Learning and the prefrontal cortex of the cat: Anatomico-behavioral interrelations

Abstract

Relationships between specific learning tasks and ablation of the prefrontal cortex in the cat are reviewed. The eat's prefrontal area is defined, and its anatomical connections are enumerated. Differences in the locus and extent of the so-called frontal association regions that have been reported are described. Effects of prefrontal lesions on various learning tasks are separately reviewed. Several correlations were performed in an attempt to find relationships between prefrontal subareas and learning task performances. In this way, a relation between mediodorsal degeneration and learning impairment was found, and a subdivision of the prefrontal area into at least a dorsolateral and an orbitofrontal part was attempted. Implications of the results of these analyses and additional approaches are discussed.

Cortical-limbic mechanisms and response control: A theoretical review

“…These anatomical studies encouraged a number of behavioral studies aimed at uncovering functional relations by comparing the behavioral effects of mediodorsal frontal lesions in rats with the behavioral impairments known to occur in cats and monkeys following damage to frontal association cortex (dL). The results, in general, have tended to support the view that medial frontal cortex in rats regulates behavioral functions that are similar to those mediated by homologous cortex in cats (gyrus proreus) and monkeys (dL), although rats with medial frontal damage show impairments that are less severe than those observed in cats (Divac, 1971(Divac, , 1972Markowitsch & Pritzel, 1976;Numan & Lubar, 1974;Numan et aI., 1975;Warren et aI., 1969) and monkeys (Butter, 1969;Divac, 1971;Glickstein et aI., 1964;Goldman et aI., 1971;Kolb et aI., 1974;Numan et aI., 1975).…”

The prefrontal cortex: Projection area of the thalamic mediodorsal nucleus?

“…Only a few non primate studies, mainly with prefrontally lesioned cats and dogs, appeared until the end of the last decade (Brutkowski, 1965;Markowitsch & Pritzel, 1976, 1977Warren & Akert, 1964). The statement of Akert (1964, p. 380) that Rose and Woolsey (1948a) had investigated the rat, is wrong; he probably meant' 'rabbit.…”

Animal Neuropsychology

“…The deficit has been demonstrated in primates of several species (Jacobsen and Nissen, 1937;Crawford et al, 1948;Lashley, 1948;Pribram et al, 1952;Miles and Blomquist, 1960;Rosvold and Szwarcbart, 1964;Divac and Warren, 1971;Skeen and Masterton, 1976), cats (Lawicka and Konorski, 1961;Warren et al, 1962;Warren, 1964;Divac, 1968Divac, , 1972aMarkowitsch and Pritzel, 1976), dogs (Lawicka and Konorski, 1959;Konorski, 1961;Konorski and Lawicka, 1964;Lawicka et al, 1966;Lawicka, 1972), rodents (Wikmark et al, 1973;Johnston et al, 1974;Kolb and Nonneman, 1976;Larsen and Divac, 1978;Markowitsch and Riess, 1981;Sakurai and Sugimoto, 1985), and insectivores (Passingham, 1978;Skeen and Masterton, 1982). The deficit has been demonstrated in primates of several species (Jacobsen and Nissen, 1937;Crawford et al, 1948;Lashley, 1948;Pribram et al, 1952;Miles and Blomquist, 1960;Rosvold and Szwarcbart, 1964;Divac and Warren, 1971;Skeen and Masterton, 1976), cats (Lawicka and Konorski, 1961;…”