ABSTRACT
In April 2002, the Graduate Research Training Program on Cognitive Neurobiology of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft was installed at the University of Tübingen. Doctoral students and faculty from twelve different labs at the University of Tübingen and the Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics work together to create a forum of interdisciplinary stimulation and mutual exchange of ideas, methods, and results. The aim of the study is to investigate mental processing in autistic savants, individuals with mental retardation who demonstrate some particular ability. Cortical areas involved in certain visuo-motor tasks are identified in brain damaged patients with specific visuo-motor deficits, e.g. the inability to make visually guided hand movements to peripheral targets. Functional brain imaging of these areas is then used to study the functional properties of these areas in healthy subjects. Echolocating bats emit ultrasonic signals and analyze the returning echoes to detect, localize and characterize the reflecting targets.
