Remarks on the Optic Tectum

Abstract

I am afraid Dr. Kornhuber has asked me to say something about the tectum not because I know anything about it, but simply because I should. The implication, of course, is that the tectum may be playing a role in the visual pattern discrimination possessed by my kittens after neonatal removal of area striata. This possibility cannot be denied, but the tectum alone does not seem to be enough to sustain pattern vision in such cases. Thus animals with neonatal extirpations that include the middle and posterior ectosylvian gyri in addition to the marginal, splenial, postlateral and posterior suprasylvian are capable only of brightness discrimination.

From the Physiology Department, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor