Receptive field

Imagine you have a special device that can detect different colors and shapes on a piece of paper. This is like your eye or a neuron in your brain. Now imagine you want to know what is the biggest shape you can detect with this device.

To figure this out, you start looking at different parts of the paper with your device. Each time you do this, you notice that the device only detects colors and shapes in a specific area, and everything outside of that area is ignored.

This area that your device can detect is called its receptive field. It's like a little window that only looks at a small part of the paper. Just like your eye can only see what's in front of it and not behind your head, a neuron can only detect information that falls within its receptive field.

So, when we talk about receptive fields in the brain, we are referring to the specific area of the brain that a neuron is able to detect information from. This is important because it helps us understand how the brain processes different types of information and how it creates our perception of the world around us.