Visual discrimination learning under switching procedure in visually deprived cats

Previous studies have shown that fine visual discrimination learning is severely impaired in cats binocularly deprived in the early period of life (BD cats) and also somewhat in control cats reared with open eyes in the limited laboratory environment (C cats) compared with cats reared in a normal rural environment (N cats). It was concluded that visual deprivation impairs perceptual learning. In the present study discriminative stimuli were dissimilar and so the task was perceptually easy, but using a switching procedure made it associatively difficult. In regular trials a gate with a grating pattern was positive and a blank gate negative, whereas in switching trials the meaning of the gates was reversed. The switching stimulus was intermittent light in some stages of training and intermittent tone in others. Learning was severely impaired in BD cats and somewhat in C cats and the deficit was similar under visual and auditory switching. Thus, early visual deprivation impairs associative learning. The impairment probably includes associations between switching stimulus and instrumental responses and configural associations between switching stimulus and discriminative stimuli.