Essentially, each eye has an optic nerve that contains two distinct pathways. The first pathway is called the nasal optic nerve. The nasal pathways continue on the same side of the brain via the optic tract to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus. From there, they take the optic radiations all the way back to the visual cortex of the occipital lobe. The other pathway is known as the temporal pathway, which travels back to the optic chiasm. Once at the optic chiasm, crossing over occurs and the pathway proceeds to the opposite side of the brain. It's important to note that the nasal pathways do not overlap the optic chiasm, but the temporal tracts do. What are the two distinct pathways in the optic nerve?
1) Nasal and temporal pathways
2) Nasal and occipital pathways
3) Temporal and occipital pathways
4) Nasal and geniculate pathways