Behavioural compensation of cats after early rotation of one eye.

Two cats, each with one eye surgically rotated by about 90, were trained (by two different behavioural methods) to discriminate horizontal from vertical stripes using the normal eye alone. When they had mastered the discrimination, the normal eye was occluded and the rotated eye was tested for transfer with neither stimulus reinforced. Both cats responded immediately and consistently to the same stimulus that they had learned to choose with the normal eye. These animals seem to have adapted to eye-rotation not only in terms of spatial localization but also in terms of the recognition of the orientation of contours. These behavioural compensations cannot be accounted for by simple changes in the organization of the visual cortex.