Anterior hypothalamic knife cut eliminates a specific component of the predatory behavior elicited by electrical stimulation of the posterior hypothalamus or ventral midbrain in the cat.

Following unilateral transection of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) within the anterior hypothalamic-preoptic region of cats, the biting attack upon a rat elicited by ipsilateral posterior hypothalamic or ventral midbrain stimulation is eliminated, although the cat continues to approach from 2.8 metres away to within several centimetres of the rat. In contrast, both the approach to and biting attack upon a rat elicited by contralateral posterior hypothalamic and ventral midbrain stimulation are unchanged. The results suggest that specific agents (biting, approach) of the elicited behaviour may be mediated by neural effects which proceed along anatomically distinct components of the ascending as well as the descending MFB.