Sensory Physiology and Behavior

In a recent book Arthur Koestler describes very cynically the superfluity of scientific meetings. He lists the various gatherings that are going to take place in one brief summer season in the Kon­ gresshaus of a small Swiss village, ending the long list with three interdisciplinary symposia, titles of which contain the three words "Environment", "Pollution", and "Future" in three different permu­ tations. By the same token, Koestler could list endlessly meetings on sensory physiology and behaviour or their synonyms, which have taken place allover the world on the national or international level in recent years. The organizing committee of the Oholo conferences was very well aware of this situation when the topic for the 19th Conference was selected. However this field is relatively new in Israel - only in the last decade were several teams established in this country to carry out combined studies on sensory physiology and behaviour. They attracted ever-increasing numbers of students of zoology, phy­ siology, medicine and psychology. The committee thought that the time was ripe to bring the Israeli students and scientists together with noted investigators from allover the world, to discuss and analyse the state of the art. The Conference dealt with processing of information obtained through the various senses: visual, auditory, tactile, as well as the olfactory and gastatory senses. More complex behavioural patterns were also analysed.

Welcoming Address.- Developmental Plasticity in the Cat's Visual Cortex.- Visual Information Processing: The Many-Splendored Photoreceptor.- Physiological Responses and Functional Architecture of the Monkey Visual Cortex.- The Question of Variation in Transmission in the Visual Pathway as a Result of Attention to an Auditory or a Visual Stimulus.- Retinal and Cortical Changes in the Visual System of Pattern-Deprived Rats.- Sensory and Neuronal Mechanisms Underlying Acoustic Communication in Orthopteran Insects.- Neural Transactions during Acoustic Stimulation of Noctuid Moths.- Speculations on a Neural Substrate for Immediate Memory.- Electrophysiological and Psychophysical Correlations in the Auditory System of Man.- Insect Mechanoreceptor Mechanisms.- Are Connections Stable in the Adult Mammalian Brain?.- Pheromone Communication in Moths and Butterflies.- Chemoreception and Selection of Oviposition Sites by Phytophagous Insects.- Taste Receptors.- Behavioral Aspects of Chemoreception in Blood-Sucking Invertebrates.- On the Evolution of Receptors Associated with Feeding.- Behavioral Regulation of Biochemical and Physiological Properties of Identified Neurons.- Long-Lasting Changes in the Activity of a Bursting Neurone Produced by Specific Synaptic Inputs.- Mechanisms and Functions of Electrically Mediated Inhibition in the Vertebrate Central Nervous System.- The Role of Electrotonic Synapses in the Control of Behaviour.- Analysis of Single Gene Sex Linked Behavioral Mutants in Drosophila Melanogaster.- List of Participants.