Visual recognition impairment following medial thalamic lesions in monkeys.
Monkeys with surgical lesions which removed the medial portions of the medial and anterior thalamic nuclei were markedly impaired on a test of object recognition. The same animals were able to learn visual pattern discriminations and a spatial delayed response task at a normal rate. These findings indicate that lesions in the medial thalamus produce a selective impairment in visual recognition memory in monkeys and, consequently, may provide an experimental model for human "diencephalic amnesia".
D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*