Neuronal Processing of Optic Flow

When we walk, drive a car, or fly an airplane, visual motion is used to control and guide our movement. Optic flow describes the characteristic pattern of visual motion that arises in these situations. This book is the first to take an in-depth look at the neuronal processing strategies that underlie the brain's ability to analyze and use optic flow for the control of self-motion. It does so in a variety of species which use optic flow in different behavioral contexts. The spectrum ranges from flying insects to birds, higher mammals and man. The contributions cover physiological and behavioral studies as well as computational models. Neuronal Processing of Optic Flow provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of the current state of research on this topic written by a group of authors who have made essential contributions to shaping this field of research over the last ten years.

• Provides the first detailed overview of the analysis of complex visual motion patterns in the brain
• Includes physiological, behavioral, and computational aspects of optic flow processing
• Highlights similarities and differences between different animal species and behavioral tasks
• Covers human patients with visual motion deficits
• Enhances the reader's understanding with many illustrations

Professor Peter Jenner is a specialist in preclinical aspects of neurodegenerative diseases, notably Parkinson’s disease. He has spent the major part of his career at King’s College London where he was Head of Pharmacology for 14 years before returning to his research roots and subsequently becoming Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology. Peter has expertise in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics but neuropharmacology based on functional models of neurodegenerative diseases has formed the major focus of his work. Peter holds a BPharm, PhD and DSc degree from the University of London. He has published well over 1000 articles with more than 700 peer reviewed papers. He is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the British Pharmacological Society, the Royal Society of Medicine and of King’s College London. Peter was recently honoured with a Doctor Honoris Causa degree from Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest and made an Honorary Fellow of The British Pharmacological Society for his contribution to research in to movement disorders.

Peter has worked closely with the pharmaceutical industry for many years and acts as an adviser and consultant to both major pharma and biotech companies. He has a wide knowledge of the drug discovery and drug development process and has been involved from molecule synthesis through to drug registration for use in man. Peter was the Founder, Director and Chief Scientific Officer of Proximagen, a biotech focussed on the treatment and cure of neurodegenerative diseases that was listed on AIMs and subsequently purchased by a US based healthcare company. He is a regular speaker at international meetings and also takes time to speak at Parkinson’s disease patient-carer groups across the UK.

Markus Lappe received his Ph.D. in physics from Tübingen, Germany in 1989. He was a guest researcher at NIMH, Maryland from 1990 to 1992. Since 1993, he has been in the Department of Biology at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany