VISUALLY MEDIATED BEHAVIORS FOLLOWING NEOCORTICAL DESTRUCTION IN RAT

Tested 22 male Spartan Farm albino normal rats and rats with anterior or posterior neocortical lesions on 4 visual tasks. Ss with posterior neocortical lesions were deficient in learning a brightness discrimination. Subsequently Ss were able to learn a pattern discrimination as readily as normal Ss. Ss also responded at a faster rate than the other groups in the discrimination apparatus. No differential preferences were found among groups for the black side of a black-white preference box. When tested shortly after the operation, posterior Ss showed a decreased tendency to avoid the deep side of a visual cliff, but when retested after training on the other tasks they showed a normal tendency to avoid the deep side. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.