Invertebrate Visual Centers and Behavior II. PDF Download

Author: Hansjochem Autrum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Invertebrates
Languages : en
Pages : 688

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Author: David M. Hunt
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1461443555
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Photopigments are molecules that react to light and mediate a number of processes and behaviours in animals. Visual pigments housed within the photoreceptors of the eye, such as the rods and cones in vertebrates are the best known, however, visual pigments are increasingly being found in other tissues, including other retinal cells, the skin and the brain. Other closely related molecules from the G protein family, such as melanopsin mediate light driven processes including circadian rhythmicity and pupil constriction. This Volume examines the enormous diversity of visual pigments and traces the evolution of these G protein coupled receptors in both invertebrates and vertebrates in the context of the visual and non-visual demands dictated by a species’ ecological niche.

Author: H. Autrum
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364269425X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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When seen from an outsider's vantage point, the development of knowledge in the sensory sciences must appear massive and the result of some carefully followed master plan. In reality, it is the result of numerous relatively independent human endeavors shaped by application of the scientific method. The comprehensive construction of quantitative theories of sense organ function has occurred only recently -but at an explosive rate prefaced by centuries of expansion in the physical sciences. Predicated on this growth, the twentieth century may become known as the age of the biological sciences. With the exception of a modest number of intellectual giants, there were few contributors to the foundations of the sensory sciences before the dawn of this century. At least 90% of existing knowledge has been produced by scientists working in laboratories founded since 1920. If any single scientist and his laboratory may be identified with the growth in the sensory sciences, it is EDGAR DOUGLAS ADRIAN, First Baron of Cambridge and leader of the Physiological Laboratory at Cambridge University, England. Lord ADRIAN'S influence upon the sensory sciences was great, not only in terms of his contribution to knowledge itself but also through the influence which he exerted upon numerous young scientists who spent weeks or years at the Cambridge laboratory and who later returned to their homelands and colleagues with the seeds of vigorous research and quantitative inquiry firmly implanted.

Author: H. Collewijn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642816274
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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The invitation to contribute a volume to the series Studies in Brain Func tion offers me a welcome opportunity for a comprehensive presentation of my research on the eye movements of the rabbit, and for a review of the older results in the perspectives offered by the progress of my own work, but even more of the field in general. Characteristically this monograph em phasizes the views of the author, which may not always be generally accept ed. Although connections with the work by other investigators are discussed as much as possible, I have not attempted to be complete in reviewing all publications related to oculomotor function in the rabbit. While presenting an overview of current understanding of a system, it is always wise to trace the historical roots of our knowledge and concepts. On the one hand, we may find that many established concepts derive their strength more from convention and convenience than from rigorous evi dence. Such traditional ideas should be challenged by critical experiments, using the best available techniques. On the other hand, some of the older publications remain a source of inspiration, because they contain valid ideas which generate fruitful experiments even today. A remarkable example of this category is Ter Braak's work on optokinetic nystagmus, published in 1936.

Author: Cloe Taddei-ferretti
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814545740
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Visual cognition is an important area of biocybernetics. It ranges from the filtering processes of early vision to the structural and functional organization of the visual centres, as well as, in higher animals, to the neuronal plasticity, the decision-making rules, the effect of noise, the role of attention, the ambiguity of patterns, and the time dimension. All these factors contribute to the cognitive interpretation of visual sensation that takes place in visual perception. A side field is machine vision, in which the signal processing known from animal vision is applied to the mobile robots responding to light stimulation.

Author: John Ashton
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 1614580847
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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The "argument" that reads like a conversation about life! Is there archaeological evidence for the New Testament? Did the universe "hatch" from a "cosmic egg"? What does the fossil record imply about the existence of God? Is design inferred by the existence of information? Since the Enlightenment, spirited debates about the existence of God have captured the public's imagination. Scholars, philosophers, and scientists have grappled with the "evidence" that God exists, or doesn't. Today, some of the world's best minds - in a variety of disciplines - grapple with whether there is any real purpose to our lives. Yet not only do many scientists believe in the God who created us with purpose, they also understand that what we do in the here and now has consequences in the next life. John Ashton has compiled a group of essayists who specialize in fields such as archaeology, astronomy, biblical scholarship, and more. The result is a fascinating exploration of an age-old question, sure to intrigue believers and skeptics alike.

