THE EFFECT OF OPHTHALMECTOMY UPON RESPONSES OF THE RAT TO RADIATION AND TASTE STIMULI1

Journal/Book: Reprinted from: THE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE and PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Vol. 51 No. 3 1958 (Printed in U.S.A.). 1958;

Abstract: 1 The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as reflecting the official views of the Defense Department. A short discussion of Experiment B was presented at the 1956 APA Convention. SUMMARY Ophthalmectomized rats as well as normal controls were exposed to radiation and simultaneously drank saccharin-flavored water Both blind and normal animals exhibited a subsequent decrement in consumption of the solution in postirradiation tests; therefore the hypothesis that the avoidance behavior was established through the action of radiation upon the retina (radiation phosphene) was rejected. Blind animals progressively increased their intake of the saccharin solution with repeated testing in the home cage and drank significantly more of the fluid compared with normal controls. It was suggested that this increased ingestion of the nonnutritive solution may be a compensatory reaction to the ophthalmectomy. . . .

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