1
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Kaplan G. The evolution of social play in songbirds, parrots and cockatoos - emotional or highly complex cognitive behaviour or both? Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 161:105621. [PMID: 38479604 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 02/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Social play has been described in many animals. However, much of this social behaviour among birds, particularly in adults, is still relatively unexplored in terms of the environmental, psychological, and social dynamics of play. This paper provides an overview of what we know about adult social play in birds and addresses areas in which subtleties and distinctions, such as in play initiation and social organisation and its relationship to expressions of play, are considered in detail. The paper considers emotional, social, innovative, and cognitive aspects of play, then the environmental conditions and affiliative bonds, suggesting a surprisingly complex framework of criteria awaiting further research. Adult social play has so far been studied in only a small number of avian species, exclusively in those with a particularly large brain relative to body size without necessarily addressing brain functions and lateralization. When lateralization of brain function is considered, it can further illuminate a possibly significant relevance of play behaviour to the evolution of cognition, to management of emotions, and the development of sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gisela Kaplan
- University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
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2
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Abstract
Although the population-level preference for the use of the right hand is the clearest example of behavioral lateralization, it represents only the best-known instance of a variety of functional asymmetries observable in humans. What is interesting is that many of such asymmetries emerge during the processing of social stimuli, as often occurs in the case of human bodies, faces and voices. In the present paper, after reviewing previous literature about human functional asymmetries for social and emotional stimuli, we suggest some possible links among them and stress the necessity of a comprehensive account (in both ontogenetic and phylogenetic terms) for these not yet fully explained phenomena. In particular, we propose that the advantages of lateralization for emotion processing should be considered in light of previous suggestions that (i) functional hemispheric specialization enhances cognitive capacity and efficiency, and (ii) the alignment (at the population level) of the direction of behavioral asymmetries emerges, under social pressures, as an evolutionary stable strategy.
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3
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Szabó E, Chiandetti C, Téglás E, Versace E, Csibra G, Kovács ÁM, Vallortigara G. Young domestic chicks spontaneously represent the absence of objects. eLife 2022; 11:67208. [PMID: 35404231 PMCID: PMC9000949 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Absence is a notion that is usually captured by language-related concepts like zero or negation. Whether nonlinguistic creatures encode similar thoughts is an open question, as everyday behavior marked by absence (of food, of social partners) can be explained solely by expecting presence somewhere else. We investigated 8-day-old chicks’ looking behavior in response to events violating expectations about the presence or absence of an object. We found different behavioral responses to violations of presence and absence, suggesting distinct underlying mechanisms. Importantly, chicks displayed an avian signature of novelty detection to violations of absence, namely a sex-dependent left-eye-bias. Follow-up experiments excluded accounts that would explain this bias by perceptual mismatch or by representing the object at different locations. These results suggest that the ability to spontaneously form representations about the absence of objects likely belongs to the initial cognitive repertoire of vertebrate species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eszter Szabó
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Ernő Téglás
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Elisabetta Versace
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gergely Csibra
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
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4
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Zhang Y, Hu Q, Lai X, Hu Z, Gao S. Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment. Sci Rep 2021; 11:17574. [PMID: 34475474 PMCID: PMC8413379 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97039-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that humans have a left spatial attention bias in cognition and behaviour. However, whether there exists a leftward perception bias of gaze direction has not been investigated. To address this gap, we conducted three behavioural experiments using a forced-choice gaze direction judgment task. The point of subjective equality (PSE) was employed to measure whether there was a leftward perception bias of gaze direction, and if there was, whether this bias was modulated by face emotion. The results of experiment 1 showed that the PSE of fearful faces was significantly positive as compared to zero and this effect was not found in angry, happy, and neutral faces, indicating that participants were more likely to judge the gaze direction of fearful faces as directed to their left-side space, namely a leftward perception bias. With the response keys counterbalanced between participants, experiment 2a replicated the findings in experiment 1. To further investigate whether the gaze direction perception variation was contributed by emotional or low-level features of faces, experiment 2b and 3 used inverted faces and inverted eyes, respectively. The results revealed similar leftward perception biases of gaze direction in all types of faces, indicating that gaze direction perception was biased by emotional information in faces rather than low-level facial features. Overall, our study demonstrates that there a fear-specific leftward perception bias in processing gaze direction. These findings shed new light on the cerebral lateralization in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Zhang
