Bisazza Angelo, Dadda Marco
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Aug 22;272(1573):1677-81. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3145.
The occurrence of functional left-right cerebral asymmetries has been documented in a wide range of animals, suggesting that the lateralization of cognitive functions enjoys some kind of selective advantage over the bilateral control of the same functions. Here, we compared schooling performance of fishes with high or low degree of lateralization, which were obtained through selective breeding. Schools of lateralized fishes moving in a novel environment showed significantly more cohesion and coordination than schools of non-lateralized (NL) fishes. Pairs of fishes lateralized in opposite directions were as efficient as pairs of same laterality, suggesting that the performance of lateralized fishes derives from a computational advantage rather than being the consequence of a behavioural similarity among schoolmates. In schools composed of both lateralized and NL fishes, the latter were more often at the periphery of the school while lateralized fishes occupied the core, a position normally safer and energetically less expensive.
功能性左右脑不对称现象已在多种动物中得到证实，这表明认知功能的偏侧化相对于相同功能的双侧控制具有某种选择性优势。在此，我们比较了通过选择性育种获得的具有高或低偏侧化程度的鱼类的集群行为表现。在新环境中游动的偏侧化鱼类群体比非偏侧化（NL）鱼类群体表现出明显更强的凝聚力和协调性。方向相反的偏侧化鱼类对与相同偏侧性的鱼类对效率相同，这表明偏侧化鱼类的表现源自计算优势，而非群体成员行为相似性的结果。在由偏侧化鱼类和NL鱼类组成的鱼群中，后者更常处于鱼群外围，而偏侧化鱼类占据核心位置，该位置通常更安全且能量消耗更低。
