Extent of recovery of function after early sensory deprivation in the rat

In two experiments the performances of 90- and 150-day-old light-reared and dark-reared rats were compared on rigorous tests of depth and form discriminative abilities. Significant differences due to rearing and age were found. Exposure to a normal light environment for 60 days was found to partially alter the effects of an early 90-day period of visual deprivation in the case of depth discrimination but to have little impact in the case of form discrimination. The implications of the results are discussed with regard to the proposition that the initial deficits in the performance of the dark-reared rats and the extent of recovery of function after exposure to a normal environment are related to the kind of perceptual ability being measured and to the sensitivity of the test.