Perception is the first step in the whole of the cognitive processes (attention, learning, memory, categorization, imagery, intuition, inference, comprehension, thought, judgement, expression) which culminate in the reasoning activity and to which emotions make a contribution. The production of perception representations is correlated with the perception events. Such perception representations occur by means of the contribution of two kinds of factors: sensory signals which reproduce the spatio-temporal characteristics of the receptor modifications, and interpretation of the intrinsic ambiguity of such signals by means of unconscious inferences. Various interactions intervene between bottom-up signals from peripheral receptors and top-down signals from higher centres.

This book is a sequel on the topics of photoreception and phototransduction covered by Volume I of the series (Biophysics of Photoreception: Molecular and Phototransductive Events), adding the analysis of two other modalities of sensory reception and transduction — the chemical and mechanical ones, which are phylogenetically older. This characterization results not in a succession of three different and uncorrelated moments, but in a fruitful confrontation between experts which usually act separately and in an integration between various particular knowledges. This approach highlights the basic strategies common to different sensory modalities and specializations, as well as the ecological adaptations of each of them.

For a few decades, the puzzle of consciousness, which for centuries was analysed by philosophers, has been finding a wide interest in the scientific field, where previously it was not entitled to be a member. It has become one of the most-debated problems in the cognitive sciences. The anatomical bases, neurophysiological correlates and elementary mechanisms underlying complex processes arising with consciousness have been compared with the psychological (perceptive, cognitive, volitive, emotional) aspects of conscious expressions, in normal and pathological conditions. Various theories, which attempt to fit systematically and coherently neural and psychological data, have been debated, proving the emergence of the phenomenon of consciousness.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Brain, Vision and Artificial Intelligence, BVAI 2007. Coverage includes: basic models in visual sciences, cortical mechanism of vision, color processing in natural vision, action oriented vision, visual recognition and attentive modulation, biometric recognition, image segmentation and recognition, disparity calculation and noise analysis, meaning-interaction-emotion, and robot navigation.

This international selection of 34 papers from the Tokyo '99 conference held at the United Nations University gives a valuable state of the art overview of consciousness research. Not only the recognized European and American approaches but also the distinguishing approaches from many Japanese researchers are presented. It will provide a world-wide audience with a comprehensive outlook for the remarkable potential contribution in the future scene of consciousness research.The Tokyo '99 declaration to promote scientists' ethical warning against the thoughtless aiming of consciousness research at warfare is also included.(Series B)

This book constitutes, together with its compagnion LNCS 1606, the refereed proceedings of the International Work-Conference on Artificial & Neural Networks, IWANN'99, held in Alicante, Spain in June 1999. The 91 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed & selected for inclusion in the book. This volume is devoted to applications of biologically inspired artificial neural networks in various engineering disciplines. The papers are organized in parts on artificial neural nets simulation & implementation, image processing & engineering applications.

The light sense is conceivably the key sense in both the animal and the plant kingdom. Vision research, undoubtedly a fast-growing field, is providing impressive results OCo thanks to modern theoretical and methodological advances. The approach of biophysics and neuroscience seems to be of great benefit and, for this reason, the present book gives an outline of recent acquisitions and updated advanced methods concerning this approach. Visual mechanisms and processes are analysed at several (molecular, cellular, integrative, computational and cognitive) levels by different methodologies (from molecular biology to computation) applied to different living models (from protists to humans, via invertebrates and lower vertebrates). Contents: The Optics of Animal Eyes (M F Land); Rhodopsin-Like Proteins: The Universal and Probably Unique Proteins for Vision (P Gualtieri); The Molecular Design of a Visual Cascade: Molecular Stages of Phototransduction in Drosophila (R Paulsen et al.); Molecular Changes During Primary Visual Pathway Development (K L Moya et al.); Color Vision and Retinal Randomness of the Japanese Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio Xuthus (K Arikawa et al.); Patch-Clamping Solitary Visual Cells to Understand the Cellular Mechanisms of Invertebrate Phototransduction (C Musio); Phototransduction in Retinal Rods and Cones (Y Koutalos et al.); Formation of OC ONOCO and OC OFFOCO Ganglion Cell Mosaics (L M Chalupa); Endogenous Nitric Oxide Modulates Signal Transmission from Photoreceptors to On-Center Bipolar Cells in the Rabbit Retina (B Lei & I Perlman); Now You See It, Now You Don't: Shunting Inhibition in Early Vision (L Borg-Graham et al.); Visual Perceptual Learning (N Berardi & A Fiorentini); Functions of the Primate Temporal Lobe Cortical Visual Areas in Invariant Visual Object and Face Recognition (E T Rolls); Vector Code in Neuronal Networks (E N Sokolov); and other papers. Readership: Scientists and postdoctoral students in neurosciences, biophysics and physiology."