CHROMATIC RESPONSES IN HUMAN VISUAL CORTEX- Effects of color, velocity and contrast Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) genehmigt durch die Fakultät für Naturwissenschaften der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg von Dipl. Psych. Marcus Grüschow geb. am 08. 09. 1976 in Magdeburg Gutachter: Prof. Dr. med. Ariel Schoenfeld Prof. Dr. Karl R. Gegenfurtner Eingereicht am 26.02.2007 Verteidigt am 04.06.2007 Acknowledgements I express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Jochem Rieger. His friendship, knowledge and precision have been inspiring. He truly conveys what it means to be a scientist. I would like to thank the doctoral committee and the two final reviewers. I thank Prof. Thomas Münte, Prof. Christoph Herrmann, PD Ariel Schönfeld, Prof. Hans-Jochen Heinze and Prof. Herman Hinrichs for their support throughout the last years. I extend my thanks to Prof. Bob Fendrich who has always been supportive by means of hilarious, but even more so, ingenious comments. A very special thank you belongs to my two colleagues Franziska Schalk and Nick Köchy, with whom the perception group experience has truly been one. Their friendship and encouragement has been invaluable. The dude obeys.