Brain mechanisms and "hypotheses."

Abstract

100 rats were run in an insoluble problem, 78 of them having lesions in various areas of the cerebral cortex. It was found that cortical destruction resulted in a diminution of the number, complexity, and plasticity of hypotheses. These phenomena were found not to be correlated with the amount of cortical destruction, but rather to be a function of at least two anatomically delimited cortical areas. In the theoretical discussion an attempt is made to reconcile the facts of functional specialization in the brain with the facts and principles of field theories.