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Author Finarelli, J.A.; Flynn, J.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Brain-size evolution and sociality in Carnivora Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.  
  Volume 106 Issue 23 Pages 9345-9349  
  Keywords (up)  
  Abstract Increased encephalization, or larger brain volume relative to body mass, is a repeated theme in vertebrate evolution. Here we present an extensive sampling of relative brain sizes in fossil and extant taxa in the mammalian order Carnivora (cats, dogs, bears, weasels, and their relatives). By using Akaike Information Criterion model selection and endocranial volume and body mass data for 289 species (including 125 fossil taxa), we document clade-specific evolutionary transformations in encephalization allometries. These evolutionary transformations include multiple independent encephalization increases and decreases in addition to a remarkably static basal Carnivora allometry that characterizes much of the suborder Feliformia and some taxa in the suborder Caniformia across much of their evolutionary history, emphasizing that complex processes shaped the modern distribution of encephalization across Carnivora. This analysis also permits critical evaluation of the social brain hypothesis (SBH), which predicts a close association between sociality and increased encephalization. Previous analyses based on living species alone appeared to support the SBH with respect to Carnivora, but those results are entirely dependent on data from modern Canidae (dogs). Incorporation of fossil data further reveals that no association exists between sociality and encephalization across Carnivora and that support for sociality as a causal agent of encephalization increase disappears for this clade.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5337  
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Author Weisbecker, V.; Goswami, A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Brain size, life history, and metabolism at the marsupial/placental dichotomy Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.  
  Volume 107 Issue 37 Pages 16216-16221  
  Keywords (up)  
  Abstract The evolution of mammalian brain size is directly linked with the evolution of the brain's unique structure and performance. Both maternal life history investment traits and basal metabolic rate (BMR) correlate with relative brain size, but current hypotheses regarding the details of these relationships are based largely on placental mammals. Using encephalization quotients, partial correlation analyses, and bivariate regressions relating brain size to maternal investment times and BMR, we provide a direct quantitative comparison of brain size evolution in marsupials and placentals, whose reproduction and metabolism differ extensively. Our results show that the misconception that marsupials are systematically smaller-brained than placentals is driven by the inclusion of one large-brained placental clade, Primates. Marsupial and placental brain size partial correlations differ in that marsupials lack a partial correlation of BMR with brain size. This contradicts hypotheses stating that the maintenance of relatively larger brains requires higher BMRs. We suggest that a positive BMR–brain size correlation is a placental trait related to the intimate physiological contact between mother and offspring during gestation. Marsupials instead achieve brain sizes comparable to placentals through extended lactation. Comparison with avian brain evolution suggests that placental brain size should be constrained due to placentals’ relative precociality, as has been hypothesized for precocial bird hatchlings. We propose that placentals circumvent this constraint because of their focus on gestation, as opposed to the marsupial emphasis on lactation. Marsupials represent a less constrained condition, demonstrating that hypotheses regarding placental brain size evolution cannot be generalized to all mammals.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5338  
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Author Tommasi, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Mechanisms and functions of brain and behavioural asymmetries Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 364 Issue 1519 Pages 855-859  
  Keywords (up)  
  Abstract For almost a century the field of brain and behavioural asymmetries has been dominated by studies on humans, resting on the evidence that the anatomical structures underlying language functions are asymmetrical, and that human handedness is lateralized at the population level. Today, there is not only evidence of population-level lateralization of brain and behaviour across a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate species, but also a growing consensus that the comparative analysis of the environmental and developmental factors that give origin to neural and behavioural laterality in animal models, together with theoretical analyses of their costs and benefits, will be crucial for understanding the evolutionary pathways that led to such a multifaceted phenomenon. The present theme issue provides a survey of theoretical, review and research work cutting across the biological and the cognitive sciences, focusing on various species of fishes, birds and primates (including humans) and emphasizing an integrative approach to the study of lateralization encompassing neural, behavioural, cognitive, developmental and environmental aspects.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5340  
