Asymmetrical participation of the left and right hippocampus for representing environmental geometry in homing pigeons

Control, right and left HF lesioned homing pigeons (Columba livia) were trained to locate a goal in one corner of a rectangular enclosure with a distinctive feature cue. Probe tests revealed that all groups were able to encode in parallel geometric (enclosure shape) and feature information, and in the absence of one of them, they could us the other to locate the goal. However, left HF lesioned pigeons learned the task at a faster rate, and when the geometric and feature information were set in conflict, they relied more on the feature cue compared to control and right HF lesioned pigeons. It was also found that pigeons, independent of group, trained to a goal adjacent to the feature cue learned the task in fewer sessions and relied more on feature information compared to pigeons trained to a goal opposite the feature cue. The latter group relied more on geometric information. The results support the hypothesis that the left HF plays a more important role in the representation of a goal location with respect to environmental shape/geometry. We further propose that the observed functional asymmetry can be explained by the lateralized properties of the pigeon tectofugal visual system.