Lateralization of visuospatial processing in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). 2000

A Kilian, and L von Fersen, and O Güntürkün
Tiergarten Nürnberg, Am Tiergarten 30, 90480, Nürnberg, Germany.

Two adult female bottlenose dolphins were tested for cerebral asymmetries in the visuospatial domain. The animals learned under binocular conditions a three-choice spatial discrimination task with three hoops positioned along a line in the middle of the tank. During a correct trial the dolphins had to swim from a starting position at the tanks wall through one of the hoops, come back to the starting position, choose another hoop, swim back to start and finally swim through the third hoop. For such a trial to be correct, the animals had to swim through all three hoops in any sequence without omitting or re-using one of them. After reaching criterion binocularly, monocular trials (one eye covered with an adherent suction cup) were introduced where the dolphins carried out the same task alternatingly under left or right eye seeing conditions. For both animals, the right eye performance was clearly superior to that of the left eye. Binocular and right eye performances were similar. As a result of the complete decussation at the optic nerve, this right eye superiority suggests a left-hemispheric dominance for the processing of visuospatial information. This is a remarkable deviation from the usual right hemisphere advantage for these kind of tasks found in different species of mammals and birds.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D009949 Orientation Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person. Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D011597 Psychomotor Performance The coordination of a sensory or ideational (cognitive) process and a motor activity. Perceptual Motor Performance,Sensory Motor Performance,Visual Motor Coordination,Coordination, Visual Motor,Coordinations, Visual Motor,Motor Coordination, Visual,Motor Coordinations, Visual,Motor Performance, Perceptual,Motor Performance, Sensory,Motor Performances, Perceptual,Motor Performances, Sensory,Perceptual Motor Performances,Performance, Perceptual Motor,Performance, Psychomotor,Performance, Sensory Motor,Performances, Perceptual Motor,Performances, Psychomotor,Performances, Sensory Motor,Psychomotor Performances,Sensory Motor Performances,Visual Motor Coordinations
D004193 Discrimination Learning Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli. Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D004289 Dolphins Mammals of the families Delphinidae (ocean dolphins), Iniidae, Lipotidae, Pontoporiidae, and Platanistidae (all river dolphins). Among the most well-known species are the BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN and the KILLER WHALE (a dolphin). The common name dolphin is applied to small cetaceans having a beaklike snout and a slender, streamlined body, whereas PORPOISES are small cetaceans with a blunt snout and rather stocky body. (From Walker's Mammals of the World, 5th ed, pp978-9) Amazon Dolphins,Baiji,Cephalorhynchus,Chinese River Dolphin,Delphinidae,False Killer Whale,Franciscana,Fraser's Dolphin,Ganges Dolphin,Gray Grampus,Humpback Dolphins,Irrawaddy River Dolphin,La Plata Dolphin,Lagenorhynchus,Lissodelphis,Many-Toothed Blackfish,Marine Dolphins,Melon-Headed Whale,Ocean Dolphins,Piebald Dolphins,Platanista,Pontoporia blainvillei,Pygmy Killer Whale,Right Whale Dolphins,Risso's Dolphin,Rough-Toothed Dolphin,Sousa,Susus,Tucuxi Dolphin,Whale, False Killer,Whale, Melon-Headed,Whale, Pygmy Killer,White-Beaked Dolphins,Amazon River Dolphins,Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins,Feresa attenuata,Ganges River Dolphin,Grampus griseus,Inia geoffrensis,Lagenodelphis hosei,Lagenorhynchus acutus,Lagenorhynchus albirostris,Langenorhynchus obliquidens,Lipotes vexillifer,Orcaella brevirostris,Pacific White-Sided Dolphins,Peponocephala electra,Planista gangetica,Pseudorca crassidens,Sotalia fluviatilis,Steno bredanensis,Yangtze River Dolphin,Atlantic White Sided Dolphins,Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin,Baijus,Dolphin,Dolphin, Fraser's,False Killer Whales,Franciscanas,Fraser Dolphin,Frasers Dolphin,Humpback Dolphin,Lagenodelphis hoseus,Lagenorhynchus albirostri,Langenorhynchus obliquiden,Lissodelphi,Many Toothed Blackfish,Marine Dolphin,Melon Headed Whale,Melon-Headed Whales,Ocean Dolphin,Orcaella brevirostri,Pacific White Sided Dolphins,Pacific White-Sided Dolphin,Piebald Dolphin,Planista gangeticas,Platanistas,Pontoporia blainvilleus,Pseudorca crassiden,Pygmy Killer Whales,Right Whale Dolphin,Risso Dolphin,Rissos Dolphin,Rough Toothed Dolphin,Rough-Toothed Dolphins,Sotalia fluviatili,Tucuxi Dolphins,White Beaked Dolphins,White-Beaked Dolphin
D004292 Dominance, Cerebral Dominance of one cerebral hemisphere over the other in cerebral functions. Cerebral Dominance,Hemispheric Specialization,Dominances, Cerebral,Specialization, Hemispheric
D005260 Female Females
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D013028 Space Perception The awareness of the spatial properties of objects; includes physical space. Perception, Space,Perceptions, Space,Space Perceptions
D013045 Species Specificity The restriction of a characteristic behavior, anatomical structure or physical system, such as immune response; metabolic response, or gene or gene variant to the members of one species. It refers to that property which differentiates one species from another but it is also used for phylogenetic levels higher or lower than the species. Species Specificities,Specificities, Species,Specificity, Species
D014795 Visual Pathways Set of cell bodies and nerve fibers conducting impulses from the eyes to the cerebral cortex. It includes the RETINA; OPTIC NERVE; optic tract; and geniculocalcarine tract. Pathway, Visual,Pathways, Visual,Visual Pathway

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