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Author Hamilton, C.R.; Vermeire, B.A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Complementary hemispheric specialization in monkeys Type Journal Article
  Year 1988 Publication Science Abbreviated Journal Science  
  Volume 242 Issue 4886 Pages 1691-1694  
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  Abstract Twenty-five split-brain monkeys were taught to discriminate two types of visual stimuli that engage lateralized cerebral processing in human subjects. Differential lateralization for the two kinds of discriminations was found; the left hemisphere was better at distinguishing between tilted lines and the right hemisphere was better at discriminating faces. These results indicate that lateralization of cognitive processing appeared in primates independently of language or handedness. In addition, cerebral lateralization in monkeys may provide an appropriate model for studying the biological basis of hemispheric specialization.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5342  
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Author Ghirlanda, S.; Vallortigara, G. url  doi
openurl 
  Title The evolution of brain lateralization: a game-theoretical analysis of population structure Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 271 Issue 1541 Pages 853-857  
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  Abstract In recent years, it has become apparent that behavioural and brain lateralization at the population level is the rule rather than the exception among vertebrates. The study of these phenomena has so far been the province of neurology and neuropsychology. Here, we show how such research can be integrated with evolutionary biology to understand lateralization more fully. In particular, we address the fact that, within a species, left– and right–type individuals often occur in proportions different from one–half (e.g. hand use in humans). The traditional explanations offered for lateralization of brain function (that it may avoid unnecessary duplication of neural circuitry and reduce interference between functions) cannot account for this fact, because increased individual efficiency is unrelated to the alignment of lateralization at the population level. A further puzzle is that such an alignment may even be disadvantageous, as it makes individual behaviour more predictable to other organisms. Here, we show that alignment of the direction of behavioural asymmetries in a population can arise as an evolutionarily stable strategy when individual asymmetrical organisms must coordinate their behaviour with that of other asymmetrical organisms. Brain and behavioural lateralization, as we know it in humans and other vertebrates, may have evolved under basically ‘social’ selection pressures.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5345  
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Author Ghirlanda, S.; Frasnelli, E.; Vallortigara, G. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Intraspecific competition and coordination in the evolution of lateralization Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 364 Issue 1519 Pages 861-866  
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  Abstract Recent studies have revealed a variety of left–right asymmetries among vertebrates and invertebrates. In many species, left- and right-lateralized individuals coexist, but in unequal numbers (‘population-level’ lateralization). It has been argued that brain lateralization increases individual efficiency (e.g. avoiding unnecessary duplication of neural circuitry and reducing interference between functions), thus counteracting the ecological disadvantages of lateral biases in behaviour (making individual behaviour more predictable to other organisms). However, individual efficiency does not require a definite proportion of left- and right-lateralized individuals. Thus, such arguments do not explain population-level lateralization. We have previously shown that, in the context of prey–predator interactions, population-level lateralization can arise as an evolutionarily stable strategy when individually asymmetrical organisms must coordinate their behaviour with that of other asymmetrical organisms. Here, we extend our model showing that populations consisting of left- and right-lateralized individuals in unequal numbers can be evolutionarily stable, based solely on strategic factors arising from the balance between antagonistic (competitive) and synergistic (cooperative) interactions.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5346  
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Author da Costa, A.P.; Leigh, A.E.; Man, M.-S.; Kendrick, K.M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Face pictures reduce behavioural, autonomic, endocrine and neural indices of stress and fear in sheep Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B.  
