Grooming behavior in cats with pontile lesions and cats with tectal lesions

Because an abnormal grooming behavior that is mediated by the superior colliculi is elicited from cats with pontile lesions, an ablation study of these structures was conducted to specify quantitatively the changes in grooming behavior. Cats that underwent the surgical procedure except for the lesion and cats with lesions of the auditory and visual cortices served as control groups. Time-lapse motion pictures of the cats in their home cages were taken, and statistical analyses of the grooming behavior shown on the films indicated that cats with pontile lesions and cats with tectal lesions spent less time grooming, had shorter grooming bouts, and failed to exhibit the normal temporal pattern of grooming behaviors. Other studies revealed that cats with pontile or tectal lesions were deficient in removing tapes stuck on their fur. A sensory-loss hypothesis appeared to account for some of the changes, but a deficit in endogenous control of the grooming behaviors also was indicated. The literature on grooming behavior related to peripheral versus endogenous control was reviewed, and the role of the superior colliculi as a higher order integrative center for complex behaviors is emphasized.