Visual resolution in young kittens

Mitchell, Donald E.; Giffin, Fred; Wilkinson, Frances; Anderson, Philip C.; Smith, Mary Louise

doi:10.1016/0042-6989(76)90197-8

Cited by 113 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…These measurements provide at any age representative values of the acuity from which the effects of monocular deprivation can be assessed. They also confirm the earlier finding (Mitchell et al 1976) that the kitten does not achieve its maximum acuity until 4 months of age. At any age the visual acuities achieved by the non-deprived eye of these animals on the jumping stand were somewhat higher than previously reported values obtained by this procedure (Mitchell et al 1976).…”

Section: Histologysupporting

confidence: 80%

“…They also confirm the earlier finding (Mitchell et al 1976) that the kitten does not achieve its maximum acuity until 4 months of age. At any age the visual acuities achieved by the non-deprived eye of these animals on the jumping stand were somewhat higher than previously reported values obtained by this procedure (Mitchell et al 1976). The higher absolute acuities achieved in the animals of the present study (as high as 8 cycles/deg) may be attributed to the higher luminance levels and possibly to improvement in the training techniques.…”

Section: Histologysupporting

confidence: 80%

“…The recent development of behavioural techniques that enable the rapid assessment of the visual capabilities of kittens as young as 4-5 weeks of age now permit measurements of the initial effects of monocular deprivation on vision as well as longitudinal studies of the time course of the subsequent recovery (Mitchell, Giffin, Wilkinson, Anderson & Smith, 1976;Mitchell, Giffin & Timney, 1977a). As an initial step in defining the nature of the perceptual deficits that follow early monocular deprivation, we have investigated the effect on the visual acuity for gratings.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The rate of recovery of vision after early monocular deprivation in kittens

Giffin

Mitchell

1978

The Journal of Physiology

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168

110

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3. The initial effects of monocular deprivation were graded in severity according to the age at which the deprivation was imposed, ranging from apparent blindness in animals deprived at 6 weeks of age to only a small loss of acuity in kittens deprived at 12 weeks of age.4. The effects of deprivation imposed from birth were particularly severe, leading to a temporary blindness. Nevertheless after a period of time that became progressively longer with increasing deprivation, all animals showed some recovery of pattern vision over the course of the next 2 or 3 months. The extent of this recovery became progressively less as the period of deprivation was prolonged. There was even some recovery of vision (an acuity of 2-5 cycles/deg) in animals that were deprived throughout the duration of the 'critical period' to 4 months of age.5. Direct comparison of the rate of behavioural recovery between animals that were reverse sutured with that of litter-mates that received binocular input after monocular occlusion to either 45 or 60 days of age proved to be remarkably similar, although the acuity that was eventually attained by the reverse sutured animals was always slightly higher.6. The recoveries observed after reverse suturing were reasonably well correlated with changes observed in the ocular dominance of visual cortical cells under similar circumstances. 7. Although the recovery in these animals can be accounted for by the simple notion of a competitive interaction between the two eyes, the recovery observed in animals that had both eyes open after the initial period of deprivation cannot be so readily explained. Evidently there must be an additional non-competitive mechanism of recovery.

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Section: Histologysupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Histologysupporting

confidence: 80%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The rate of recovery of vision after early monocular deprivation in kittens

Giffin

Mitchell

1978

The Journal of Physiology

Self Cite

168

110

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“…Acuity and contrast sensitivity improve 10-to 30-fold over the course of maturation. Behavioral studies in animals and humans show a steady progression of development over the first 3-4 months in cat (Mitchell et al, 1976), 6 -9 months in macaque monkey (Boothe et al, 1988;Kiorpes, 1992), and 3-6 years in humans (Mayer and Dobson, 1982;Ellemberg et al, 1999). The neural limitations on this process have not been established (Kiorpes and Movshon, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional Maturation of the Macaque's Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

Movshon¹,

Kiorpes²,

Hawken³

et al. 2005

J. Neurosci.

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Vision in infant primates is poor, but it is not known which structures in the eye or brain set the main limits to its development. We studied the visual response properties of 348 neurons recorded in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of macaque monkeys aged 1 week to adult. We measured spatial and temporal frequency tuning curves and contrast responses with drifting achromatic sinusoidal gratings. Even in animals as young as 1 week, the main visual response properties of neurons in the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) divisions of the LGN were qualitatively normal, including the spatial organization of receptive fields and the characteristic response properties that differentiate M-and P-cells. At 1 and 4 weeks, spatial and temporal resolution were less than one-half of adult values, whereas contrast gain and peak response rates for optimal stimuli were about two-thirds of adult values. Adult levels were reached by 24 weeks. Analysis of correlations between S-potentials representing retinal inputs and LGN cells suggested that the LGN follows retinal input as faithfully in infants as in adults, implicating retinal development as the main driving force in LGN development. Comparisons with previously published psychophysical data and ideal observer models suggest that the relatively modest changes in LGN responses during maturation impose no significant limits on visual performance. In contrast to previous studies, we conclude that these limits are set by neural development in the visual cortex, not in or peripheral to the LGN.

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“…However, it is difficult to train non-human species on tasks without close spatial contiguity between stimulus, response, and reward (see Cowey & Ellis, 1967, for discussion of this issue). For animals with much lower visual acuity (< 8 c/deg), this can be successfully achieved using the Lashley jumping stand, in which the animal jumps toward a visual pattern (lemur Eulemur macaco flavifrons: Veilleux & Kirk, 2009;gerbil Meriones unguiculatus: Wilkinson, 1984), or as in the Mitchell adaptation for cats (Felis catus), jumping down onto a patterned surface (Mitchell, Giffin, Wilkinson, Anderson, & Smith, 1976). However, it is extremely difficult to produce, either by digital printing or electronically, a grating pattern as fine as 50 c/deg when within reach of the subject.…”

Section: Limits Of Primate Visual Abilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits of Spatial Vision in Sumatran Orangutans (Pongo abelii)

Adams¹,

Wilkinson²,

MacDonald³

2017

AB&C

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-Although research with animals is often done under the assumption that visual abilities are similar across species, the visual ability of most animals, including orangutans, has not been experimentally evaluated. In this study we assessed the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) of two female zoo-housed Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) aged 20 and 26 years old. Orangutans were rewarded for selecting vertical or horizontal square wave gratings at the correct orientation. Results showed a CSF similar in shape and position to that of human adults, although with lower contrast sensitivity. These lower values may be due to testing constraints or may be due to species differences. These data have implications for research on orangutan cognition, hominid evolution, and have practical implications for captive and wild management of this endangered species.

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Visual resolution in young kittens

Cited by 113 publications

References 13 publications

The rate of recovery of vision after early monocular deprivation in kittens

The rate of recovery of vision after early monocular deprivation in kittens

Functional Maturation of the Macaque's Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

Limits of Spatial Vision in Sumatran Orangutans (Pongo abelii)

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