Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemis...Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily invoIved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a headorienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting response did not differ between the various playbacks. However, when the head-orienting response was tested against chanee level, goats showed a right bias regardless of the stimuli presented. Goats responded more to dog barks than to food frustration calls, whereas responses to food anticipation and isolation calls were intermediate. In addition, the latency to resume feeding, an indicator of fear reaction, was not affected by the kind of vocalization presented. These results provide evidence for asymmetries in goat vocal perceptio n of emotional-li nked con specific and heterospecific calls. They also suggest involvement of the left brain hemisphere for processing acoustic stimuli, which might have been perceived as familiar and non -threate ning.展开更多
文摘Functional asymmetries, for example, the preferential involvement of 1 brain hemisphere to process stimuli, may increase brain efficiency and the capacity to carry out tasks simultaneously. We investigated which hemisphere was primarily invoIved in processing acoustic stimuli in goats using a headorienting paradigm. Three playbacks using goat vocalizations recorded in different contexts: food anticipation (positive), isolation (negative), food frustration (negative), as well as 1 playback involving dog barks (negative) were presented on the left and right sides of the test subjects simultaneously. The head-orienting response (left or right) and latency to resume feeding were recorded. The direction of the head-orienting response did not differ between the various playbacks. However, when the head-orienting response was tested against chanee level, goats showed a right bias regardless of the stimuli presented. Goats responded more to dog barks than to food frustration calls, whereas responses to food anticipation and isolation calls were intermediate. In addition, the latency to resume feeding, an indicator of fear reaction, was not affected by the kind of vocalization presented. These results provide evidence for asymmetries in goat vocal perceptio n of emotional-li nked con specific and heterospecific calls. They also suggest involvement of the left brain hemisphere for processing acoustic stimuli, which might have been perceived as familiar and non -threate ning.
