Parietal and frontal eye field neglect in the rat

Abstract

Rats were given unilateral aspiration lesions of parietal, medial frontal, or dorsolateral frontal (motor) cortex and then tested for visual, auditory and tactile neglect, and for circling. All medial frontal lesion animals showed contralateral neglect in each modality and circled ipsiversively. The parietal lesion rats initially displayed contralateral visual and auditory neglect as severe as that in the medial frontal group. Three weeks after the lesions, the parietal group had a smaller residual deficit on the visual test than the medial frontal group. In the first week, parietal animals responded less than the medial frontals to stroking the vibrissae but were more responsive to mild pinching of a toe contralateral to the lesion side. In striking contrast to the medial frontal animals, the parietal group circled strongly to the contralateral side. No rat with a motor cortex lesion neglected or circled preferentially. Like medial frontal cortex, unilateral parietal lesions also produce neglect and circling, but there are important features distinguishing unilateral lesion effects in these two regions.