Department of Animal Production, University of Bari, Valenzano, Italy.
Behav Brain Res. 2010 Apr 2;208(2):516-21. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2009.12.042. Epub 2010 Jan 7.
During feeding behaviour, dogs were suddenly presented with 2D stimuli depicting the silhouette of a dog, a cat or a snake simultaneously into the left and right visual hemifields. A bias to turn the head towards the left rather than the right side was observed with the cat and snake stimulus but not with the dog stimulus. Latencies to react following stimulus presentation were lower for left than for right head turning, whereas times needed to resume feeding behaviour were higher after left rather than after right head turning. When stimuli were presented only to the left or right visual hemifields, dogs proved to be more responsive to left side presentation, irrespective of the type of stimulus. However, cat and snake stimuli produced shorter latencies to react and longer times to resume feeding following left rather than right monocular visual hemifield presentation. Results demonstrate striking lateralization in dogs, with the right side of the brain more responsive to threatening and alarming stimuli. Possible implications for animal welfare are discussed.
在进食行为中，狗突然同时在左右视野中呈现出狗、猫或蛇的二维刺激。观察到猫和蛇的刺激会使狗偏向于向左侧而不是右侧转头，但狗的刺激则不会。与右侧转头相比，左侧转头时狗的反应潜伏期更短，而在左侧转头后恢复进食行为所需的时间更长。当刺激仅呈现给左或右视野时，无论刺激类型如何，狗都更倾向于对左侧呈现做出反应。然而，猫和蛇的刺激会使狗在左侧单眼视野呈现后更快地做出反应，并且在恢复进食行为前需要更长的时间。研究结果表明，狗的大脑存在明显的侧化现象，右侧大脑对威胁和警报刺激更敏感。该研究结果对动物福利具有重要意义。
