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Behavioural repertory of cats without cerebral cortex from infancy

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Summary

Bilateral removal of the cerebral cortex was made in cats neonatally. Spontaneous and imposed behaviour was studied while they were growing up and after they had become adult. Special emphasis was put on the utilization of visual cues and on learning. The cats ate, drank and groomed themselves adequately. Adequate maternal and female sexual behaviour was observed. They utilized the visual and haptic senses with respect to external space. Two cats were trained to perform visual discrimination in a T-maze. The adequacy of the behaviour of these cats is compared to that of animals with similar lesions made at maturity.

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This work was supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council (project No 2857) and the Medical Faculty, University of Göteborg. Miss Eva-Britt Gordon assisted in the experiments. Mrs. Teodora Nowicka prepared specimens for microanatomical examination.

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Bjursten, L.M., Norrsell, K. & Norrsell, U. Behavioural repertory of cats without cerebral cortex from infancy. Exp Brain Res 25, 115–130 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234897

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