Postoperative haptic training facilitates the retrieval of visual-based memories after visual cortex lesions in rats.

Two experiments examined the effects of postoperative haptic discrimination training on the relearning of a maze visual discrimination in rats with visual cortex lesions. In the first experiment, rats learned a visual intensity discrimination prior to ablation of the lateral Oc2L cortex. Lesion rats were exposed to either a rough/smooth haptic discrimination training condition, a random training condition, or a no-training condition prior to relearning the visual task.