Lateral masking effects on contrast sensitivity in rats.

Changes in target visibility may be produced by additional stimulus elements at adjacent locations. Such contextual effects may reflect lateral interactions of stimulus representations in early cortical areas. It has been reported that the organization of orientation preference found in primates and cats visual cortex differs from that found in rodents, suggesting functional distinctions across species.

Effects of contrast, spatial frequency, and stimulus duration on reaction time in rats.

Early visual processing in rats is mediated by several pre-cortical pathways as well as multiple retinal ganglion cell types that vary in response characteristics. Discrete processing is thereby optimized for select ranges of stimulus parameters. In order to explore variation in response characteristics at a perceptual level, visual detection in rats was measured across a range of contrasts, spatial frequencies, and durations.