- grid.412600.10000 0000 9479 9538Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068 People’s Republic of China ,grid.440818.10000 0000 8664 1765Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Qiqi Hu
- grid.440818.10000 0000 8664 1765Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xinwei Lai
- grid.412600.10000 0000 9479 9538Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068 People’s Republic of China
| | - Zhonghua Hu
- grid.412600.10000 0000 9479 9538Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068 People’s Republic of China
| | - Shan Gao
- grid.54549.390000 0004 0369 4060School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731 People’s Republic of China ,grid.54549.390000 0004 0369 4060The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China
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5
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Rubene D, Løvlie H. Red Junglefowl Chicks Seek Contact With Humans During Foraging Task. Front Psychol 2021; 12:675526. [PMID: 34248772 PMCID: PMC8260840 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Contact seeking with humans is documented in some domestic animals, mainly dogs, which have advanced communication skills. Domestication as a companion animal is thought to underlie this ability. However, also domesticated horses and goats display similar human-directed behaviors. This suggests either a broader effect of domestication on contact-seeking behavior, or alternatively, that social interactions with humans can result in the development of human contact seeking. As part of another study, we observed contact-seeking behavior in juvenile red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) chicks exposed to behavioral training since hatching, during a foraging task, where chicks were singly required to collect food rewards in a familiar arena using odor cues. If chicks left the arena, we recorded if they approached and looked up at the experimenter, or if they approached other objects (including another human). Chicks approached the experimenter significantly more often than they approached other objects. This behavior was not linked to a fast performance in the test arena, which gave some birds more time to explore the surroundings, or to learning ability measured in a cognitive task. Yet, the preference for the experimenter was lower for chicks that were handled more prior to the experiment. Also, approach probability was positively correlated with escape attempts in a novel arena test. The observed variation in approach behavior suggests a link to aspects of personality, and exposure to human interactions and experimental procedures. Our observations suggest that, although neither domesticated nor selectively bred, red junglefowl that are socialized with humans can potentially develop behavior used to describe contact seeking. Together with evidence from cognitive and behavioral studies, our results suggest that social experiences, not only domestication, can affect human-animal interactions. We propose how interactions between behavior, cognition and handling could be studied further in controlled settings to validate the preliminary findings of our study and uncover the underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Rubene
- Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Hanne Løvlie
- Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Biology Division, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
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6
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Light-incubation effects on lateralisation of single unit responses in the visual Wulst of domestic chicks. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:497-513. [PMID: 33783595 PMCID: PMC8844149 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02259-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Since the ground-breaking discovery that in-egg light exposure triggers the emergence of visual lateralisation, domestic chicks became a crucial model for research on the interaction of environmental and genetic influences for brain development. In domestic chick embryos, light exposure induces neuroanatomical asymmetries in the strength of visual projections from the thalamus to the visual Wulst. Consequently, the right visual Wulst receives more bilateral information from the two eyes than the left one. How this impacts visual Wulst's physiology is still unknown. This paper investigates the visual response properties of neurons in the left and right Wulst of dark- and light-incubated chicks, studying the effect of light incubation on bilaterally responsive cells that integrate information from both eyes. We recorded from a large number of visually responsive units, providing the first direct evidence of lateralisation in the neural response properties of units of the visual Wulst. While we confirm that some forms of lateralisation are induced by embryonic light exposure, we found also many cases of light-independent asymmetries. Moreover, we found a strong effect of in-egg light exposure on the general development of the functional properties of units in the two hemispheres. This indicates that the effect of embryonic stimulation goes beyond its contribution to the emergence of some forms of lateralisation, with influences on the maturation of visual units in both hemispheres.
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7
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Xiao Q, Güntürkün O. The commissura anterior compensates asymmetries of visual representation in pigeons. Laterality 2021; 26:213-237. [PMID: 33622187 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2021.1889577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
This study was undertaken to understand what is transferred between hemispheres through the commissura anterior during a colour discrimination task in pigeons. We transiently blocked neuronal activity of the arcopallium of one hemisphere to interrupt interhemispheric communication. Before and during this intervention, we recorded from arcopallial neurons of the non-anaesthetized side while the animals discriminated stimuli ipsilateral to the recorded neurons. Due to the complete crossover of optic nerves in birds, we assumed that these neurons were at least in part requiring information from the other hemisphere to properly run the task. While lidocaine injections in both hemispheres caused some performance reductions, deficits of right arcopallial neurons were much larger when blocking interhemispheric transfer. Our results make it likely that visual information is exchanged through the commissura anterior in an asymmetrical manner with the left hemisphere providing the other side more information about the right visual half-field than vice versa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Xiao
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.,Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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8
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Rosa-Salva O, Mayer U, Versace E, Hébert M, Lemaire BS, Vallortigara G. Sensitive periods for social development: Interactions between predisposed and learned mechanisms. Cognition 2021; 213:104552. [PMID: 33402251 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Revised: 12/08/2020] [Accepted: 12/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
We analysed research that makes use of precocial species as animal models to describe the interaction of predisposed mechanisms and environmental factors in early learning, in particular for the development of social cognition. We also highlight the role of sensitive periods in this interaction, focusing on domestic chicks as one of the main animal models for this field. In the first section of the review, we focus on the emergence of early predispositions to attend to social partners. These attentional biases appear before any learning experience about social stimuli. However, non-specific experiences occurring during sensitive periods of the early post-natal life determine the emergence of these predisposed mechanisms for the detection of social partners. Social predispositions have an important role for the development learning-based social cognitive functions, showing the interdependence of predisposed and learned mechanisms in shaping social development. In the second part of the review we concentrate on the reciprocal interactions between filial imprinting and spontaneous (not learned) social predispositions. Reciprocal influences between these two sets of mechanisms ensure that, in the natural environment, filial imprinting will target appropriate social objects. Neural and physiological mechanisms regulating the sensitive periods for the emergence of social predispositions and for filial imprinting learning are also described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orsola Rosa-Salva
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy
| | - Uwe Mayer
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy
| | - Elisabetta Versace
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy; Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom
| | - Marie Hébert
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy
| | - Bastien S Lemaire
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy
| | - Giorgio Vallortigara
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy.
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9
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Manzi F, Ishikawa M, Di Dio C, Itakura S, Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Massaro D, Marchetti A. The understanding of congruent and incongruent referential gaze in 17-month-old infants: an eye-tracking study comparing human and robot. Sci Rep 2020; 10:11918. [PMID: 32681110 PMCID: PMC7368080 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-69140-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2020] [Accepted: 07/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Several studies have shown that the human gaze, but not the robot gaze, has significant effects on infant social cognition and facilitate social engagement. The present study investigates early understanding of the referential nature of gaze by comparing-through the eye-tracking technique-infants' response to human and robot's gaze. Data were acquired on thirty-two 17-month-old infants, watching four video clips, where either a human or a humanoid robot performed an action on a target. The agent's gaze was either turned to the target (congruent) or opposite to it (incongruent). The results generally showed that, independent of the agent, the infants attended longer at the face area compared to the hand and target. Additionally, the effect of referential gaze on infants' attention to the target was greater when infants watched the human compared to the robot's action. These results suggest the presence, in infants, of two distinct levels of gaze-following mechanisms: one recognizing the other as a potential interactive partner, the second recognizing partner's agency. In this study, infants recognized the robot as a potential interactive partner, whereas ascribed agency more readily to the human, thus suggesting that the process of generalizability of gazing behaviour to non-humans is not immediate.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Manzi
- Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
| | - M Ishikawa
- School of Graduated Letter, Department of Psychology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - C Di Dio
- Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - S Itakura
- Centre for Baby Science, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - T Kanda
- Human-Robot Interaction Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.,Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, IRC/HIL, Keihanna Science City, Kyoto, Japan
| | - H Ishiguro
- Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, IRC/HIL, Keihanna Science City, Kyoto, Japan.,Department of Systems Innovation, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Japan
| | - D Massaro
- Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - A Marchetti
- Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
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10
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Golüke S, Bischof HJ, Engelmann J, Caspers BA, Mayer U. Social odour activates the hippocampal formation in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Behav Brain Res 2019; 364:41-49. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.02.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2019] [Revised: 02/04/2019] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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11
