Cephalopod neurobiology

BOOK REVIEWS

________._..__.___._.__ _.._... .____ describe how it might be achieved by the

brain. The majority

visual system. A chapter on binocular rivalry

this second issue. For example, Cavanagh

(Blake) reviews the basic phenomenon

of

rivalry: when each eye is presented with a

describes

of chapters consider

a variety

demonstrate

of techniques

how

different

that

varieties

of

correlate which

of attention

depending

on

Miller

knowledge

rivalry

alternates

an animal

is

review

motion (such as that defined by luminance,

percept

task

Desimone, Chelazzi,

colour or depth) can be processed by the

image, the

the

required to perform.

between them. It also discusses the use of

different

may be the way in

neural firing rate can be adjusted

and Duncan

our

of how attention

current

may moder-

same or by different mechanisms. This vol-

ate neural responses, an area which is sure

probing the brain to test where different

ume unfortunately

to attract more attention

aspects of processing occur.

eral

as a tool

for

psychoanatomically

The area of texture

has long

mechanisms would

problem

of what

as perception

so many

different

in the future!

Early Vision and Beyond suffers

somewhat from a lack of general direction

be useful, particularly

of motion

Overall,

has been held to

and focus, possibly because it attempts to cover so many areas of interest.

It could

Rather than try to

be processed by a different

answer this question

directly,

that of form or colour4. Schiller’s chapter,

have been improved

contribution

(who takes us on a

on studies of lesions of cortical areas MT

chapter

that

and V4, links the psychophysical

together

to

However,

the book does succeed in giving

walk

is a texture.

of why

perception

been plagued by the exactly

review

does not contain a gen-

by Watt

through

an original

the mountains)

what sort of texture

addresses

information

may be

the neurophysiological

pathway from

data to

by demonstrating

by adding a summary

links the different provide

sections

a common

useful for navigation through

the world.

that deficits produced by lesions are not as

the reader

His clear examples illustrate

some of the

profound as one would expect if each area

research in early visual processing, much

key problems facing investigators in the field

had only one function; thus, clear distinc-

of which

of early vision, particularly

tions

work in the field.

how we choose

what scale to use for obtaining

. kinds of information. and Nothdurft

review

There

of

responsive

to texture

of

agreement

an object

less clear what attention

cells are

borders,

is general

perception

Even at the earliest stages of

cortical processing (in area VI),

of separate that

the

depends

on

whether attention is directed to it, but it is

their work on the neural basis of textural perception.

the function

areas of the brain is an oversimplification.

different

Gallant, Van Essen

give a detailed

between

actually is. What

is clear is that the role

but the

of attention

becoming an increasingly important

is

issue

authors illustrate that, at higher levels (v4),

in both behavioural and physiological stud-

it is still unclear what

ies of the visual system. Nakayama and He

sort

of stimulus

would best probe texture-t-dated Perception major

of motion

focus

is currently

of vision

because seeing motion

function.

research,

review

work

on ‘pop-out’

of target

el-

ements, usually considered as a pre-atten-

a

partly

tive

is essential for a

(and thus

Their

relatively

ingenious

early)

process.

demonstrations

show,

mobile animal such as ourselves, and also

however, that pop-out of a target element

because of recent evidence that suggests

can depend

that there may be multiple ways in which

processes

perception

forms

of motion

is processed by the

Cephalopod

on

somewhat

the

Neurobiology

by N.J. Abbot R. Williamson and L. Maddock,

Oxford University Press, I995

f 70.00

Julie M. Harris

differs

from

majority

activity

that

the track

significantly

followed

by the

Crichton Street, Edinburgh,

ganglionic

organization

gastropod

mollusks

neck

becomes of

constitutes

the ‘pandemic’

Neurobiology is a perfect advantages

pool)

and

both

endemic and the pandemic research. Introduction squid for

impression

after reading this half of the

being described by leading scientists. Still,

at

is practically impossible in neuro-

biology owing to the quantity already performed

of studies

on this subject and the

the end of the 1930s elicited, with some

biological constraints

delay,

never disappears during reading.

a pandemic

of

that

the feeling that a major scientific breakthrough

studies

everything

book is that recent findings in the field are

of the giant axon of the

electrophysiological

the

govern

the

of

brains

of

each pandemic of scientific activity

practically

has been done in the field. The general

can be

of

round

in search

concise form

example of the

deficiencies

diving

of

inverte-

octopuses, cuttlefish and squid. However,

Cephalopod

‘endemic’.

as

characteristic

and other

a millstone

scientists that

UK EH8 9lE.

synapse of the squid, present in a clear and

of scientists in the field (which

defined

and Centre for

Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh,

mechanisms Basic research

by Julesz’s early

Dept of Pharmacology

brates)

(xvii + 542 pages) ISBN 0 I9 854790 0

was inspired

(1971) Foundations of Cyclopean Perception, University of Chicago Press 2 Tyler, C.W. (1983) in Vergence Eye Movements: Basic and Clinical Aspects (Schor, C.M. and Ciuffreda, K.J., eds), pp. 199-295, Butterworth 3 Wheatstone, C. (1838) Philos. Trans. R. Sot. London Ser. B 148, 371-394 4 Ungerleider, L.G. and Mishkin, M. (1982) in Analysis of Visunl Behatiour Goodale, M.A. and D.J., (We, Mansfield, R.J.W., eds), pp. 549-586, MIT Press

target

part of a surface. A physiological

sample of current

References 1 Julesz, B.

higher-level

such as whether

a diverse

thread.

neurobiological

of the preparations

as an

outcome

of

modest

research that is an implicit development The book

starts

endemic

stage in the

of science. as a whole

is edited

in a

thorough and professional manner. Almost every chapter refers to the history of the specific

subject

under

discussion.

The

volume as a whole will be very useful to newcomers

to

cephalopods,

the

neurobiology

and will

allow

of

them

to

reading the chapters

choose between the pandemic part, where

on the cephalopod CNS gives you the feel-

one can easily feel one’s neighbor’s elbow,

massive onslaught, which used all available

ing that you are in unknown-science

or the endemic

neuroscientific

that

investigations

of the giant axon and the

giant synapse. As a consequence

of this

methods, the average level

On the contrary,

nobody

has seriously

land;

investigated

part, which

has lots of

promise.

of research on the giant axon of the squid

these promising preparations

is very high and this is reflected perfectly in

physiology (Chapter

of

P. Balaban

the reviewed book. The first four parts of

fact, quite a few scientists have tried to use

institute of Higher Nervous Activity and

the book, which concern the structure the

squid

axon,

ion

channels,

Schwann cell interaction,

Copyright

0 1996,

Elsevier

Science

of

axon-

and the giant

Ltd. All rights

reserved.

the brains of cephalopods, genetic development

for the brain

24). As a matter

ment of the neural somata (instead of the

0166

- 2236/96/$15.00

Neurophysiology,

but the phylo-

of a layered arrange-

The Russian Academy Butlerova SA, Moscow

of Sciences,

1 J 7865,

Russia.

T/NS Vol. 19, No. 3, 1996

115