Cat P300 present after primary auditory cortex ablation.

A long-latency (200-500 msec) endogenous potential with characteristics of the human P300 was recorded over 12 sessions in 4 adult cats. Principal components analysis with t tests showed that this potential was significantly larger in response to rare auditory stimuli than to the same stimuli presented frequently. The primary auditory cortex was ablated bilaterally. The preoperative tone-elicited conditioned eye blink response remained postoperatively. After 12 postoperative sessions, statistical analyses of these data demonstrated that the P300-like potential was still present. Thus, the primary auditory cortex is not necessary for generation of the P300-like response in cats.