Lateralization in Invertebrates

Frasnelli, Elisa

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-6725-4_6

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…An additional point of interest is the individual consistency seen across decision times. While my study addresses this only in the most preliminary sense, inter-individual heterogeneity in decision times, and consistent decisionmaking propensity, have been found to play functional roles in other social systems [6,28]. The trend observed here will require further elucidation before any inferences about its possible functionality can be made; however, there is good potential for future investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Indeed, within insect societies, systematic lateral biases are of particular interest, as it has been postulated that they play a role in the promotion of collective behaviour, with functional asymmetry being tightly coupled to social pressures at the group-and colony-level [3,4,6 -8]. Despite this, however, basic knowledge of the forms in which such biases are manifest is still far from complete [6,9,10]. Consequently, there is an ongoing need for information relating to basal locomotive, sensory and behavioural asymmetries, and their concordant effects upon emergent insect behaviours.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Honeybees show a context-dependent rightward bias

O’Shea-Wheller

2019

Biol. Lett.

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Lateralized behaviour in social insects is of biological significance, as certain lateral biases appear to have emerged in tandem with eusociality, and thus can provide insights into its functioning. Here, I investigate behavioural asymmetry in an ecologically important social insect, the honeybee Apis mellifera. Experiments show that foraging bees exhibit a strong rightward turning bias, accompanied by reduced decision latency when entering open cavities, yet demonstrate no directional preference in sequential choice-mazes. A rightward exploration preference within unknown cavities is consistent with current information relating to the physiology of this species, with workers being better equipped for sensory investigation and threat response using their right antenna and eye. Furthermore, when applied to collective nest-choice scenarios, a similar bias would promote the uniform assessment of nest cavities, and consistency in quorum attainment. Conversely, such laterality appears to provide no immediate advantage in enclosed decision-maze systems, where thigmotaxis instead predominates. As such, my results show that directional biases in A. mellifera are extent, yet context-dependent, thus providing a simple and optimized response to varied social challenges.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honeybees show a context-dependent rightward bias

O’Shea-Wheller

2019

Biol. Lett.

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“…This is the case for some predators, such as sailfish, which are lateralized at the individual-level in attacking schooling sardines on one side (and the stronger they are lateralized, the more successful they are at capturing their prey), but that overall, do not show a population-level bias [64]. However, if we think specifically about aggressive displays (and not the interactions), the alignment within the population may be linked to the need of an individual to position itself in a congruent way from a postural/motor point of view, as happens in mating (for a review, see [65]).…”

Section: Individual-or Population-level Lateralization As An Essmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual-Level and Population-Level Lateralization: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Frasnelli

Vallortígara

2018

Symmetry

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Lateralization, i.e., the different functional roles played by the left and right sides of the brain, is expressed in two main ways: (1) in single individuals, regardless of a common direction (bias) in the population (aka individual-level lateralization); or (2) in single individuals and in the same direction in most of them, so that the population is biased (aka population-level lateralization). Indeed, lateralization often occurs at the population-level, with 60–90% of individuals showing the same direction (right or left) of bias, depending on species and tasks. It is usually maintained that lateralization can increase the brain’s efficiency. However, this may explain individual-level lateralization, but not population-level lateralization, for individual brain efficiency is unrelated to the direction of the asymmetry in other individuals. From a theoretical point of view, a possible explanation for population-level lateralization is that it may reflect an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) that can develop when individually asymmetrical organisms are under specific selective pressures to coordinate their behavior with that of other asymmetrical organisms. This prediction has been sometimes misunderstood as it is equated with the idea that population-level lateralization should only be present in social species. However, population-level asymmetries have been observed in aggressive and mating displays in so-called “solitary” insects, suggesting that engagement in specific inter-individual interactions rather than “sociality” per se may promote population-level lateralization. Here, we clarify that the nature of inter-individuals interaction can generate evolutionarily stable strategies of lateralization at the individual- or population-level, depending on ecological contexts, showing that individual-level and population-level lateralization should be considered as two aspects of the same continuum.

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“…Some studies have been, indeed, limited to a comparison between humans and nonhuman primates (see [8][9][10][11] for review), but in most other papers, the study of hemispheric asymmetries has extended to all nonhuman vertebrates (see [12][13][14][15] for review). Still other investigations have focused attention on lower vertebrates (see [16] for review) or even on invertebrates (see [17,18] for review), suggesting that invertebrates with complex brains, such as arthropods and cephalopods, share the attribute of lateralization with vertebrates. Now, even if MacNeilage et al [14] have assumed that all hemispheric specializations might have evolved from a basic lateralization pattern, common to all vertebrates and even to invertebrates, it seems unlikely that the same asymmetry of function may be equally adaptive in different brains and in different environmental and social contexts, such as those typical of insects, fishes, birds and mammals.…”

Section: General Factors That Have Hindered the Integration Between Human And Animal Studies On Different Aspects Of Hemispheric Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article

Gainotti

2021

Brain Sciences

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Even if for many years hemispheric asymmetries have been considered as a uniquely human feature, an increasing number of studies have described hemispheric asymmetries for various behavioral functions in several nonhuman species. An aspect of animal lateralization that has attracted particular attention has concerned the hemispheric asymmetries for emotions, but human and animal studies on this subject have been developed as independent lines of investigation, without attempts for their integration. In this perspective article, after an illustration of factors that have hampered the integration between human and animal studies on emotional lateralization, I will pass to analyze components and stages of the processing of emotions to distinguish those which point to a continuum between humans and many animal species, from those which suggest a similarity only between humans and great apes. The right lateralization of sympathetic functions (involved in brain and bodily activities necessary in emergency situations) seems consistent across many animal species, whereas asymmetries in emotional communication and in structures involved in emotional experience, similar to those observed in humans, have been documented only in primates.

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Lateralization in Invertebrates

Cited by 17 publications

References 98 publications

Honeybees show a context-dependent rightward bias

Honeybees show a context-dependent rightward bias

Individual-Level and Population-Level Lateralization: Two Sides of the Same Coin

The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article

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