Delayed response to light stimuli in binocularly deprived cats

Cats binocularly deprived of pattern vision, born and cagereared in the laboratory, were trained on the delayed response task involving light stimuli with 0-, 5-, and 15-s delay. Control cage-reared animals, also laboratory born were not deprived visually. No significant group difference was found in the delayed response learning, both groups performing poorly, as compared to the earlier data reported on cats reared without environmental restriction. The groups differ, however, in reaction time (RT), as in the visually deprived animals a lower proportion of responses with shorter RT was observed than in the controls. Conversely, for responses to the actual light stimuli a higher proportion of shorter RT was found in the deprived animals than in the controls.