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Lorenzi E, Mayer U, Rosa-Salva O, Vallortigara G. Dynamic features of animate motion activate septal and preoptic areas in visually naïve chicks ( Gallus gallus ). Neuroscience 2017; 354:54-68. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2016] [Revised: 03/25/2017] [Accepted: 04/17/2017] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
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12
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Book DL, Freeberg TM. Titmouse calling and foraging are affected by head and body orientation of cat predator models and possible experience with real cats. Anim Cogn 2015; 18:1155-64. [PMID: 26123081 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-015-0888-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2015] [Revised: 05/29/2015] [Accepted: 06/16/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Although anti-predator behavior systems have been studied in diverse taxa, less is known about how prey species detect and assess the immediate threat posed by a predator based on its behavior. In this study, we evaluated a potential cue that some species may utilize when assessing predation threat-the predator's body and head orientation. We tested the effect of this orientation cue on signaling and predation-risk-sensitive foraging of a prey species, tufted titmice (Baeolophus bicolor). Earlier work revealed sensitivity of titmice and related species to the presence of predator stimuli. Here, we manipulated cat models to face either toward or away from a food source preferred by titmice and then measured titmouse calling and seed-taking behavior. Titmice showed greater feeder avoidance when the cat predator models faced the feeder, compared to when the models faced away from the feeder or when titmice were exposed to control stimuli. Titmouse calling was also sensitive to predator head/body orientation, depending upon whether titmice were from sites where real cats had been observed or not. This study experimentally demonstrated that both calling and foraging of prey species can be affected by the head and body orientation of an important terrestrial predator. Prey species may therefore signal in strategic ways to conspecifics not just about predator presence, but also urgency of threat related to the more subtle cue of the head and body orientation of the predator. These findings hold potential implications for understanding animal cognition and learning processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- D L Book
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Austin Peay Building 301B, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA
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13
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Amaral CP, Simões MA, Castelo-Branco MS. Neural signals evoked by stimuli of increasing social scene complexity are detectable at the single-trial level and right lateralized. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0121970. [PMID: 25807525 PMCID: PMC4373781 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2014] [Accepted: 02/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Classification of neural signals at the single-trial level and the study of their relevance in affective and cognitive neuroscience are still in their infancy. Here we investigated the neurophysiological correlates of conditions of increasing social scene complexity using 3D human models as targets of attention, which may also be important in autism research. Challenging single-trial statistical classification of EEG neural signals was attempted for detection of oddball stimuli with increasing social scene complexity. Stimuli had an oddball structure and were as follows: 1) flashed schematic eyes, 2) simple 3D faces flashed between averted and non-averted gaze (only eye position changing), 3) simple 3D faces flashed between averted and non-averted gaze (head and eye position changing), 4) animated avatar alternated its gaze direction to the left and to the right (head and eye position), 5) environment with 4 animated avatars all of which change gaze and one of which is the target of attention. We found a late (> 300 ms) neurophysiological oddball correlate for all conditions irrespective of their complexity as assessed by repeated measures ANOVA. We attempted single-trial detection of this signal with automatic classifiers and obtained a significant balanced accuracy classification of around 79%, which is noteworthy given the amount of scene complexity. Lateralization analysis showed a specific right lateralization only for more complex realistic social scenes. In sum, complex ecological animations with social content elicit neurophysiological events which can be characterized even at the single-trial level. These signals are right lateralized. These finding paves the way for neuroscientific studies in affective neuroscience based on complex social scenes, and given the detectability at the single trial level this suggests the feasibility of brain computer interfaces that can be applied to social cognition disorders such as autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos P Amaral
- IBILI-Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Marco A Simões
- IBILI-Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Miguel S Castelo-Branco
- IBILI-Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; ICNAS, Brain Imaging Network of Portugal, Coimbra, Portugal
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14
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Freeberg TM, Krama T, Vrublevska J, Krams I, Kullberg C. Tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) calling and risk-sensitive foraging in the face of threat. Anim Cogn 2014; 17:1341-52. [PMID: 24929843 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-014-0770-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2014] [Revised: 05/03/2014] [Accepted: 06/03/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Individuals often produce alarm or mobbing calls when they detect a threat such as a predator. Little is known about whether such calling is affected by the facial orientation of a potential threat, however. We tested for an effect of facial orientation of a potential threat on tufted titmice, Baeolophus bicolor, a songbird that uses chick-a-dee calls in a variety of social contexts. In two studies, a human observer wore an animal mask that either faced or faced away from the focal bird(s). In Study 1, focal birds were individual titmice captured in a walk-in trap, and the observer stood near the trapped bird. In Study 2, focal birds were titmouse flocks utilizing a feeding station and the observer stood near the station. In both studies, calling behavior was affected by mask orientation. In Study 2, foraging and agonistic behavior were also affected. Titmice can therefore perceive the facial orientation of a potential threat, and this perception affects different behavioral systems, including calling. Our results indicate sensitivity of titmice to the facial orientation of a potential predator in two quite different motivational contexts. This work suggests the possibility of strategic signaling by prey species depending upon the perceptual space of a detected predator.
