Nerve
Optic nerve (CN II)
Sense of vision
High-yield
Purely sensory (vision); passes through the optic canal. Afferent limb of the pupillary light reflex.
Overview
The second cranial nerve, transmitting visual information from the retina through the optic canal to the brain; it is a CNS tract, not a true peripheral nerve.
Reference facts
- Roots
Special sensory (cranial nerve / CNS tract)
- Course
Retinal ganglion cell axons leave the eye, pass through the optic canal, and partly decussate at the optic chiasm to the lateral geniculate nucleus
- Motor
None
- Sensory
Vision from the retina