ABSTRACT
The first part of the Bennett Lecture for 1975 is a description of the dissociation of visual perception in the macaque monkey by ablation of area 17 on the one hand, and of areas 18 and 19 on the other. Bilateral removal of area 17, with careful preservation of a great part of areas 18 and 19, and of the inferior pulvinar, resulted in loss of binocular fixation, loss of visual recognition of still objects, and loss of visuosocial behavior such as grimacing and vocalization. There remained excellent visuospatial orientation and reaching for moving peripheral visual targets. Removal of areas 18 and 19, with isolation of area 17 from the remainder of cortex, was accomplished in two animals and left intact the ability to distinguish and sort out still objects by vision, with intact fixation, and visuosocial behavior. Spatial orientation was then easily confused by movement.
Subject(s)
Visual Cortex/physiology , Visual Perception/physiology , Animals , Eye Movements , Geniculate Bodies/physiology , Haplorhini , Macaca mulatta , Movement , Neural Pathways , Occipital Lobe/physiology , Space Perception/physiology , Temporal Lobe/physiology , Visual Pathways/physiology , Vocalization, Animal/physiologyABSTRACT
The second part of the Bennett Lecture for 1975 by Denny-Brown examined the subcortical representation of the dissociation of function described by Denny-Brown and Chambers. Complete removal in the macaque monkey of the corticomesencephalic fibers where they pass from pulvinar to colliculus, and of the colliculus, resulted in the same loss of visual object identification, binocular fixation, and visuosocial behavior that followed removal of area 17. Vision for peripheral movement and spatial orientation ("panoramic vision") remained excellent, with release of catatonia. Conversely, unilateral electrolytic lesions of the mesencephalic tegmentum produced visuospatial distortion, asymmetry of optic righting, and directional difficulties in eye movement (Parinaud syndrome and skew deviation). When bilateral, tegmental lesions produced great constriction of visual field with release of convergence and fixation spasm. Suppression of peripheral attention resulted from perceptual rivalry.