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Affiliation(s)
- Todd M Freeberg
- Department of Psychology, Austin Peay Building 301B, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA,
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15
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Wild robins (Petroica longipes) respond to human gaze. Anim Cogn 2014; 17:1149-56. [PMID: 24770885 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-014-0747-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2013] [Revised: 02/18/2014] [Accepted: 03/19/2014] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Gaze following and awareness of attentional cues are hallmarks of human and non-human social intelligence. Here, we show that the North Island robin (Petroica longipes), a food-hoarding songbird endemic to New Zealand, responds to human eyes. Robins were presented with six different conditions, in which two human experimenters altered the orientation or visibility of their body, head or eyes in relation to mealworm prey. One experimenter had visual access to the prey, and the second experimenter did not. Robins were then given the opportunity to 'steal' one of two mealworms presented by each experimenter. Robins responded by preferentially choosing the mealworm in front of the experimenter who could not see, in all conditions but one. Robins failed to discriminate between experimenters who were facing the mealworm and those who had their head turned 90° to the side. This may suggest that robins do not make decisions using the same eye visibility cues that primates and corvids evince, whether for ecological, experiential or evolutionary reasons.
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16
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Archer GS, Mench JA. Natural incubation patterns and the effects of exposing eggs to light at various times during incubation on post-hatch fear and stress responses in broiler (meat) chickens. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2013.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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17
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Marzoli D, Prete G, Tommasi L. Perceptual asymmetries and handedness: a neglected link? Front Psychol 2014; 5:163. [PMID: 24592250 PMCID: PMC3938099 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2013] [Accepted: 02/10/2014] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Healthy individuals tend to weigh in more the left than the right side of visual space in a variety of contexts, ranging from pseudoneglect to perceptual asymmetries for faces. Among the common explanations proposed for the attentional and perceptual advantages of the left visual field, a link with the prevalence of right-handedness in humans has never been suggested, although some evidence seems to converge in favor of a bias of spatial attention toward the region most likely coincident with another person's right hand during a face-to-face interaction. Such a bias might imply an increased efficiency in monitoring both communicative and aggressive acts, the right limb being more used than the left in both types of behavior. Although attentional and perceptual asymmetries could be linked to right-handedness at the level of phylogeny because of the evolutionarily advantage of directing attention toward the region where others' dominant hand usually operates, it is also legitimate to question whether, at the ontogenetic level, frequent exposure to right-handed individuals may foster leftward biases. These views are discussed in the light of extant literature, and a number of tests are proposed in order to assess our hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniele Marzoli
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Humanities and Territory, University of ChietiChieti, Italy
| | - Giulia Prete
- Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University of ChietiChieti, Italy
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Humanities and Territory, University of ChietiChieti, Italy
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Archer GS, Mench JA. The effects of light stimulation during incubation on indicators of stress susceptibility in broilers. Poult Sci 2013; 92:3103-8. [DOI: 10.3382/ps.2013-03434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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Brailsford R, Catherwood D, Tyson PJ, Edgar G. Noticing spiders on the left: Evidence on attentional bias and spider fear in the inattentional blindness paradigm. Laterality 2013; 19:201-18. [PMID: 23611253 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2013.791306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Attentional biases in anxiety disorders have been assessed primarily using three types of experiment: the emotional Stroop task, the probe-detection task, and variations of the visual search task. It is proposed that the inattentional blindness procedure has the ability to overcome limitations of these paradigms in regard to identifying the components of attentional bias. Three experiments examined attentional responding to spider images in individuals with low and moderate to high spider fear. The results demonstrate that spider fear causes a bias in the engage component of visual attention and this is specific to stimuli presented in the left visual field (i.e., to the right hemisphere). The implications of the results are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.
