Visual recognition impairment following medial thalamic lesions in monkeys

Neuropsychologia. 1983;21(3):189-97. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(83)90037-4.

Abstract

Monkeys with surgical lesions which removed the medial portions of the medial and anterior thalamic nuclei were markedly impaired on a test of object recognition. The same animals were able to learn visual pattern discriminations and a spatial delayed response task at a normal rate. These findings indicate that lesions in the medial thalamus produce a selective impairment in visual recognition memory in monkeys and, consequently, may provide an experimental model for human "diencephalic amnesia".

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain Mapping
  • Discrimination Learning / physiology
  • Form Perception / physiology*
  • Macaca fascicularis
  • Mental Recall / physiology
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
  • Thalamic Nuclei / physiology*