Duncan Amelia, Simon Tim, Frasnelli Elisa
School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
CIMeC Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
Laterality. 2022 Jul;27(4):359-378. doi: 10.1080/1357650X.2022.2086563. Epub 2022 Jun 10.
Motor lateralization is commonly observed through preferential paw use in dogs and cats. Previous studies have uncovered sex-related differences in paw preference, hypothesizing that these differences may be related to sex hormones. The current study aimed to compare neutered and entire individuals to further investigate whether paw preference is influenced by sex hormones. Dog and cat owners were required to fill in a questionnaire with demographic information such as sex and neuter status of their pets. They then carried out two simple paw preference tasks within their homes: a "reaching for food" task and a "reaching for a toy" task. This study revealed an overall preference among the 272 dogs and 137 cats tested to use their right paw in both tasks. In cats, the degree of paw preference (i.e., regardless of the direction) was significantly influenced by an interaction between neuter status and life stage. Also in dogs, both life stage and an interaction between neuter status and life stage tended to influence the degree of paw preference. Post-hoc power analysis revealed a lack of statistical power, suggesting that future studies using a larger sample size are needed to further investigate potential effects of neuter status on paw preference.
运动偏侧化通常通过狗和猫对爪子的偏好使用来观察。先前的研究发现了爪子偏好方面与性别相关的差异，并推测这些差异可能与性激素有关。当前的研究旨在比较绝育和未绝育的个体，以进一步调查爪子偏好是否受性激素影响。狗和猫的主人需要填写一份包含其宠物的性别和绝育状态等人口统计学信息的问卷。然后，他们在自己家中进行两项简单的爪子偏好任务：“够食物”任务和“够玩具”任务。这项研究揭示，在接受测试的272只狗和137只猫中，总体上在两项任务中都偏好使用右爪。在猫中，爪子偏好程度（即无论方向）受到绝育状态和生命阶段之间相互作用的显著影响。同样在狗中，生命阶段以及绝育状态和生命阶段之间的相互作用都倾向于影响爪子偏好程度。事后功效分析显示缺乏统计功效，这表明未来需要进行更大样本量的研究，以进一步调查绝育状态对爪子偏好的潜在影响。
