Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
942917 | Cortex | 2008 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
Quails were tested for leftward and rightward turning preferences in a detour task. When facing a mirror located behind a barrier composed of vertical bars, quails showed a striking population-level preference for turning leftward. In order to check whether the asymmetry reflected a motor or a sensory (i.e. visual hemifield) bias, in a second experiment quails were reared in pairs and then tested in the detour task with a familiar (companion) or an unfamiliar (stranger) conspecific as a target. Quails turned leftward when viewing the stranger, but they turned rightward when viewing the companion. These findings are discussed in relation to current evidence for brain lateralization in response to social stimuli in non-human animals.
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Authors
Paolo Zucca, Valeria A. Sovrano,