Long-term effects of dark rearing on a visually guided reaching movement in cats

The existence of long-term effects of dark-rearing on visuo-motor coordination is still controversial. In this study 2 dark-reared (DR) cats were trained, after 5-6 years of recovery, to perform a reaching movement towards a stationary or a moving target. The accuracy, and the reaction and movement times were evaluated. The scores obtained by the DR cats were compared to those of normal subjects after a similar period of training. The results showed that while the accuracy of DR cats was not impaired, the performance of their reaching movements was slower than normal and its triggering was delayed. These data are discussed with regards to electrophysiological and behavioural data obtained on analogous DR cats after long-term recovery.