The effects of extensive forebrain lesions on visual discriminative performance in turtles (Chrysemys picta picta)

Though anatomical research has demonstrated major ascending telecephalically directed visual channels in reptiles, little behavioral research has examined reptilian forebrain visual functions. The present study reports the effects of extensive forebrain lesions, involving either severe destruction of dorsal thalamus or disruption of the fibers of the lateral forebrain bundle (by lesions of the basolateral telecephalon), upon visual discriminative performance in the turtle. Such lesions, which extensively damage the ascending visual pathways, rendered turtles incapable of relearning preoperatively acquired visual discriminative problems. The magnitude of the visual impairments observed following such forebrain lesions suggest a major role on the part of the forebrain in visual processing in reptiles.