Stimulation in infancy facilitates interhemispheric communication in the rabbit

Experimental rabbits were stimulated in infancy by being handled, while controls were undisturbed. After reaching adulthood, the animals were tested for activity in an open field with: (i) the right eye occluded; (ii) the left eye occluded; and (iii) neither eye occluded. For rabbits not stimulated in infancy, the correlation between activity scores for the left eye and right eye occlusion conditions was not significant (r = 0.115). In contrast, the correlation was highly significant for handled animals (r = 0.829). The results of the nonhandled group are consistent with other research which has failed to find interocular transfer of visual information, while the significant interhemispheric correlations within the handled group are consistent with prior findings obtained with rats. The results suggest that stimulation in infancy may act to facilitate the functional competence of the corpus callosum.