Effects of lesions in central nervous visual structures on light aversion of rats

¹ Psychophysiological Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

The effects were investigated of bilateral lesions in three central nervous visual structures, a) superior colliculus, b) lateral geniculate body, and c) striate cortex, on the light aversion (or dark preference) of rats. While both normal and brain-operated animals displayed an aversion to crossing into the bright alleys of the test apparatus, the manifest aversion to light was reduced in all three brain-operated groups. The decreased light aversion was accompanied in all groups by increased locomotor activity. The reduction in light aversion appeared to depend on the relative size of the lesion rather than on the specific central nervous visual structure destroyed.

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