Visuomotor coordination [proceedings of an International Workshop on Visuomotor Coordination in Amphibians: Experiments, Comparisons, Models and Robots, held August 25-27, 1987, in Kassel, Federal Republic of Germany

Various brain areas of mammals can phyletically be traced back to homologous structures in amphibians. The amphibian brain may thus be regarded as a kind of "microcosm" of the highly complex primate brain, as far as certain homologous structures, sensory functions, and assigned ballistic (pre-planned and pre-pro­ grammed) motor and behavioral processes are concerned. A variety of fundamental operations that underlie perception, cognition, sensorimotor transformation and its modulation appear to proceed in primate's brain in a way understandable in terms of basic principles which can be investigated more easily by experiments in amphibians. We have learned that progress in the quantitative description and evaluation of these principles can be obtained with guidance from theory. Modeling - supported by simulation - is a process of transforming abstract theory derived from data into testable structures. Where empirical data are lacking or are difficult to obtain because of structural constraints, the modeler makes assumptions and approximations that, by themselves, are a source of hypotheses. If a neural model is then tied to empirical data, it can be used to predict results and hence again to become subject to experimental tests whose resulting data in tum will lead to further improvements of the model. By means of our present models of visuomotor coordination and its modulation by state-dependent inputs, we are just beginning to simulate and analyze how external information is represented within different brain structures and how these structures use these operations to control adaptive behavior. Front Matter....Pages i-xxxi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Experimentation and Modeling: An Introductory Discussion....Pages 3-36 Front Matter....Pages 37-37 The Release of Visual Behavior in Toads: Stages of Parallel/Hierarchical Information Processing....Pages 39-120 Visuomotor Coordination: Neural Models and Perceptual Robotics....Pages 121-171 Front Matter....Pages 173-173 Cellular Architecture and Connectivity of the Frog’s Optic Tectum and Pretectum....Pages 175-199 Morphological and Physiological Studies of Tectal and Pretectal Neurons in the Frog....Pages 201-222 Toward an Identification of Neurotransmitters in the Frog’s Optic Tectum....Pages 223-242 Retina and Optic Tectum in Amphibians: A Mathematical Model and Simulation Studies....Pages 243-267 The T5 Base Modulator Hypothesis: A Dynamic Model of T5 Neuron Function in Toads....Pages 269-307 Front Matter....Pages 309-309 Compensation of Visual Background Motion in Salamanders....Pages 311-340 Nucleus Isthmi and Optic Tectum in Frogs....Pages 341-356 Why Cortices? Neural Networks for Visual Information Processing....Pages 357-382 Invariances in Pattern Recognition....Pages 383-396 Perception by Sensorimotor Coordination in Sensory Substitution for the Blind....Pages 397-418 Front Matter....Pages 419-419 Schema Theory as a Common Language to Study Sensori-Motor Coordination....Pages 421-450 Behavior-Correlated Properties of Tectal Neurons in Freely Moving Toads....Pages 451-480 Visual Integration in Bulbar Structures of Toads: Intra/Extra-Cellular Recording and Labeling Studies....Pages 481-536 Organization in the Sensorimotor Interface: A Case Study with Increased Resolution....Pages 537-568 How to Transform Topographically Ordered Spatial Information into Motor Commands....Pages 569-585 Front Matter....Pages 587-587 In Search of the Motor Pattern Generator for Snapping in Toads....Pages 589-614 Wiping Reflex in the Frog: Movement Patterns, Receptive Fields, and Blends....Pages 615-629 Front Matter....Pages 587-587 Pattern Generation for Walking Movements....Pages 631-648 Neuroscience in Motion: The Application of Schema Theory to Mobile Robotics....Pages 649-671 Sensorimotor Integration in Robots....Pages 673-689 Front Matter....Pages 691-691 Central Representation of Arousal....Pages 693-727 Functional Brain Circuitry Related to Arousal and Learning in Rats....Pages 729-765 Stimulus-Specific Habituation in Toads: 2DG Studies and Lesion Experiments....Pages 767-797 Visual Associative Learning: Searching for Behaviorally Relevant Brain Structures in Toads....Pages 799-832 Learning and Memory in the Toad’s Prey/Predator Recognition System: A Neural Model....Pages 833-855 Telemetric Transmission System for Single Cell Studies in Behaving Toads....Pages 857-871 Functional Neural Systems Analyzed by Use of Interregional Correlations of Glucose Metabolism....Pages 873-892 Neural Models, Rana and Robots....Pages 893-896 Back Matter....Pages 897-923