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.