Effects of pretectal lesions on rats wearing light-diffusing occluders.
The study provides behavioral evidence that the pretectal region of the subcortical visual system primarily mediates responses to diffuse rather than to patterned light stimuli: pretectal lesions induced greater transoperative deficits in performance of a light-dark discrimination task for rats wearing light-diffusing occluders than for non-occluded animals. Pretectal lesions also produced less transoperative disruption in animals trained to perform a pattern discrimination task (horizontal vs. vertical stripes). These results are precisely the opposite of those which follow ablation of visual cortex.
D000818:Animals; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology