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Chiandetti C, Dissegna A, Rogers LJ, Turatto M. Unlocking the symmetric transfer of irrelevant information: gene-environment interplay and enhanced interhemispheric cross-talk. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230267. [PMID: 37817575 PMCID: PMC10565360 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0267] [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: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Hemispheric specialization influences stimulus processing and behavioural control, affecting responses to relevant stimuli. However, most sensory input is irrelevant and must be filtered out to prevent interference with task-relevant behaviour, a process known as habituation. Despite habituation's vital role, little is known about hemispheric specialization for this brain function. We conducted an experiment with domestic chicks, an elite animal model to study lateralization. They were exposed to distracting visual stimuli while feeding when using binocular or monocular vision. Switching the viewing eye after habituation, we examined if habituation was confined to the stimulated hemisphere or shared across hemispheres. We found that both hemispheres learned equally to ignore distracting stimuli. However, embryonic light stimulation, influencing hemispheric specialization, revealed an asymmetry in interhemispheric transfer of the irrelevant information discarded via habituation. Unstimulated chicks exhibited a directional bias, with the right hemisphere failing to transfer distracting stimulus information to the left hemisphere, while transfer from left to right was possible. Nevertheless, embryonic light stimulation counteracted this asymmetry, enhancing communication from the right to the left hemisphere and reducing the pre-existing imbalance. This sharing extends beyond hemisphere-specific functions and encompasses a broader representation of irrelevant events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Chiandetti
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via. A. Valerio 28/1, 34127 Trieste, Italy
| | - Andrea Dissegna
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via. A. Valerio 28/1, 34127 Trieste, Italy
| | - Lesley J. Rogers
- School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales 2351, Australia
| | - Massimo Turatto
- CIMeC, Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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2
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Rogers LJ. Unfolding a sequence of sensory influences and interactions in the development of functional brain laterality. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 16:1103192. [PMID: 36688123 PMCID: PMC9852852 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1103192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Evidence of sensory experience influencing the development of lateralized brain and behavior is reviewed. The epigenetic role of light exposure during two specific stages of embryonic development of precocial avian species is a particular focus of the research discussed. Two specific periods of light sensitivity (in early versus late incubation), each depending on different subcellular and cellular processes, affect lateralized behavior after hatching. Auditory and olfactory stimulation during embryonic development is also discussed with consideration of interactions with light-generated visual lateralization.
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3
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Hageter J, Waalkes M, Starkey J, Copeland H, Price H, Bays L, Showman C, Laverty S, Bergeron SA, Horstick EJ. Environmental and Molecular Modulation of Motor Individuality in Larval Zebrafish. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:777778. [PMID: 34938167 PMCID: PMC8685292 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.777778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Innate behavioral biases such as human handedness are a ubiquitous form of inter-individual variation that are not strictly hardwired into the genome and are influenced by diverse internal and external cues. Yet, genetic and environmental factors modulating behavioral variation remain poorly understood, especially in vertebrates. To identify genetic and environmental factors that influence behavioral variation, we take advantage of larval zebrafish light-search behavior. During light-search, individuals preferentially turn in leftward or rightward loops, in which directional bias is sustained and non-heritable. Our previous work has shown that bias is maintained by a habenula-rostral PT circuit and genes associated with Notch signaling. Here we use a medium-throughput recording strategy and unbiased analysis to show that significant individual to individual variation exists in wildtype larval zebrafish turning preference. We classify stable left, right, and unbiased turning types, with most individuals exhibiting a directional preference. We show unbiased behavior is not due to a loss of photo-responsiveness but reduced persistence in same-direction turning. Raising larvae at elevated temperature selectively reduces the leftward turning type and impacts rostral PT neurons, specifically. Exposure to conspecifics, variable salinity, environmental enrichment, and physical disturbance does not significantly impact inter-individual turning bias. Pharmacological manipulation of Notch signaling disrupts habenula development and turn bias individuality in a dose dependent manner, establishing a direct role of Notch signaling. Last, a mutant allele of a known Notch pathway affecter gene, gsx2, disrupts turn bias individuality, implicating that brain regions independent of the previously established habenula-rostral PT likely contribute to inter-individual variation. These results establish that larval zebrafish is a powerful vertebrate model for inter-individual variation with established neural targets showing sensitivity to specific environmental and gene signaling disruptions. Our results provide new insight into how variation is generated in the vertebrate nervous system.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Hageter
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Matthew Waalkes
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Jacob Starkey
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Haylee Copeland
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Heather Price
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Logan Bays
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Casey Showman
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Sean Laverty
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK, United States
| | - Sadie A. Bergeron
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
- Department of Neuroscience, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Eric J. Horstick
- Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
- Department of Neuroscience, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
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4
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Abstract
Asymmetries in the functional and structural organization of the nervous system are widespread in the animal kingdom and especially characterize the human brain. Although there is little doubt that asymmetries arise through genetic and nongenetic factors, an overarching model to explain the development of functional lateralization patterns is still lacking. Current genetic psychology collects data on genes relevant to brain lateralizations, while animal research provides information on the cellular mechanisms mediating the effects of not only genetic but also environmental factors. This review combines data from human and animal research (especially on birds) and outlines a multi-level model for asymmetry formation. The relative impact of genetic and nongenetic factors varies between different developmental phases and neuronal structures. The basic lateralized organization of a brain is already established through genetically controlled embryonic events. During ongoing development, hemispheric specialization increases for specific functions and subsystems interact to shape the final functional organization of a brain. In particular, these developmental steps are influenced by environmental experiences, which regulate the fine-tuning of neural networks via processes that are referred to as ontogenetic plasticity. The plastic potential of the nervous system could be decisive for the evolutionary success of lateralized brains.
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5
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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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Manns M, Otto T, Salm L. Pigeons show how meta-control enables decision-making in an ambiguous world. Sci Rep 2021; 11:3838. [PMID: 33589698 PMCID: PMC7884740 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83406-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
In situations where the left and right brain sides receive conflicting information that leads to incompatible response options, the brain requires efficient problem-solving mechanisms. This problem is particularly significant in lateralized brains, in which the hemispheres differ in encoding strategies or attention focus and hence, consider different information for decision-making. Meta-control, in which one hemisphere dominates ambiguous decisions, can be a mechanism that ensures fast behavioral reactions. We therefore confronted pigeons with a task in which two stimulus classes were brought into conflict. To this end, we trained pigeons simultaneously on two categories (cats or dogs) whereby each hemisphere learnt only one of the categories respectively. After learning, the birds were confronted with stimulus pairs that combined a picture with a cat (positive for one hemisphere) and a picture with a dog (positive for the other hemisphere). Pecking responses indicated the hemisphere dominating response selection. Pigeons displayed individual meta-control despite equal categorization performances of both brain hemispheres. This means that hemispheric dominance only emerged in interhemispheric conflict situations. The analysis of response latencies indicate that conflict decisions relied on intrahemispheric processes. Interhemispheric components played a role for more complex decisions. This flexibility could be a crucial building block for the evolutionary success of a lateralized brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Manns
- Division of Experimental and Molecular Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
| | - Tobias Otto
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Laurenz Salm
- Biozentrum, University of Basel, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
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7
