The effect of d-amphetamine and total striate cortex lesions on a variety of visual tasks in the hooded rat

Boczkowski, Richard A. (1972) The effect of d-amphetamine and total striate cortex lesions on a variety of visual tasks in the hooded rat. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (5MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

Partial deficits of visual cliff performance when motivated by escape from electrical shock, and severe deficits on the classical visual cliff and visual placing tasks were found in male hooded rats with total ablation of the striate cortex. However, injection of d-amphetamine was able to partially reverse these deficits. Optokinesis was not affected by the striate ablation. The results were interpreted as evidence that ablation of the striate cortex disrupts the animal's ability to perceive pattern, but the animal can still respond to the particular features of the pattern (eg. brightness) and thus still be able to perform the visual tasks. A neural model was hypothesised to help explain the results.

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