Sensory Preconditioning in Cats following Bilateral Ablation of Temporal Cortex

Abstract

Nine normal and eight operated cats with similar bilateral lesions in the auditory cortex were given preconditioning treatment in the form of 200 paired presentations of light and tone. All Ss were subsequently trained to make an avoidance response in a shuttle box with the light serving as a CS. After reaching criterion on this problem they were then trained to make the same avoidance response to a tone. The number of trials saved in learning the tone-avoidance following training on light-avoidance was used as a measure of sensory preconditioning effects. Although such effects were found in normal cats, animals sustaining bilateral ablation of auditory cortex did not appear to profit from the preconditioning treatment.