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Letzner S, Manns M, Güntürkün O. Light-dependent development of the tectorotundal projection in pigeons. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 52:3561-3571. [PMID: 32386351 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2020] [Revised: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Left-right differences in the structural and functional organization of the brain are widespread in the animal kingdom and develop in close gene-environment interactions. The visual system of birds like chicks and pigeons exemplifies how sensory experience shapes lateralized visual processing. Owing to an asymmetrical posture of the embryo in the egg, the right eye/ left brain side is more strongly light-stimulated what triggers asymmetrical differentiation processes leading to a left-hemispheric dominance for visuomotor control. In pigeons (Columba livia), a critical neuroanatomical element is the asymmetrically organized tectofugal pathway. Here, more fibres cross from the right tectum to the left rotundus than vice versa. In the current study, we tested whether the emergence of this projection asymmetry depends on embryonic light stimulation by tracing tectorotundal neurons in pigeons with and without lateralized embryonic light experience. The quantitative tracing pattern confirmed higher bilateral innervation of the left rotundus in light-exposed and thus, asymmetrically light-stimulated pigeons. This was the same in light-deprived pigeons. Here, however, also the right rotundus received an equally strong bilateral input. This suggests that embryonic light stimulation does not increase bilateral tectal innervation of the stronger stimulated left but rather decreases such an input pattern to the right brain side. Combined with a morphometric analysis, our data indicate that embryonic photic stimulation specifically affects differentiation of the contralateral cell population. Differential modification of ipsi- and contralateral tectorotundal connections could have important impact on the regulation of intra- and interhemispheric information transfer and ultimately on hemispheric dominance pattern during visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Letzner
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Martina Manns
- Division of Experimental and Molecular Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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8
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Abstract
We know a good deal about brain lateralization in birds and a good deal about animal welfare, but relatively little about whether there is a noteworthy relationship between avian welfare and brain lateralization. In birds, the left hemisphere is specialised to categorise stimuli and to discriminate preferred categories from distracting stimuli (e.g., food from an array of inedible objects), whereas the right hemisphere responds to small differences between stimuli, controls social behaviour, detects predators and controls attack, fear and escape responses. In this paper, we concentrate on visual lateralization and the effect of light exposure of the avian embryo on the development of lateralization, and we consider its role in the welfare of birds after hatching. Findings suggest that light-exposure during incubation has a general positive effect on post-hatching behaviour, likely because it facilitates control of behaviour by the left hemisphere, which can suppress fear and other distress behaviour controlled by the right hemisphere. In this context, particular attention needs to be paid to the influence of corticosterone, a stress hormone, on lateralization. Welfare of animals in captivity, as is well known, has two cornerstones: enrichment and reduction of stress. What is less well-known is the link between the influence of experience on brain lateralization and its consequent positive or negative outcomes on behaviour. We conclude that the welfare of birds may be diminished by failure to expose the developing embryos to light but we also recognise that more research on the association between lateralization and welfare is needed.
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Chiandetti C, Vallortigara G. Distinct effect of early and late embryonic light-stimulation on chicks' lateralization. Neuroscience 2019; 414:1-7. [PMID: 31279824 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.06.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Revised: 05/26/2019] [Accepted: 06/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Embryonic light exposure affects similarly functional lateralization in fish and birds. While the light acts on an asymmetric habenular system during the first post fertilization hours in zebrafish, in the domestic chicks it shapes the thalamofugal visual pathway affecting the right retinal photoreceptors in the last stages before hatching. However, recent evidence has shown that also in chicks a precocial embryonic time window seems open to light action. Here we addressed the issue of whether the light effect is comparable in the early and late sensitive periods of chicks' embryonic development by testing birds coming from early (EL) and late (LL) light stimulated eggs compared to dark maintained eggs (DK) under different conditions of vision in a gravel-grain task. The perseveration of pecks directed to irrelevant elements revealed that in all chicks the right hemisphere was heavily attracted by the novel elements when tested with the left eye. When using the right eye, instead, only DK chicks attended repeatedly to distractors whereas LL and EL chicks showed a left hemisphere advantage for fine discrimination and sustained attention; conversely, when tested binocularly, LL chicks perseverated significantly more than both DK and EL chicks, likely compensating the distraction with the analysis carried out by both hemispheres. For the first time, we unveiled a fine graded difference between the light modulation exerted during the two time windows, adding evidence to the idea that genes and environmental factors interplay in several separate routes to the modulation of the neurodevelopment of cerebral lateralization in vertebrates.
