Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol 50, Issue 3 631-643, Copyright © 1983 by APS
Effects of eye rotation on visually guided behavior
J. Presson, J. Moran and B. Gordon
Visually guided behavior was examined in cats reared with one eye intorted,
one eye extorted, or monocular section of the extraocular muscles. Kittens
from 2 to 4 mo old jumped from a tower onto a platform in a pan of water.
They refused to jump or missed the platform more often when forced to use
the rotated eye than when forced to use the unoperated eye. This deficit
was eliminated if the non-rotated eye was sutured at the time of eye
rotation. Further, when the extraocular muscles were cut but the eye was
not rotated, jumping was normal. Acuity was measured using an alley box in
which the cats were required to distinguish between horizontal and vertical
stripes. No cats were blind when tested with the operated eye. Although not
conclusive, the data suggest that the acuity of the rotated eye was
slightly lower than that of the unoperated eye. The visual field of the
rotated eye was also abnormal. Regardless of the direction of eye rotation,
the cats appeared blind in the contralateral and lower visual quadrants.
This field deficit was much less severe in animals with extraocular muscle
section alone and did not occur in rotation-plus-suture animals. The
visual-field deficits in the contralateral field can be explained by
assuming that each collicular or cortical region always controls orienting
to the same region of the visual field. We are, however, unable to explain
the deficits in the lower field in terms of the mapping data from the
previous paper (4).