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Ströckens F, Freund N, Manns M, Ocklenburg S, Güntürkün O. Visual asymmetries and the ascending thalamofugal pathway in pigeons. Brain Struct Funct 2012; 218:1197-209. [DOI: 10.1007/s00429-012-0454-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2012] [Accepted: 09/01/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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21
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Jozet-Alves C, Viblanc VA, Romagny S, Dacher M, Healy SD, Dickel L. Visual lateralization is task and age dependent in cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis. Anim Behav 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.02.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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22
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Rosa Salva O, Regolin L, Vallortigara G. Inversion of contrast polarity abolishes spontaneous preferences for face-like stimuli in newborn chicks. Behav Brain Res 2012; 228:133-43. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2011] [Revised: 11/15/2011] [Accepted: 11/21/2011] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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23
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Bateman PW, Fleming PA. Who are you looking at? Hadeda ibises use direction of gaze, head orientation and approach speed in their risk assessment of a potential predator. J Zool (1987) 2011. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00846.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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24
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Rosa Salva O, Farroni T, Regolin L, Vallortigara G, Johnson MH. The evolution of social orienting: evidence from chicks (Gallus gallus) and human newborns. PLoS One 2011; 6:e18802. [PMID: 21533093 PMCID: PMC3080385 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2010] [Accepted: 03/16/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Converging evidence from different species indicates that some newborn vertebrates, including humans, have visual predispositions to attend to the head region of animate creatures. It has been claimed that newborn preferences for faces are domain-relevant and similar in different species. One of the most common criticisms of the work supporting domain-relevant face biases in human newborns is that in most studies they already have several hours of visual experience when tested. This issue can be addressed by testing newly hatched face-naïve chicks (Gallus gallus) whose preferences can be assessed prior to any other visual experience with faces. METHODS In the present study, for the first time, we test the prediction that both newly hatched chicks and human newborns will demonstrate similar preferences for face stimuli over spatial frequency matched structured noise. Chicks and babies were tested using identical stimuli for the two species. Chicks underwent a spontaneous preference task, in which they have to approach one of two stimuli simultaneously presented at the ends of a runway. Human newborns participated in a preferential looking task. RESULTS AND SIGNIFICANCE We observed a significant preference for orienting toward the face stimulus in both species. Further, human newborns spent more time looking at the face stimulus, and chicks preferentially approached and stood near the face-stimulus. These results confirm the view that widely diverging vertebrates possess similar domain-relevant biases toward faces shortly after hatching or birth and provide a behavioural basis for a comparison with neuroimaging studies using similar stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orsola Rosa Salva
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
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25
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Rosa Salva O, Daisley JN, Regolin L, Vallortigara G. Time-dependent lateralization of social learning in the domestic chick (Gallus gallus domesticus): Effects of retention delays in the observed lateralization pattern. Behav Brain Res 2010; 212:152-8. [PMID: 20392427 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2010.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2009] [Revised: 04/01/2010] [Accepted: 04/05/2010] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Day-old chicks have been shown capable of learning to avoid pecking by observation only of a conspecific showing a disgust reaction after pecking a bitter-tasting bead. This learning is lateralized: access to the right hemisphere appears necessary for successful performance 30 min after training. This is in contrast to the non-social learning version of this learning task, in which the left hemisphere appears to play the dominant role, although both the left and right hemispheres are, in turn, subject to brief windows of "enhanced recall" during memory formation. In our present work we wished to investigate whether such recall events are also prevalent in the social learning task. We investigated 3 such windows; 25 min (a right hemisphere event), 32 min (left-hemisphere event) and 64 min (a possible left-hemisphere event following an interconnection of both hemispheres allowing memory transfer between the two hemispheres). At 32 and 64 min after training we found no evidence of functional lateralization. At 25 min, however, we found right hemisphere dominance. We suggest that a lateralization effect occurs in the social version of the PAL (passive avoidance learning) only at time points associated with right hemisphere dominance. It seems that lateralization is not able to emerge at time points where a left-hemisphere event is expected, because the two "lateralization effects" (right hemisphere dominance associated with the social task and left-hemisphere dominance associated with the PAL task) are in conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orsola Rosa Salva
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
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26
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Salva OR, Daisley JN, Regolin L, Vallortigara G. Lateralization of social learning in the domestic chick, Gallus gallus domesticus: learning to avoid. Anim Behav 2009. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.06.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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27