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10
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Rau R, Kruizinga P, Mastik F, Belau M, de Jong N, Bosch JG, Scheffer W, Maret G. 3D functional ultrasound imaging of pigeons. Neuroimage 2018; 183:469-477. [PMID: 30118869 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.08.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Revised: 07/25/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent advances in ultrasound Doppler imaging have facilitated the technique of functional ultrasound (fUS) which enables visualization of brain-activity due to neurovascular coupling. As of yet, this technique has been applied to rodents as well as to human subjects during awake craniotomy surgery and human newborns. Here we demonstrate the first successful fUS studies on awake pigeons subjected to auditory and visual stimulation. To allow successful fUS on pigeons we improved the temporal resolution of fUS up to 20,000 frames per second with real-time visualization and continuous recording. We show that this gain in temporal resolution significantly increases the sensitivity for detecting small fluctuations in cerebral blood flow and volume which may reflect increased local neural activity. Through this increased sensitivity we were able to capture the elaborate 3D neural activity pattern evoked by a complex stimulation pattern, such as a moving light source. By pushing the limits of fUS further, we have reaffirmed the enormous potential of this technique as a new standard in functional brain imaging with the capacity to unravel unknown, stimulus related hemodynamics with excellent spatiotemporal resolution with a wide field of view.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Rau
- Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany. http://cms.uni-konstanz.de/physik/maret/
| | - Pieter Kruizinga
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Thoraxcenter, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Frits Mastik
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Thoraxcenter, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Markus Belau
- Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Nico de Jong
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Thoraxcenter, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Laboratory of Acoustical Wavefield Imaging, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands
| | - Johannes G Bosch
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Thoraxcenter, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - Georg Maret
- Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
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11
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Schmitz J, Metz GA, Güntürkün O, Ocklenburg S. Beyond the genome—Towards an epigenetic understanding of handedness ontogenesis. Prog Neurobiol 2017; 159:69-89. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2017.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2017] [Revised: 09/18/2017] [Accepted: 10/26/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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12
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Letzner S, Güntürkün O, Lor S, Pawlik RJ, Manns M. Visuospatial attention in the lateralised brain of pigeons - a matter of ontogenetic light experiences. Sci Rep 2017; 7:15547. [PMID: 29138476 PMCID: PMC5686156 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15796-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2017] [Accepted: 11/02/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The ontogenetic mechanisms leading to complementary hemispheric specialisations of the two brain halves are poorly understood. In pigeons, asymmetrical light stimulation during development triggers the left-hemispheric dominance for visuomotor control but light effects on right-hemispheric specialisations are largely unknown. We therefore tested adult pigeons with and without embryonic light experience in a visual search task in which the birds pecked peas regularly scattered on an area in front of them. Comparing the pecking pattern of both groups indicates that the embryonic light conditions differentially influence biased visuospatial attention under mono- and binocular seeing conditions. When one eye was occluded, dark-incubated pigeons peck only within the limits of the visual hemifield of the seeing eye. Light-exposed pigeons also peck into the contralateral field indicating enlarged monocular visual fields of both hemispheres. While dark-incubated birds evinced an attentional bias to the right halfspace when seeing with both eyes, embryonic light exposure shifted this to the left. Thus, embryonic light experience modifies processes regulating biased visuospatial attention of the adult birds depending on the seeing conditions during testing. These data support the impact of light onto the emergence of functional dominances in both hemispheres and point to the critical role of interhemispheric processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Letzner
- Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.,Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany
| | - Stephanie Lor
- Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany
| | - Robert Jan Pawlik
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45122 Essen, Germany
| | - Martina Manns
- Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
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Early- and Late-Light Embryonic Stimulation Modulates Similarly Chicks’ Ability to Filter out Distractors. Symmetry (Basel) 2017. [DOI: 10.3390/sym9060084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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15
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Güntürkün O, Ocklenburg S. Ontogenesis of Lateralization. Neuron 2017; 94:249-263. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.02.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2016] [Revised: 02/27/2017] [Accepted: 02/27/2017] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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16
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Manns M, Krause C, Gao M. It takes two to tango: hemispheric integration in pigeons requires both hemispheres to solve a transitive inference task. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.02.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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17
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Manipulation of Strength of Cerebral Lateralization via Embryonic Light Stimulation in Birds. LATERALIZED BRAIN FUNCTIONS 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6725-4_19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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18
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Martinho A, Kacelnik A. Swapping mallards: monocular imprints in ducklings are unavailable to the opposite eye. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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19
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Investigating heritability of laterality and cognitive control in speech perception. Brain Cogn 2016; 109:34-39. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2016.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2016] [Revised: 08/24/2016] [Accepted: 09/12/2016] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
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Martinho A, Biro D, Guilford T, Gagliardo A, Kacelnik A. Asymmetric visual input and route recapitulation in homing pigeons. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:20151957. [PMID: 26446810 PMCID: PMC4614786 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Pigeons (Columba livia) display reliable homing behaviour, but their homing routes from familiar release points are individually idiosyncratic and tightly recapitulated, suggesting that learning plays a role in route establishment. In light of the fact that routes are learned, and that both ascending and descending visual pathways share visual inputs from each eye asymmetrically to the brain hemispheres, we investigated how information from each eye contributes to route establishment, and how information input is shared between left and right neural systems. Using on-board global positioning system loggers, we tested 12 pigeons' route fidelity when switching from learning a route with one eye to homing with the other, and back, in an A-B-A design. Two groups of birds, trained first with the left or first with the right eye, formed new idiosyncratic routes after switching eyes, but those that flew first with the left eye formed these routes nearer to their original routes. This confirms that vision plays a major role in homing from familiar sites and exposes a behavioural consequence of neuroanatomical asymmetry whose ontogeny is better understood than its functional significance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antone Martinho
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Dora Biro
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Tim Guilford
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Anna Gagliardo
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Volta 6, Pisa 56126, Italy
| | - Alex Kacelnik
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
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Stacho M, Letzner S, Theiss C, Manns M, Güntürkün O. A GABAergic tecto-tegmento-tectal pathway in pigeons. J Comp Neurol 2016; 524:2886-913. [DOI: 10.1002/cne.23999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2015] [Revised: 03/10/2016] [Accepted: 03/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Stacho
- Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cogntive Neuroscience; Ruhr-University Bochum; 44801 Bochum Germany
| | - Sara Letzner
- Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cogntive Neuroscience; Ruhr-University Bochum; 44801 Bochum Germany
| | - Carsten Theiss
- Department of Cytology, Faculty of Medicine; Ruhr-University Bochum; 44801 Bochum Germany
| | - Martina Manns
- Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cogntive Neuroscience; Ruhr-University Bochum; 44801 Bochum Germany
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cogntive Neuroscience; Ruhr-University Bochum; 44801 Bochum Germany
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Abstract
Differences between the left and right sides of the brain are found throughout the animal kingdom, but the consequences of altered neural asymmetry are not well understood. In the zebrafish epithalamus, the parapineal is located on the left side of the brain where it influences development of the adjacent dorsal habenular (dHb) nucleus, causing the left and right dHb to differ in their organization, gene expression, and connectivity. Left-right (L-R) reversal of parapineal position and dHb asymmetry occurs spontaneously in a small percentage of the population, whereas the dHb develop symmetrically following experimental ablation of the parapineal. The habenular region was previously implicated in modulating fear in both mice and zebrafish, but the relevance of its L-R asymmetry is unclear. We now demonstrate that disrupting directionality of the zebrafish epithalamus causes reduced exploratory behavior and increased cortisol levels, indicative of enhanced anxiety. Accordingly, exposure to buspirone, an anxiolytic agent, significantly suppresses atypical behavior. Axonal projections from the parapineal to the dHb are more variable when it is located on the right side of the brain, revealing that L-R reversals do not necessarily represent a neuroanatomical mirror image. The results highlight the importance of directional asymmetry of the epithalamus in the regulation of stress responses in zebrafish.
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Freund N, Valencia-Alfonso CE, Kirsch J, Brodmann K, Manns M, Güntürkün O. Asymmetric top-down modulation of ascending visual pathways in pigeons. Neuropsychologia 2016; 83:37-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.08.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2015] [Revised: 08/09/2015] [Accepted: 08/13/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Letzner S, Simon A, Güntürkün O. Connectivity and neurochemistry of the commissura anterior of the pigeon (Columba livia). J Comp Neurol 2015; 524:343-61. [PMID: 26179777 PMCID: PMC5049482 DOI: 10.1002/cne.23858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2015] [Revised: 07/02/2015] [Accepted: 07/06/2015] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The anterior commissure (AC) and the much smaller hippocampal commissure constitute the only interhemispheric pathways at the telencephalic level in birds. Since the degeneration study from Zeier and Karten (), no detailed description of the topographic organization of the AC has been performed. This information is not only necessary for a better understanding of interhemispheric transfer in birds, but also for a comparative analysis of the evolution of commissural systems in the vertebrate classes. We therefore examined the fiber connections of the AC by using choleratoxin subunit B (CTB) and biotinylated dextran amine (BDA). Injections into subareas of the arcopallium and posterior amygdala (PoA) demonstrated contralateral projection fields within the anterior arcopallium (AA), intermediate arcopallium (AI), PoA, lateral, caudolateral and central nidopallium, dorsal and ventral mesopallium, and medial striatum (MSt). Interestingly, only arcopallial and amygdaloid projections were reciprocally organized, and all AC projections originated within a rather small area of the arcopallium and the PoA. The commissural neurons were not GABA-positive, and thus possibly not of an inhibitory nature. In sum, our neuroanatomical study demonstrates that a small group of arcopallial and amygdaloid neurons constitute a wide range of contralateral projections to sensorimotor and limbic structures. Different from mammals, in birds the neurons that project via the AC constitute mostly heterotopically organized and unidirectional connections. In addition, the great majority of pallial areas do not participate by themselves in interhemispheric exchange in birds. Instead, commissural exchange rests on a rather small arcopallial and amygdaloid cluster of neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Letzner
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Annika Simon
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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Tsoi SC, Aiya UV, Wasner KD, Phan ML, Pytte CL, Vicario DS. Hemispheric asymmetry in new neurons in adulthood is associated with vocal learning and auditory memory. PLoS One 2014; 9:e108929. [PMID: 25251077 PMCID: PMC4177556 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2014] [Accepted: 09/01/2014] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Many brain regions exhibit lateral differences in structure and function, and also incorporate new neurons in adulthood, thought to function in learning and in the formation of new memories. However, the contribution of new neurons to hemispheric differences in processing is unknown. The present study combines cellular, behavioral, and physiological methods to address whether 1) new neuron incorporation differs between the brain hemispheres, and 2) the degree to which hemispheric lateralization of new neurons correlates with behavioral and physiological measures of learning and memory. The songbird provides a model system for assessing the contribution of new neurons to hemispheric specialization because songbird brain areas for vocal processing are functionally lateralized and receive a continuous influx of new neurons in adulthood. In adult male zebra finches, we quantified new neurons in the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), a forebrain area involved in discrimination and memory for the complex vocalizations of individual conspecifics. We assessed song learning and recorded neural responses to song in NCM. We found significantly more new neurons labeled in left than in right NCM; moreover, the degree of asymmetry in new neuron numbers was correlated with the quality of song learning and strength of neuronal memory for recently heard songs. In birds with experimentally impaired song quality, the hemispheric difference in new neurons was diminished. These results suggest that new neurons may contribute to an allocation of function between the hemispheres that underlies the learning and processing of complex signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuk C. Tsoi
- Biology Department, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Utsav V. Aiya
- Psychology Department, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Kobi D. Wasner
- Psychology Department, Queens College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Mimi L. Phan
- Psychology Department, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Carolyn L. Pytte
- Biology Department, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
- Psychology Department, Queens College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - David S. Vicario
