Rats were trained in a six-choice jumping stand apparatus to enter the dark door, and avoid the five bright doors. Rats with bilateral superior collicular lesions were found to be severely impaired in this task, although further experiments showed that they were able to discriminate bright from dark stimuli and could perform correctly if allowed to approach each door in turn. It is suggested that the superior colliculus is important in orientation to visual cues, and there is some evidence that it is involved in orientation to brightness but not visual form cues.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
HorelJ. A. (1968). Effects of subcortical lesions on brightness discrimination acquired by rats without visual cortex. J. comp. physiol. psychol65, 103–9.
2.
HornG. (1965). Physiological and psychological aspects of selective perception. Advances in the Study of BehaviourLehrmanD. S.HindeR. A.ShawE.New York: Academic PressI, 155–215.
3.
HumphreyN. K. (1968). Responses to visual stimuli of units in the superior colliculus of rats and monkeys. Expl. Neurol20, 312–40.
4.
KonigJ. F. R.KippelR. A. (1963). The Rat Brain. A stereotaxic atlas of the forebrain and lower parts of the brain stemBaltimore, Maryland: The Williams and Wilkins Company.
5.
KriegW. J. S. (1946). Accurate placement of minute lesions in the brain of the albino rat. Q. Bull. NWest. Univ. med. Sch.20, 199–208.
6.
LashleyK. S. (1931). The mechanism of vision IV. The cerebral areas necessary for pattern vision in the rat. J. comp. Neurol53, 419–78.
7.
LashleyK. S. (1939). The mechanism of vision XVI. The functioning of small remnants of the visual cortex. J. comp. Neurol70, 45–67.
8.
LashleyK. S.FrankM. (1934). The mechanism of vision X. Post-operative disturbance of habits based on detail vision in the rat after lesions in the cerebral visual area. J. comp. Psychol17, 355–91.
9.
LaymanJ. D. (1936). Functions of the superior colliculi in vision. J. genet. Psychol.49, 33–47.
10.
MaierN. R. F. (1949). FrustrationMichigan: University of Michigan Press.
11.
MeyerersonP. M.BraunM. G. (1966). Visual cliff preferences following lesions of the visual neocortex in cats and rats. Psychon. Sci.4, 269–70.
12.
SchneiderG. E. (1967). Contrasting visuomotor functions of the tectum and cortex in the golden hamster. Psycholog. Forsch31, 52–62.
13.
SchneiderG. E. (1969). Two visual systems. Science, N. Y.163, 895–902.
14.
SiminoffR.SchwassmanH. O.KrugerL. (1966). An electrophysiological study of the visual projection to the superior colliculus of the rat. J. comp. Neurol127, 435–44.
15.
SpragueJ. M. (1966). Interaction of cortex and superior colliculus in visually guided behaviour in cat. Science, N. Y.153, 1544–7.
16.
SpragueJ. M.MeikleT. H. (1965). The role of the superior colliculus in visually guided behaviour. Expl. NeurolII, 115–46.
17.
ThompsonR.MassopustL. C. (1960). The effects of sub-cortical lesions on retention of a brightness discrimination in rats. J. comp. physiol. Psychol53, 488–96.
18.
ThompsonR.RichI. A. (1961). A discrete diencephalic pretectal area critical for retention of visual habits in the rat. Expl. Neurol4, 436–43.
19.
WalkR. D.GibsonE. J. (1961). A comparative and analytical study of visual depth perception. Psychol. Monogr75, 1–44.
20.
WhitteridgeD. (1960). Central control of eye movements. Handbook of Physiology, Section IFieldJ.Washington, D.C.: American Physiological Society2, 1089–109.
