TACTILE EXTINCTION FOLLOWING UNILATERAL LESIONS IN THE RAT ANTEROMEDIAL CORTEX - EFFECTS OF A CONTRALATERAL CUE

Following unilateral lesions of the anteromedial cortex (AMC) or the c audal forelimb representation (CFL), rats prefer to remove an adhesive patch placed on the forelimb ipsilateral to the lesion before removin g a simultaneously applied contralateral patch (i.e., ipsilateral asym metry). The present experiment was designed to investigate the possibi lity that attention has some role in these asymmetries. Specifically, the researchers investigated whether a contralateral tactile cue prese nted before the simultaneous presentation of bilateral tactile stimuli would neutralize the ipsilateral asymmetry. In rats with AMC lesions, the contralateral cue neutralized the ipsilateral bias, whereas the c ue had no effect on rats with CFL lesions. These data suggest that the ipsilateral bias observed in AMC-damaged rats may reflect an impairme nt in attention.