- Psychology Department, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Chiandetti C, Galliussi J, Andrew RJ, Vallortigara G. Early-light embryonic stimulation suggests a second route, via gene activation, to cerebral lateralization in vertebrates. Sci Rep 2014; 3:2701. [PMID: 24048072 PMCID: PMC3776965 DOI: 10.1038/srep02701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2013] [Accepted: 09/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic factors determine the asymmetrical position of vertebrate embryos allowing asymmetric environmental stimulation to shape cerebral lateralization. In birds, late-light stimulation, just before hatching, on the right optic nerve triggers anatomical and functional cerebral asymmetries. However, some brain asymmetries develop in absence of embryonic light stimulation. Furthermore, early-light action affects lateralization in the transparent zebrafish embryos before their visual system is functional. Here we investigated whether another pathway intervenes in establishing brain specialization. We exposed chicks' embryos to light before their visual system was formed. We observed that such early stimulation modulates cerebral lateralization in a comparable vein of late-light stimulation on active retinal cells. Our results show that, in a higher vertebrate brain, a second route, likely affecting the genetic expression of photosensitive regions, acts before the development of a functional visual system. More than one sensitive period seems thus available to light stimulation to trigger brain lateralization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Chiandetti
- 1] CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences. University of Trento [2] Department of Life Science - Psychology Unit "Gaetano Kanizsa". University of Trieste
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Manns M, Ströckens F. Functional and structural comparison of visual lateralization in birds - similar but still different. Front Psychol 2014; 5:206. [PMID: 24723898 PMCID: PMC3971188 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2013] [Accepted: 02/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Vertebrate brains display physiological and anatomical left-right differences, which are related to hemispheric dominances for specific functions. Functional lateralizations likely rely on structural left-right differences in intra- and interhemispheric connectivity patterns that develop in tight gene-environment interactions. The visual systems of chickens and pigeons show that asymmetrical light stimulation during ontogeny induces a dominance of the left hemisphere for visuomotor control that is paralleled by projection asymmetries within the ascending visual pathways. But structural asymmetries vary essentially between both species concerning the affected pathway (thalamo- vs. tectofugal system), constancy of effects (transient vs. permanent), and the hemisphere receiving stronger bilateral input (right vs. left). These discrepancies suggest that at least two aspects of visual processes are influenced by asymmetric light stimulation: (1) visuomotor dominance develops within the ontogenetically stronger stimulated hemisphere but not necessarily in the one receiving stronger bottom-up input. As a secondary consequence of asymmetrical light experience, lateralized top-down mechanisms play a critical role in the emergence of hemispheric dominance. (2) Ontogenetic light experiences may affect the dominant use of left- and right-hemispheric strategies. Evidences from social and spatial cognition tasks indicate that chickens rely more on a right-hemispheric global strategy whereas pigeons display a dominance of the left hemisphere. Thus, behavioral asymmetries are linked to a stronger bilateral input to the right hemisphere in chickens but to the left one in pigeons. The degree of bilateral visual input may determine the dominant visual processing strategy when redundant encoding is possible. This analysis supports that environmental stimulation affects the balance between hemispheric-specific processing by lateralized interactions of bottom-up and top-down systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Manns
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum Bochum, Germany
| | - Felix Ströckens
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum Bochum, Germany
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Shaping a lateralized brain: asymmetrical light experience modulates access to visual interhemispheric information in pigeons. Sci Rep 2014; 4:4253. [PMID: 24584671 PMCID: PMC3939453 DOI: 10.1038/srep04253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2013] [Accepted: 02/10/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Cerebral asymmetries result from hemispheric specialization and interhemispheric communication pattern that develop in close gene-environment interactions. To gain a deeper understanding of developmental and functional interrelations, we investigated interhemispheric information exchange in pigeons, which possess a lateralized visual system that develops in response to asymmetrical ontogenetic light stimulation. We monocularly trained pigeons with or without embryonic light experience in color discriminations whereby they learned another pair of colors with each eye. Thereby, information from the ipsilateral eye had to be transferred. Monocular tests confronting the animals with trained and transferred color pairs demonstrated that embryonic light stimulation modulates the balance of asymmetrical handling of transfer information. Stronger embryonic stimulation of the left hemisphere significantly enhanced access to interhemispheric visual information, thereby reversing the right-hemispheric advantage that develops in the absence of embryonic light experience. These data support the critical role of environmental factors in molding a functionally lateralized brain.
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Rogers LJ. Asymmetry of brain and behavior in animals: Its development, function, and human relevance. Genesis 2014; 52:555-71. [DOI: 10.1002/dvg.22741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 98] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2013] [Revised: 01/04/2014] [Accepted: 01/06/2014] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lesley J. Rogers
- Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behavior; School of Science and Technology, University of New England; Armidale New South Wales 2450 Australia
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