Size-threshold changes after lesions of the visual telencephalon in pigeons

Abstract

Fifteen pigeons were tested in a psychophysical procedure that determined the limits of their ability to detect differences in the sizes of stimuli. The results indicated that intact pigeons can reliably discriminate an annulus 3.0 mm in diameter from one that is 3.9 mm in diameter. In the first experiment, pigeons with lesions of the ectostriatum that spared the medial 15% were unimpaired in their size-discrimination ability. Those cases in which the lesions involved both the medial and lateral regions of the ectostriatum were greatly impaired. In a second experiment, these findings were replicated. In some cases, the electrode trajectory was varied to rule out possible effects from non-ectostriatal structures. In addition, the second study indicated that destruction of the medial ectostriatum with the lateral regions intact had no measurable effect on size-difference thresholds. The medial region of ectostriatum is part of the termination field of a second tectofugal pathway to the telencephalon. This pathway passes from the optic tectum to nucleus dorsolateralis posterior thalami and then to the neostriatum intermedium, including the medial ectostriatum. An examination of the data of the present experiment and those of other behavioral studies of the ectostriatum suggest that the medial ectostriatum may be involved in the processing of visual information with low spatial-frequency components and the lateral ectostriatum may be processing information about the high-frequency composition of stimuli.