Visuospatial asymmetries and interocular transfer in the split-brain rat.
Interocular transfer (IOT), hemispheric superiority, and cerebral dominance were examined in split-brain female albino rats. Callosum-sectioned and intact animals were monocularly trained in the Morris water maze and tested in IOT and reversal phases. In the IOT phase, split-brain rats entered more nontarget quadrants and headed less accurately toward the platform than did controls. For both split-brain animals and controls, right-eye training resulted in shorter latencies and fewer nontarget entries than did left-eye training. Analyses of cerebral dominance showed shorter latencies and smaller heading errors over all 3 phases in rats that were trained with the nondominant eye. Right-eye dominant controls were less affected by platform reversal. Split-brain rats were inferior to controls in latency to find the platform and in target quadrant entries. This finding establishes a spatial cognitive deficit from callosum section.
Adelstein
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A
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Crowne
D P
DP
D000818:Animals; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D009897:Optic Chiasm / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D015349:Vision, Monocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*