[Dynamics of elaboration of an active defensive reflex after combined section of the visual tract and different...

Elaboration of an active defensive reflex (ADR) was studied on intact animals (I) and on cats after a combined section of the optic tract and the commissural systems of the midbrain (II) and after a combined section of the optic tract and the commissural systems of the telencephalon and the diencephalon (III). On the first days of elaboration, the correlation between active and passive defensive reactions changed in the animals of the III group as compared with the intact cats. The greatest difference in ADR elaboration between the intact animals and cats of the II and III groups was observed on the first day. On the subsequent days of elaboration the differences diminish and by the 4th to 6th day do not exceed the variations in the intact animals behaviour. The operated animals on the whole achieve higher parameters in differentiation training than the intact ones. In the course of ADR elaboration, against the background of a flickering light, a driving response is recorded in the visual cortical areas of all the groups during the achievement of the active defensive conditioned reaction.