nerve fibers with longer paths develop larger diameters, allowing faster signal transmission. This "axonal tuning" reduces timing differences to mere milliseconds, ensuring all visual information arrives at the brain simultaneously.

The discovery challenges assumptions that the brain alone coordinates visual timing. Instead, the eye acts as its own sophisticated timing mechanism - revealing fundamental principles about how our nervous system achieves temporal precision.