Comparative commissure function: Interocular transfer of successive visual discriminations in cats

Intact and chiasm-sectioned cats were tested for interocular transfer after monocular training of a successive two-choice discrimination task. Similar tasks were previously employed to demonstrate complete failure of interocular transfer in both commissure-intact pigeons and goldfish. In contrast, both groups of cats showed clear interocular transfer. The results provide evidence for differing functional capacity in analogous interhemispheric pathways among vertebrates, and suggest that interocular transfer of successive visual discriminations may be a suitable paradigm for study of phyletic differences in behavioral ability.