Independence of the cat's scotopic and photopic systems in acquiring control of visually guided behavior.

Abstract

Exposed neonatal kittens (Total N = 16) in 3 experiments to scotopic levels of illumination while freely locomoting in an enclosure. Subsequently, visually guided behaviors were displayed at scotopic levels of illumination but were absent at photopic levels. This result is attributed to the fact that visual feedback from movement was restricted to the rod system. It is suggested that the capacity to mediate visually guided behaviors can be acquired independently by scotopic and photopic systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)