Tactile learning and memory in baboons after temporal and frontal lesions

Abstract

Three groups of baboons with different cortical lesions and an unoperated control group were studied on a series of tactile discrimination problems and day to day tactile memory tests. The animals with bilateral inferotemporal and bilateral inferotemporal plus medial temporal lesions were not impaired either on the initial discriminations or on the 24-hour retention tests, their performance being superior to that of the unoperated controls. Animals with bilateral frontal lesions, however, had considerable difficulty in learning and retaining the problems, an impairment which is interpreted in terms of perseverative tendencies.