Simultaneous Shape Discrimination in Octopus After Removal of the Vertical Lobe

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Abstract
In all previous investigations of the effects of vertical lobe removal on the discrimination of shape by Octopus, the animals were trained with the shapes presented successively, i.e. they were trained to attack one shape (the positive) when presented on its own, and not to attack another (the negative) when presented alone. Under these conditions, animals lacking the vertical lobes can learn to perform above chance with easy visual discriminations, but post-operative performance is much poorer than in unoperated controls whether animals are trained before or after the operation (refs, in Young, 1961). Animals are very severely impaired on a difficult discrimination, and may indeed give no evidence of learning. Some findings suggest that the poor performance is partly due to fluctuations in the tendency to attack that result from removal of the vertical lobes; thus operated animals tend to take any shape shown immediately after having been fed (whether it is positive or negative) and tend not to take any shape shown after receiving a shock.

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