Visual discrimination impaired by cutting temporal lobe connections.

An attempt was made to transect the white matter that connects the anterior temporal lobe with dorsal and medial brain areas. Eight monkeys were trained preoperatively on a visual discrimination and tested postoperatively for retention and relearning of the task. They were also tested for Klüver-Bucy symptoms. The two animals that had complete lesions were unable to relearn the visual discrimination. It is suggested that human medial temporal lesions may produce their effects on learning and retention by damage to temporal white matter rather than by destruction of hippocampus.