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Corballis MC. The evolution and genetics of cerebral asymmetry. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2009; 364:867-79. [PMID: 19064358 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 198] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Handedness and cerebral asymmetry are commonly assumed to be uniquely human, and even defining characteristics of our species. This is increasingly refuted by the evidence of behavioural asymmetries in non-human species. Although complex manual skill and language are indeed unique to our species and are represented asymmetrically in the brain, some non-human asymmetries appear to be precursors, and others are shared between humans and non-humans. In all behavioural and cerebral asymmetries so far investigated, a minority of individuals reverse or negate the dominant asymmetry, suggesting that such asymmetries are best understood in the context of the overriding bilateral symmetry of the brain and body, and a trade-off between the relative advantages and disadvantages of symmetry and asymmetry. Genetic models of handedness, for example, typically postulate a gene with two alleles, one disposing towards right-handedness and the other imposing no directional influence. There is as yet no convincing evidence as to the location of this putative gene, suggesting that several genes may be involved, or that the gene may be monomorphic with variations due to environmental or epigenetic influences. Nevertheless, it is suggested that, in behavioural, neurological and evolutionary terms, it may be more profitable to examine the degree rather than the direction of asymmetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael C Corballis
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
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Brancucci A, Lucci G, Mazzatenta A, Tommasi L. Asymmetries of the human social brain in the visual, auditory and chemical modalities. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2009; 364:895-914. [PMID: 19064350 PMCID: PMC2666086 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Structural and functional asymmetries are present in many regions of the human brain responsible for motor control, sensory and cognitive functions and communication. Here, we focus on hemispheric asymmetries underlying the domain of social perception, broadly conceived as the analysis of information about other individuals based on acoustic, visual and chemical signals. By means of these cues the brain establishes the border between 'self' and 'other', and interprets the surrounding social world in terms of the physical and behavioural characteristics of conspecifics essential for impression formation and for creating bonds and relationships. We show that, considered from the standpoint of single- and multi-modal sensory analysis, the neural substrates of the perception of voices, faces, gestures, smells and pheromones, as evidenced by modern neuroimaging techniques, are characterized by a general pattern of right-hemispheric functional asymmetry that might benefit from other aspects of hemispheric lateralization rather than constituting a true specialization for social information.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, University of ChietiBlocco A, Via dei Vestini 29, 66013 Chieti, Italy
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Daisley JN, Mascalzoni E, Rosa-Salva O, Rugani R, Regolin L. Lateralization of social cognition in the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus). Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2009; 364:965-81. [PMID: 19064355 PMCID: PMC2666078 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper, we report on the ongoing work in our laboratories on the effect of lateralization produced by light exposure in the egg on social cognition in the domestic chick (Gallus gallus). The domestic chick possesses a lateralized visual system. This has effects on the chick's perception towards and interaction with its environment. This includes its ability to live successfully within a social group. We show that there is a tendency for right brain hemisphere dominance when performing social cognitive actions. As such, chicks show a left hemispatial bias for approaching a signalled target object, tend to perceive gaze and faces of human-like masks more effectively when using their left eye, are able to inhibit a pecking response more effectively when viewing a neighbour tasting a bitter substance with their left eye, and are better able to perform a transitive inference task when exposed to light in the egg and when forced to use their left eye only compared to dark-hatched or right eye chicks. Some of these effects were sex specific, with male chicks tending to show an increased effect of lateralization on their behaviours. These data are discussed in terms of overall social cognition in group living.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Lucia Regolin
- Department of General Psychology, University of PadovaVia Venezia 8, Padova 35131, Italy
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Bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) hatchlings track the direction of human gaze. Anim Cogn 2009; 12:559-65. [PMID: 19205762 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0214-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2008] [Revised: 12/22/2008] [Accepted: 01/09/2009] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Gaze following allows individuals to detect the locus of attention of both conspecifics and other species. However, little is known about how this ability develops. We explored the emergence of bobwhite quail hatchlings' ability to track human gaze by assessing their avoidance behavior in an open arena under five testing conditions: (1) a Direct Gaze condition, in which an experimenter looking down was positioned above one of two approach areas; (2) a Gaze Follow condition in which an experimenter, positioned equidistant between two approach areas, directed his/her gaze towards one of the areas; (3) a Masked Gaze Follow condition, in which the experimenter wore a mask during the Gaze Follow test; (4) a Deprived Face Experience condition, in which hatchlings were deprived of experience with human faces prior to the Gaze Follow test; and (5) a Control condition in which no experimenter was present during testing. Results revealed that hatchlings from the Direct Gaze condition preferred the non-gazed approach area at all ages tested. Hatchlings from the Gaze Follow condition preferred the non-gazed approach area at 48 and 72 h, but not at 24 h of age. In contrast, hatchlings from the Masked Gaze Follow, Deprived Face and Control conditions did not prefer either approach area at any age tested. These results indicate that experience with human faces plays a key role in the rapid emergence of gaze following behavior in bobwhite quail hatchlings.
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