The September 1994 NATO ASI, held in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, had the goal of filling a gap in the behavioral neuroscience of mammals, namely the relations between ecology and behavior in the so- called laboratory species (today mostly mice and rats). To this end, a group of neuroscientists who have developed an approach of combining laboratory and field techniques for the study of brain, behavior, and ecology in singing and food-storing birds were brought together with students of mouse and rat behavior with a penchant towards evolutionary biology. The proceedings, including informal discussion groups, are organized in four parts: brain, behavior, ontogeny, and evolution; bird studies; hippocampus--a hot issue; and behavioral brain research, methodology, and telemetry. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Combining the study of animal minds, artificial minds, and human evolution, this book examine the advances made by comparative psychologists in explaining the intelligent behaviour of primates, the design of artificial autonomous systems and the cognitive products of language evolution.

Behavioural ecotoxicology is an emerging field dealing with the effects of environmental pollutants on the behaviour of animals. Behavioural techniques derived from experimental psychology, behavioural pharmacology and neurotoxicology are applied to detect and characterise changes in animals living in the environment exposed to various pollutants. Behavioural effects are then interpreted in an ecological context considering the long-term relevance of these changes at both the individual and population level.

The chapters in Human Spatial Memory: Remembering Where present a fascinating picture of an everyday aspect of mental life that is as intriguing to people outside of academia as it is to scientists studying human cognition and behavior. The questions are as old as the study of mind itself: How do we remember where objects are located? How do we remember where we are in relation to other places? What is the origin and developmental course of spatial memory? What neural structures are involved in remembering where? How do we come to understand scaled-down versions of places as symbolic representations of actual places? Although the questions are old, some of the answers-in-progress are new, thanks to some innovative theorizing, solid experimental work, and revealing applications of new technologies, such as virtual environments and brain imaging techniques. This volume includes a variety of theoretical, empirical, and methodological advances that invite readers to make their own novel connections between theory and research. Scholars who study spatial cognition can benefit from examining the latest from well-established experts, as well as milestone contributions from early-career researchers. This combination provides the reader with a sense of past, present, and future in terms of spatial memory research. Just as important, however, is the value of the volume as a touchstone resource for researchers who study perception, memory, or cognition but who are not concerned primarily with the spatial domain. All readers may find the fact that this volume violates the trend toward an ever-narrowing specialization refreshing. Chapters from cognitive psychologists are alongside chapters by developmentalists and neuroscientists; results from field studies are just pages away from those based on fMRI during observation of virtual displays. Thus, the book invites integrative examination across disciplines, research areas, and methodological approaches.

In this book, the editors bring together results from studies on all kinds of animals to show how thinking on many behaviors as truly cognitive processes can help us to understand the biology involved. Taking ideas and observations from the while range of research into animal behavior leads to unexpected and stimulating ideas. A space is created where the work of field ecologists, evolutionary ecologists and experimental psychologists can interact and contribute to a greater understanding of complex animal behavior, and to the development of a new and coherent field of study.

This important reference and text brings together leading neuroscientists to describe approaches to the study of memory. Among major approaches covered are lesions; electrophysiology; single-unit recording; pharmacology; and molecular genetics. Chapters are organized into three sections, presenting state-of-the-art studies of memory in humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents and birds. Each chapter explicates the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the authors' research program, reviews the latest empirical findings, and identifies salient directions for future investigation. Included are more than 50 illustrations.

This book provides a most complete overview of physiological and psychophysical properties of perceptual systems in man and animals. The information processing chains are described step-by-step from the stimuli of the respective environments, via the perceptual neuronal coding networks to conscious sensations and behaviour.Articles by W G K Backhaus, A G Clark, B Hiley, A Iznak, M Kavaliers, B Kramer, A Michelsen, C Neumeyer, G A Orban, T Radil, D G Stavenga, M Stengl, U Thurm, R L DeValois, R Wehner, J S Werner, W Wiltschko, and related short articles.