Discrimination learning of the vertical and horizontal light spot oscillations in normal and visually deprived cats

Abstract

Three groups of cats were used: cats deprived binocularly of patterned vision from birth (BD cats), control cats reared in the laboratory with opened eyes (C cats) and cats reared in a rural environment during the first months of life (N cats). The cats were trained to discriminate vertical vs. horizontal oscillations of a light spot for food reward. The task was difficult for all cats. The presumable reason was that the majority of neurones discriminates best between two opposite directions of movement and this mechanism was useless in the task. The learning was only slightly impaired in the BD group and only as compared with the N group. Our main conclusion is that a reduced number of directionally selective neurons in BD cats was still sufficient for movement discrimination learning.