Susceptibility to Startle During Ongoing Behaviour Following Collicular Lesions in the Rat

Normal rats tend to respond to a sudden burst of noise or flash of light with slightly less startle when they are engaged in active behaviour at the time of presentation. This effect is vastly more pronounced in animals with lesions of the superior colliculus. These results are taken as support for a theory implicating this midbrain structure in the process of redirecting attention.