Effects of the duration of dark rearing on visually guided behavior in the kitten

Forty-eight kittens were dark reared or light reared from birth for 1 to 8 months and formed 6 age groups. Following rearing the kittens were examined daily in several tasks of visually guided behavior. Compared to younger dark-reared groups of kittens, older deprived groups showed longer acquisition times for visual placing to a surface, visual tracking, visually guided reaching to a serrated edge and moving object, and visually guided locomotion on elevated platforms. After dark rearing durations of 3 months or longer, deprived groups displayed overall deficiencies in obstacle avoidance during their 1st postdeprivation month. The older dark-reared groups gave some indication of a direct relationship between duration of dark rearing and both delay in acquisition times for the visually guided behaviors and deficiency in obstacle avoidance. One interpretation of the results is that during dark rearing the kitten may acquire nonvisual behaviors which could interfere with and prolong its development of visually guided behavior subsequent to deprivation.