Depth Perception in Frogs and Toads provides a comprehensive exploration of the phenomenon of depth perception in frogs and toads, as seen from a neuro-computational point of view. Perhaps the most important feature of the book is the development and presentation of two neurally realizable depth perception algorithms that utilize both monocular and binocular depth cues in a cooperative fashion. One of these algorithms is specialized for computation of depth maps for navigation, and the other for the selection and localization of a single prey for prey catching. The book is also unique in that it thoroughly reviews the known neuroanatomical, neurophysiological and behavioral data, and then synthesizes, organizes and interprets that information to explain a complex sensory-motor task. The book will be of special interest to that segment of the neural computing community interested in understanding natural neurocomputational structures, particularly to those working in perception and sensory-motor coordination. It will also be of interest to neuroscientists interested in exploring the complex interactions between the neural substrates that underly perception and behavior.

The three-volume work Perceiving in Depth is a sequel to Binocular Vision and Stereopsis and to Seeing in Depth, both by Ian P. Howard and Brian J. Rogers. This work is much broader in scope than the previous books and includes mechanisms of depth perception by all senses, including aural, electrosensory organs, and the somatosensory system. Volume 1 reviews sensory coding, psychophysical and analytic procedures, and basic visual mechanisms. Volume 2 reviews stereoscopic vision. Volume 3 reviews all mechanisms of depth perception other than stereoscopic vision. The three volumes are extensively illustrated and referenced and provide the most detailed review of all aspects of perceiving the three-dimensional world. Volume 3 addresses all depth-perception mechanisms other than stereopsis. The book starts with an account of monocular cues to depth, including accommodation, vergence eye movements, perspective, interposition, shading, and motion parallax. A chapter on constancies in depth perception, such as the ability to perceive the sizes and shapes of objects as they move or rotate in depth, is followed by a chapter on the ways in which depth cues interact. The next chapter reviews sources of information, such as changing disparity, image looming, and vergence eye movements, used in the perception of objects moving in depth. Various pathologies of depth perception, including visual neglect, stereoanomalies, and albanism are reviewed. Visual depth-perception mechanisms through the animal kingdom are described, starting with insects and progressing through crustaceans, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The chapter includes a discussion of how stereoscopic vision may have evolved. The next chapter describes how visual depth perception is used to guide reaching movements of the hand, avoiding obstacles, and walking to a distant object. The next three chapters review non-visual mechanisms of depth perception. Auditory mechanisms include auditory localization, echolocation in bats and marine mammals, and the lateral-line system of fish. Some fish emit electric discharges and then use electric sense organs to detect distortions of the electric field produced by nearby objects. Some beetles and snakes use heat-sensitive sense organs to detect sources of heat. The volume ends with a discussion of mechanisms used by animals to navigate to a distant site. Ants find their way back to the nest by using landmarks and by integrating their walking movements. Several animals navigate by the stars or by polarized sunlight. It seems that animals in several phyla navigate by detecting the Earths magnetic field.

Depth Perception in Frogs and Toads provides a comprehensive exploration of the phenomenon of depth perception in frogs and toads, as seen from a neuro-computational point of view. Perhaps the most important feature of the book is the development and presentation of two neurally realizable depth perception algorithms that utilize both monocular and binocular depth cues in a cooperative fashion. One of these algorithms is specialized for computation of depth maps for navigation, and the other for the selection and localization of a single prey for prey catching. The book is also unique in that it thoroughly reviews the known neuroanatomical, neurophysiological and behavioral data, and then synthesizes, organizes and interprets that information to explain a complex sensory-motor task. The book will be of special interest to that segment of the neural computing community interested in understanding natural neurocomputational structures, particularly to those working in perception and sensory-motor coordination. It will also be of interest to neuroscientists interested in exploring the complex interactions between the neural substrates that underly perception and behavior.

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.

Salamanders are subject to misconceptions even among vertebrate zoologists and physiologists. They are often said to exist only in northern temperate zones, being bound to aquatic or very moist cool habitats. In reality, more than half of all salamander species live in subtropical and tropical zones, ex clusively in the New World. Again, more than half of the salamand~r species have become totally independent of aquatic habitats following the loss of a free larval stage. Many of the subtropical and tropical salamanders have become adapted to rather high temperatures up to 26-28 DC. The brain and the sensory systems of salamanders are often considered to be primitive, and their behavior is thought to be simple and uninfluenced by learning. However, careful studies show that the salamander brain possesses virtually all the ana tomical and functional properties found in anurans, which are usually regarded as being much more evolved with respect to the guidance of comparable behavior. Most of the salamander species not only possess a highly efficient visual system, which is the topic of the present work, but can orient themselves almost as effectively by means of olfaction, vibration sense, and electroreception. Furthermore, it has recently been shown that at least part of their behavior, especially that concerned with feeding and prey preferences, is strongly influenced by individual experience.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

Slaughtered along our highways, roadkill may be observed regularly, but aren't likely to be given much thought. Research scientists, animal rights activists, roadkill artists, writers, ethicists and lyricists, however, are increasingly sounding the alarm. They report that we are killing the very animals we love, and are driving many of them to the brink of extinction. Detailing the death and destruction of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insect pollinators, this study examines the ways in which we are thus jeopardizing our own futures. Beginning in the Model T era, biologists counted the common carnage of the time--cottontails, woodchucks, and squirrels, mostly. That record-keeping continues today. Beyond the bleak statistics, zoologists are rerouting migratory paths of animals and are advocating for cat and dog companions. This book illuminates both our successes and failures in keeping animals out of harm's way and what those efforts reflect about ourselves and our capacity to care enough to alter the road ahead.

More than sixty contributions in From Animals to Animats 2 byresearchers in ethology, ecology, cybernetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and related fieldsinvestigate behaviors and the underlying mechanisms that allow animals and, potentially, robots toadapt and survive in uncertain environments. Jean-Arcady Meyer is Director of Research, CNRS, Paris.Herbert L. Roitblat is Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Stewart W.Wilson is a scientist at The Rowland Institute for Science, Cambridge,Massachusetts. Topics covered: The Animat Approach to Adaptive Behavior,Perception and Motor Control, Action Selection and Behavioral Sequences, Cognitive Maps and InternalWorld Models, Learning, Evolution, Collective Behavior.

Vision receptors and neural processing - Central processing - Color perception - Object perception - Perception of depth and size - Movement perception - Auditory physiology - Hearing - Speech perception - Somatic senses - Chemical senses - Clinical aspects of vision and hearing - Hearing impairment.