Main description:

We are at the midpoint in the "Decade of the Brain". Why do we know so much and yet understand so little about the brain? The field of neuroscience has exploded, and anyone who attends one of the large meetings has the impression of drinking from a fire hydran- as so aptly put by the late neuroanatomist Walle J. H. Nauta. Part of that feeling is a general-information problem, experienced in other fields of scienc as well. In brain research, however, the problem is accentuated by the rapid advances of molecular and cellular brain research. The dynamics created by these lines of research have multiplied published output, but have inevitably entailed a compartmentalization of scientific interests and research strategies. If the cost of gaining knowledge is a shrinking horizon of the individual scientist, neuroscience must develop strategies for organizing the acquisition of knowledge. Some of this guidance is given by the society -by medical and, perhaps, commercial needs. But who provides the backbone for establishing a generally accepted "schema" for basic brain research -a frame of reference onto which the millions of information fragments can be fitted, in a way acceptable to a multicultural and polymethodical neuroscience community? We believe that developmental and evolutionary biology has the potential to provide a commonly accepted frame of reference for that multilevel system approach needed to understand the workings of the brain.

Contents:

(Brief) Part I: Brain, Behaviour, Ontogeny and Evolution. Historical and evolutionary aspects of vertebrate brain development. Nervous system organisation of Cephalopods. Part II: Bird Studies. Learning and memory of mammals and birds in laboratory and natural conditions. Neurobiology of homing pigeon navigation. Part III: Hippocampus - A Hot Issue. Spatial memory and hippocampal morphology in food-storing birds and mammals. Part IV: Behavioral Brain Research, Methodology and Telemetry. Telemetric measurement of physiological parameters in laboratory and field conditions. Ethological assessments of behaviour and recent software. Index.