Amphetamine-Induced Recovery of Visual Cliff Performance After Bilateral Visual Cortex Ablation in Cats: Measurements of Depth Perception Thresholds

• Published in: Behavioral neuroscience 1989-06, Vol.103 (3), p.574-584
• Main Authors: Hovda, David A, Sutton, Richard L, Feeney, Dennis M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amphetamine - pharmacology; Amphetamines; Animal; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cats; Depth Perception; Depth Perception - drug effects; Discrimination Learning - drug effects; Dominance, Cerebral - drug effects; Drugs; Eyes & eyesight; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geniculate Bodies - drug effects; Haloperidol - pharmacology; Male; Nerve Degeneration - drug effects; Nerve Regeneration - drug effects; Neurotransmission and behavior; Orientation - drug effects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - drug effects; Sensory Thresholds - drug effects; Visual Cortex; Visual Cortex - drug effects; Visual Pathways - drug effects
• ISSN: 0735-7044; 1939-0084
• DOI: 10.1037/0735-7044.103.3.574

After bilateral visual cortex ablation, cats exhibit a loss of depth perception as measured on a visual cliff, which recovers following administration of d -amphetamine. In this Study, 3 amphetamine-treated cats with visual cortex ablations showed a rapid and enduring recovery, with 2 of these animals obtaining levels of performance seen only with binocular vision, suggesting a restoration of binocular depth perception. Cats with asymmetrical lesions showed only a transient improvement during amphetamine treatment, and some animals not displaying autonomic signs of amphetamine intoxication did not improve. Saline-treated cats showed no signs of improvement, and the effect of amphetamine was blocked by the catecholaminergic antagonist haloperidol. These results indicate that amphetamine can induce an enduring recovery from a behavioral deficit after brain injury, which if left untreated would not spontaneously recover.