The effects of neonatal striate lesions and visual experience on form discrimination in the rat

In two experiments the behaviour of light- and dark-reared infant- and adult-operated striate rats was compared on four discrimination tasks and a variety of related transfer and discrimination reversal tests. Infant-operated rats learned all of the discriminations significantly faster and with less...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Psychology 1975-01, Vol.29 (1), p.66-85
Main Author: Tees, Richard C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Animal
Animals
Animals, Newborn - growth & development
Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology
Discrimination Learning
Female
Form Perception - physiology
Male
Orientation
Rats
Reversal Learning - physiology
Transfer (Learning)
Transfer (Psychology)
Visual Cortex - physiology
Visual Discrimination
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Summary:In two experiments the behaviour of light- and dark-reared infant- and adult-operated striate rats was compared on four discrimination tasks and a variety of related transfer and discrimination reversal tests. Infant-operated rats learned all of the discriminations significantly faster and with less failure than did adult-operated animals. Post-operative rearing condition was not found to play a significant role in this performance difference due to age of operation. Though results of transfer tests for neonatal striate animals were comparable to those of controls, results of initial discrimination (and reversal) revealed significant differences in performance between infant operates and control groups. These results are discussed in terms of specification of the nature of the partial "recovery" of sensory and non-sensory functions by the neonatal operate.
ISSN:0008-4255
1196-1961
1878-7290
DOI:10.1037/h0082022