A Neural Circuit Model for Prospective Control of Interceptive Reaching

Two prospective controllers of hand movements in catching -- both based on required velocity control -- were simulated. Under certain conditions, this required velocity controlled to overshoots of the future interception point. These overshoots were absent in pertinent experiments. To remedy this shortcoming, the required velocity model was reformulated in terms of a neural network, the Vector Integration To Endpoint model, to create a Required Velocity Integration To Endpoint modeL Addition of a parallel relative velocity channel, resulting in the Relative and Required Velocity Integration To Endpoint model, provided a better account for the experimentally observed kinematics than the existing, purely behavioral models. Simulations of reaching to intercept decelerating and accelerating objects in the presence of background motion were performed to make distinct predictions for future experiments.Vrije Universiteit (Gerrit-Jan van Jngen-Schenau stipend of the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences); Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0409

The role of areas MT+/V5 and SPOC in spatial and temporal control of manual interception: an rTMS study

Manual interception, such as catching or hitting an approaching ball, requires the hand to contact a moving object at the right location and at the right time. Many studies have examined the neural mechanisms underlying the spatial aspects of goal-directed reaching, but the neural basis of the spatial and temporal aspects of manual interception are largely unknown. Here, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to investigate the role of the human middle temporal visual motion area (MT+/V5) and superior parieto-occipital cortex (SPOC) in the spatial and temporal control of manual interception. Participants were required to reach-to-intercept a downward moving visual target that followed an unpredictably curved trajectory, presented on a screen in the vertical plane. We found that rTMS to MT+/V5 influenced interceptive timing and positioning, whereas rTMS to SPOC only tended to increase the spatial variance in reach end points for selected target trajectories. These findings are consistent with theories arguing that distinct neural mechanisms contribute to spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal control of manual interception

ISIM’s New Academic Director Muhammad Khalid Masud

Professor Muhammad Khalid Masud has recently been named Academic Director of the ISIM for three years. He succeeds Professor Wim Stokhof who, as Director in Charge, laid the foundations of the Institute and led the search for an Academic Director. We will miss the distinctive presence of Wim Stokhof, but we are delighted with the arrival of Muhammad Masud at the ISIM. Masud joins the ISIM from the Islamic Research Institute (IRI), International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan, where he was professor and head of the Islamic Law and Jurisprudence Unit

The Islamic Charter as a Tool for Integration

The Bundeszentrale fur Politische Bildung (BPB), Projektgruppe Migration, organized an international conference on 'Muslime und Islam in Europa: Die Integration einer religiosen Minderheit' at the Ost-West-Kolleg, Bryhl, Germany, from 10 to 13 July 2002. The conference compared the processes of integration of Muslims in Western Europe and discussed the Islamic Charter drawn up by the Central Council of Muslims in Germany