From the optic tract, the tectopulvinar pathway sends neuronal radiations to the superior colliculus in the tectum, then to the lateral posterior-pulvinar thalamic complex.
Furthermore, the tectopulvinar pathway has been suggested to support residual visual perceptual abilities in blindsight patients.
[7] Within the pathway, the superior colliculus functions to orient the viewer’s gaze and attention via eye and head movements towards objects of interest in egocentric space.
[2] The superior colliculus’s role in directing eye movements is especially well-studied: multiple lines of evidence show that artificially blocking and increasing superior colliculus activity modulates (inhibits and biases, respectively) eye saccades to the affected side.
[9] Further studies contend that superior colliculus function encompasses a wide range of behavioral responses such as in arm-reaching, and not just in eye and head movements.