I thought readers of bionet.neuroscience might be interested in this
book. For more information, please visit
http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262062216/ Thank you!
Best,
David
Perceptual Learning
edited by Manfred Fahle and Tomaso Poggio
Perceptual learning is the specific and relatively permanent
modification of perception and behavior following sensory experience. It
encompasses parts of the learning process that are independent from
conscious forms of learning and involve structural and/or functional
changes in primary sensory cortices. A familiar example is the treatment
for a "lazy" or crossed eye. Covering the good eye causes gradual
improvement in the weaker eye's cortical representations. If the good
eye is patched too long, however, it learns to see less acutely.
This book presents advances made in the last decade in this rapidly
growing field. The first part examines neuronal changes caused by
lesions or external influences. It discusses the effects of these
changes on behavior and the extent to which plasticity in sensory
systems is possible. Taking a broader view, the second part looks at how
more conscious or systemic stimuli cause cortical changes. Clinical
trials in which subjects are taught to recognize visual and auditory
stimuli demonstrate the relationship between perceptual and cognitive
learning. The final sections offer general models of perceptual learning
and discuss the future of the field.
Manfred Fahle is Head of the Institute of Brain Research IV and the Unit
for Human Neurobiology at the University of Bremen and a Visiting
Professor at University College London, Institute of Ophthalmology.
Tomaso Poggio is Uncas and Helen Whittaker Professor in the Department
of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is coauthor
of Theoretical Approaches to Neurobiology (MIT Press, 1980).
Contributors
Merav Ahissar, Anthony J. Bell, Nicoletta Beradi, Vicki Bruce, Heinrich
Bülthoff, A. Mike Burton, Graeme M. Clark, Marcus Dill, Hubert Dinse,
Shimon Edelman, Thomas Elbert, Ulf Eysel, Manfred Fahle, Adriana
Fiorentini, Michael Herzog, Shaul Hochstein, Nathan Intrator, Nikos
Logothetis, Siegrid Löwell, Michael M. Merzenich, Ken Nakayama, Tomaso
Poggio, Brigitte Rockstroh, Nava Rubin, Dov Sagi, Aniek Schoups,
Terrence J. Sejnowski, Robert Shapley, David Sheinberg, Wolf Singer,
Pawan Sinha, Annette Sterr, Keji Tanaka, Guy Wallis, Barbara Zenger.
8 x 9, 644 pp., 204 illus., cloth, ISBN 0-262-06221-6
A Bradford Book
