Acquisition of a trace-conditioned avoidance response after deafferentation of the responding limb.

Abstract

Sensation was surgically abolished from the right forlimbs of 7 untrained monkeys by dorsal rhizotomy. All Ss [subjects] nevertheless learned to flex the deafferented extremity in order to avoid shock in a trace-conditioning situation with view of the limb precluded. This constitutes a situation where new behavior was learned even though all pheripheral feedback from the responding limb had been prevented. The phenomenon suggests that the learning and performance of movement can be mediated by central mechanisms that do not require the participation of the peripheral nervous system.