Author: Ian Woiwood
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 9780851997810
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
Knowledge of insect movement, particularly of flight, is crucial to our understanding of the great ecological and evolutionary success of insects. The last 20 years have seen many advances in this subject area. New fields have arisen, such as metapopulation theory, and dramatic developments have taken place in methods of studying movement, as a result of new techniques in molecular biology and radar monitoring. There have also been advances in our knowledge of flight-related physiology and behaviour. This book, which is based on the main papers presented at the Royal Entomological Society's 20th Symposium held in September 1999, brings us up to date with these developments.It contains chapters on:flight mechanismsforaging movementsmigrationthe evolution of movement strategiesthe interactions between dispersal rates, population structure and gene flow the effects of climate change on geographical distributionIt is essential reading for entomologists, and of interest to those researching animal behaviour, physiology, ecology and genetics.

Author: Gábor Horváth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662093871
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
The subject of this volume is two-fold. First, it gathers typical polarization patterns occurring in nature. Second, it surveys the polarization-sensitive ani mals, the physiological mechanisms and biological functions of polarization sensitivity as weIl as the polarization-guided behaviour in animals. The monograph is prepared for biologists, physicists and meteorologists, espe cially for experts of atmospheric optics and animal vision, who wish to under stand and reveal the message hidden in polarization patterns of the optical environment not directly accessible to the human visual system, but measur able by polarimetry and perceived by many animals. Our volume is an attempt to build a bridge between these two physical and biological flelds. In Part I we introduce the reader to the elements of imaging polarimetry. This technique can be efflciently used, e. g. in atmospheric optics, remote sens ing and biology. In Part 11 we deal with typical polarization patterns of the natural optical environment. Sunrise/sunset, clear skies, cloudy skies, moonshine and total solar eclipses all mean quite different illumination conditions, wh ich also affect the spatial distribution and strength of celestial polarization. We pre sent the polarization patterns of the sky and its unpolarized (neutral) points under sunlit, moonlit, clear, cloudy and eclipsed conditions as a function of solar elevation. The polarization pattern of a rainbow is also shown. That part of the spectrum is derived in which perception of skylight polarization is optimal under partly cloudy skies.

Author: E. Zrenner
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642876064
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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"To explain all nature is too difficult a task for anyone man or even for anyone age. Tis much better to do a little with certainty, and leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things ... " Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) This book describes and discusses some new aspects of col or vision in primates which have emerged from a series of experiments conducted over the past 8 years both on single ganglion cells in monkey retina and on the visually evoked cortical potential in man: corresponding psychophysical mechanisms of human perception will be considered as well. An attempt will be made to better understand the basic mechanisms of color vision using a more comprehensive approach which takes into account new mechanisms found in single cells and relates them to those found valid for the entire visual system. The processing of color signals was followed up from the retina to the visual cortex and to the percepq.tal centers, as far as the available techniques permitted.

Author: Greg Stuart
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191062472
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 737

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Book Description
Dendrites are complex neuronal structures that receive and integrate synaptic input from other nerve cells. They therefore play a critical role in brain function. Although dendrites were discovered over a century ago, due to the development of powerful new techniques there has been a dramatic resurgence of interest in the properties and function of these beautiful structures. This is the third edition of the first book devoted exclusively to dendrites. It contains a comprehensive survey of the current state of dendritic research across a wide range of topics, from dendritic morphology, evolution, development, and plasticity through to the electrical, biochemical and computational properties of dendrites, and finally to the key role of dendrites in brain disease. The third edition has been thoroughly revised, with the addition of a number of new chapters and comprehensive updates or rewrites of existing chapters by leading experts. "Dendrites" will be of interest to researchers and students in neuroscience and related fields, as well as to anyone interested in how the brain works.