Early selective visual experience and pattern discrimination in hooded rats.

The early visual experience of hooded rats was restricted to either vertical or horizontal stripes. In a discrimination task pairing a gray surface and stripes of either the same orientation or an orientation orthogonal to that experienced during rearing, the rats made significantly fewer correct choices with the orthogonal orientation. However, the relatively lower overall performance of the vertically reared-horizontally tested animals was a major factor in the main effect of testing condition. We conclude that functional of the rat visual system through early selective visual experience is possible.