Detection of a deficit in visual discrimination of pattern following lesions of anterior cortex: role of type of motivation.
6 albino rats were trained under appetitive motivation to perform diametrically opposed visual discriminations of pattern via opposite eyes. Small lesions were subsequently placed unilaterally in anterior neocortex. Following a period of post-surgical recovery, subjects were re-trained on the diammetrically opposed discriminations in alternating 10-trial blocks. Every subject made more post-surgical errors on the discrimination mediated by the eye contralateral to the lesion. Since albino rats have virtually complete decussation of the visual system, this indicates selective impairment in mediation of performance of pattern discrimination in the part of the lesioned hemispheres. Thus, findings previously obtained in studies involving aversive motivation are general to appetitively motivated tasks.
D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005508:Food Deprivation; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*