Professor Jan Ober of Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poland

This presentation examines the objective assessment of brain functional integrity with a focus on its relevance for detecting cerebral impairment and elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying decision-making. It outlines quantitative neurology methodologies, emphasizing their utility in the presymptomatic detection of neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington’s disease and the importance of identifying early dysfunctions that are otherwise masked by intrinsic compensatory mechanisms. Central to the discussion is analytical saccadometry, a quantitative paradigm for assessing cortical selection and decision-making processes through high-resolution measurements of saccadic responses. The presentation further addresses the LATER (Linear Approach to Threshold with Ergodic Rate) model, which provides a theoretical framework linking raw neurophysiological parameters to higher-order constructs, including subjective task difficulty and information processing capacity. Technological innovations in minimally invasive, portable saccadometric instrumentation are presented, highlighting their applicability in both controlled laboratory environments and field diagnostics. Finally, the potential of saccadometry for pharmaco-clinical studies and as a sensitive, objective approach for monitoring central nervous system deterioration and age-related cognitive decline is explored.

Biography:

Professor Dr. hab. Jan Ober is now emeritus professor at the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences.

He finished studies in 1969 at the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Institute of Precision Mechanics and Optics. He was awarded the Doctor degree of technical sciences in 1972 at Częstochowa University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. He obtained habilitation in 1977 at the Department of Mechanics, Aviation, and Energy Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology.

In 1980, Professor Jan Ober established an Independent Laboratory of Rehabilitation Engineering and Biomechanics of the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań, Poland. Throughout the period of the laboratory activity, he was acting as the Head.

Professor Jan Ober's research focuses on oculomotor functions, especially of the eyes, in the application to the diagnosis of neurological diseases, monitoring the physiological aging of the central nervous system and the risk of brain concussion in contact sports (e.g. in the case of boxing), as well as on difficulties in acquiring reading skills among children (dyslexia). The research includes also the attention management mechanisms for operators of complex technical systems, in the safety context.

In result, this research concerns the design of systems with a built-in knowledge in such a way that the users should be aware of it. Thus, even if it is primarily a basic research that includes development of methods, diagnostic experiments, measuring devices, etc. the design of prototype devices is necessary to conduct practical tests.

He headed the White Box Project for military aviation safety and participated in European Projects: Vintec devoted to flight safety in civil aviation (shared situational awareness) and Vita devoted to safety of the energy supply European network.

It should be stressed that the devices developed by Professor Jan Ober are used in over twenty leading universities and research centers all over the world.

Email:

Address:Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland