Effects of prestriate and striate lesions on the monkey's ability to locate and discriminate visual forms

Abstract

Prestriate lesions that removed areas OA, OB, and transitional TEO in the monkey impaired relearning of a two-choice pattern discrimination. In addition three of four animals were temporarily blinded by this surgery and required from three months to a year of testing to distinguish a raisin from a steel machine nut and to locate a single striped door in an array of white food bin covers. Monkeys with prestriate lesions recovered vision sooner than did two animals with complete striate cortex lesions, but they were more impaired than three monkeys with incomplete removal of area 17. The prestriate area is interpreted to be an important link between primary visual cortex and the rest of the hemisphere.