Retention of a learned brightness discrimination following ablations of the occipital cortex in the rat.

Abstract

A bilateral occipital lesion resulted in the loss of an acquired brightness discrimination. Successive unilateral lesions resulted in loss of the habit only if the rats were kept in darkness during the interoperative interval. The habit was spared if S [subject] received either practice on the problem or nonspecific visual stimulation during the interoperative interval. The possible influence of size of the cortical lesion is discussed.