ABSTRACT.Our knowledge of the visual cortex has increased tremendously over the past ten years based on studies in subhuman primates. Over a dozen separate cortical visual areas have now been described in monkeys (Van Essen and Maunsell 1983). This paper will review our current understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the visual cortex in monkeys and human beings. Specifically, this paper will discuss the striate cortex, and how object recognition, visual motion analysis and visual spatial localization is processed in the extrastriate visual cortex in monkeys and humans.