Visual Discriminations in the Cat

Abstract

For all their popularity as pets, cats have been conspicuously neglected as experimental animals by behavioral scientists. Yet there are many advantages and even strong reasons for using the cat as a behavioral animal. He is of a convenient size, is easy to maintain, and generally speaking, has a reasonable disposition so that he can be easily handled in the laboratory. Perhaps a more important reason is that a great deal of research has been done by physiologists and anatomists on his nervous system.

This research was supported by PHS Research Grant MH15035 from the National Institute of Mental Health, Grant NB08282 from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, and a grant from the Florida State University Research Council. The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of D. S. Warmath in the collection of the data.