  Volume 271 Issue 1552 Pages 2077-2084  
  Keywords (up)  
  Abstract Faces are highly emotive stimuli and we find smiling or familiar faces both attractive and comforting, even as young babies. Do other species with sophisticated face recognition skills, such as sheep, also respond to the emotional significance of familiar faces? We report that when sheep experience social isolation, the sight of familiar sheep face pictures compared with those of goats or inverted triangles significantly reduces behavioural (activity and protest vocalizations), autonomic (heart rate) and endocrine (cortisol and adrenaline) indices of stress. They also increase mRNA expression of activity–dependent genes (c–fos and zif/268) in brain regions specialized for processing faces (temporal and medial frontal cortices and basolateral amygdala) and for emotional control (orbitofrontal and cingulate cortex), and reduce their expression in regions associated with stress responses (hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus) and fear (central and lateral amygdala). Effects on face recognition, emotional control and fear centres are restricted to the right brain hemisphere. Results provide evidence that face pictures may be useful for relieving stress caused by unavoidable social isolation in sheep, and possibly other animal species, including humans. The finding that sheep, like humans, appear to have a right brain hemisphere involvement in the control of negative emotional experiences also suggests that functional lateralization of brain emotion systems may be a general feature in mammals.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5354  
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Author Andrew, R.J.; Osorio, D.; Budaev, S. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Light during embryonic development modulates patterns of lateralization strongly and similarly in both zebrafish and chick Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 364 Issue 1519 Pages 983-989  
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  Abstract Some aspects of lateralization are widespread. This is clear for the association between left-eye (LE) use and readiness to respond intensely to releasing stimuli presented by others, which has been found in representatives of all major groups of tetrapods and in fishes. In the chick, this behavioural asymmetry is linked developmentally to greater ability to sustain response against distracting stimuli with right-eye (RE) use, in that both reverse with the reversal of the normal RE exposure to light. In the zebrafish, the same two asymmetries (normally) have similar associations with the LE and the RE, and both also reverse together (owing to epithalamic reversal). Here, we show that light exposure early in development is needed in zebrafish to generate both asymmetries. Dark development largely abolishes both the enhanced abilities, confirming their linkage. Resemblance to the chick is increased by the survival in the chick, after dark development, of higher ability to assess familiarity of complex stimuli when using the LE. A somewhat similar ability survives in dark-developed zebrafish. Here, LE use causes lesser reliance on a single recent experience than on longer term past experience in the assessment of novelty. Such resemblances between a fish and a bird suggest that we should look not only for resemblances between different groups of vertebrates in the most common overall pattern of lateralization, but also for possible resemblances in the nature of inter-individual variation and in the way in which it is generated during development.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5370  
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Author Daisley, J.N.; Mascalzoni, E.; Rosa-Salva, O.; Rugani, R.; Regolin, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Lateralization of social cognition in the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 364 Issue 1519 Pages 965-981  
  Keywords (up)  
  Abstract In this paper, we report on the ongoing work in our laboratories on the effect of lateralization produced by light exposure in the egg on social cognition in the domestic chick (Gallus gallus). The domestic chick possesses a lateralized visual system. This has effects on the chick's perception towards and interaction with its environment. This includes its ability to live successfully within a social group. We show that there is a tendency for right brain hemisphere dominance when performing social cognitive actions. As such, chicks show a left hemispatial bias for approaching a signalled target object, tend to perceive gaze and faces of human-like masks more effectively when using their left eye, are able to inhibit a pecking response more effectively when viewing a neighbour tasting a bitter substance with their left eye, and are better able to perform a transitive inference task when exposed to light in the egg and when forced to use their left eye only compared to dark-hatched or right eye chicks. Some of these effects were sex specific, with male chicks tending to show an increased effect of lateralization on their behaviours. These data are discussed in terms of overall social cognition in group living.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5371  
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Author Magat, M.; Brown, C. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Laterality enhances cognition in Australian parrots Type Journal Article
  Year 2009 Publication Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Abbreviated Journal Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci.  
  Volume 276 Issue 1676 Pages 4155-4162  
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  Abstract Cerebral lateralization refers to the division of information processing in either hemisphere of the brain and is a ubiquitous trait among vertebrates and invertebrates. Given its widespread occurrence, it is likely that cerebral lateralization confers a fitness advantage. It has been hypothesized that this advantage takes the form of enhanced cognitive function, potentially via a dual processing mechanism whereby each hemisphere can be used to process specific types of information without contralateral interference. Here, we examined the influence of lateralization on problem solving by Australian parrots. The first task, a pebble-seed discrimination test, was designed for small parrot species that feed predominately on small seeds, which do not require any significant manipulation with the foot prior to ingestion. The second task, a string-pull problem, was designed for larger bodied species that regularly use their feet to manipulate food objects. In both cases, strongly lateralized individuals (those showing significant foot and eye biases) outperformed less strongly lateralized individuals, and this relationship was substantially stronger in the more demanding task. These results suggest that cerebral lateralization is a ubiquitous trait among Australian parrots and conveys a significant foraging advantage. Our results provide strong support for the enhanced cognitive function hypothesis.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5380  
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