Absolute threshold of vision in the rat after removal of striate cortex.

Abstract

RATS WITHOUT VISUAL CORTEX AND CONTROLS WERE TRAINED TO MAKE A LIGHT-DARK DISCRIMINATION IN A SKINNER BOX. IN AGREEMENT WITH PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS WITH CATS, THE RATS WITHOUT STRIATE CORTEX EXHIBITED AN IMPAIRMENT AT LOW LIGHT INTENSITIES. IN CONTRAST TO THE PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS WITH CATS, HOWEVER, IT COULD NOT BE CONCLUDED THAT THE ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD TO LIGHT IS DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY REMOVAL OF THE VISUAL CORTEX. THE CONSEQUENCES OF VISUAL CORTEX REMOVAL ON RETENTION OF THE LIGHT-DARK DISCRIMINATION HABIT WERE ALSO INVESTIGATED AND WERE FOUND TO HAVE LITTLE OR NO EFFECT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)