Post-hatch activity-dependent modulation of visual asymmetry formation in pigeons

Prior, Helmut; Diekamp, Bettina; Güntürkün, Onur; Manns, Martina

doi:10.1097/01.wnr.0000129575.43925.10

Cited by 17 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…As a result, depriving the embryos from light during development prevents the formation of visuomotor as well as anatomical asymmetries in chickens and pigeons1319202122. In the altricial pigeon, manipulations of the visual experience after hatching still modify the typical pattern20232425. These studies show that the final lateralization pattern is not simply the result of activity-dependent differentiation processes within the stronger light stimulated hemisphere; it arises from subtle changes in the balance of left-right development.…”

mentioning

confidence: 77%

Shaping a lateralized brain: Asymmetrical light experience modulates access to visual interhemispheric information in pigeons

Letzner

Patzke

Verhaal

et al. 2014

Sci Rep

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Cerebral asymmetries result from hemispheric specialization and interhemispheric communication pattern that develop in close gene-environment interactions. To gain a deeper understanding of developmental and functional interrelations, we investigated interhemispheric information exchange in pigeons, which possess a lateralized visual system that develops in response to asymmetrical ontogenetic light stimulation. We monocularly trained pigeons with or without embryonic light experience in color discriminations whereby they learned another pair of colors with each eye. Thereby, information from the ipsilateral eye had to be transferred. Monocular tests confronting the animals with trained and transferred color pairs demonstrated that embryonic light stimulation modulates the balance of asymmetrical handling of transfer information. Stronger embryonic stimulation of the left hemisphere significantly enhanced access to interhemispheric visual information, thereby reversing the right-hemispheric advantage that develops in the absence of embryonic light experience. These data support the critical role of environmental factors in molding a functionally lateralized brain.

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mentioning

confidence: 77%

Shaping a lateralized brain: Asymmetrical light experience modulates access to visual interhemispheric information in pigeons

Letzner

Patzke

Verhaal

et al. 2014

Sci Rep

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show abstract

“…Despite the complete crossing of the optic nerves 36 , unilateral modulation of visual input affects neuronal circuits on both brain sides 37,38 . Such bihemispheric effects require the action of commissural systems, which mediate the balance of left-and righthemispheric developmental processes and which presumably stabilize induced left-right differences 16,37 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of asymmetrical light input on cerebral hemispheric specialization and interhemispheric cooperation

Manns

Römling

2012

Nat Commun

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Hemispheric specialization potentially provides evolutionary advantages by enhancing cognitive capacities. However, separation of function might be advantageous only with the presence of commissural systems allowing for efficient information exchange and cooperation between the hemispheres. Here we investigate hemispheric cooperation in pigeons as they possess an asymmetrically organized visual system that develops in response to biased ontogenetic light stimulation. This allows comparison of the integration capacities of lateralized (light-incubated) and non-lateralized (dark-incubated) animals. We show that pigeons integrate information learnt separately with each hemisphere when confronted with a transitive reasoning task that they cannot solve with the knowledge of one hemisphere alone. Impairments in dark-incubated birds demonstrate that this ability depends on asymmetrical embryonic light stimulation. our study provides for the first time direct evidence that lateralized environmental experience not only induces hemispheric specialization, but also affects the efficiency of interhemispheric crosstalk. Environmental factors can influence the tight interplay between the hemispheres, which in turn determines cognitive abilities.

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“…Since synaptic maturation of visual pathways is regulated by retinal activity (Ruthazer and Cline, 2004), transiently blocking right eye retinal activity in pigeons reverses visual asymmetry for the entire life (Prior et al, 2004). The lateralized retinal activation asymmetrically regulates tectal neurons, which in turn possibly release tectal brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) asymmetrically (Manns et al, 2008).…”

Section: It All Starts In the Egg: The Role Of Early Ontogenetic Signmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hemispheric Asymmetries: The Comparative View

Ocklenburg¹,

Güntürkün²

2012

Front. Psychology

138

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Hemispheric asymmetries play an important role in almost all cognitive functions. For more than a century, they were considered to be uniquely human but now an increasing number of findings in all vertebrate classes make it likely that we inherited our asymmetries from common ancestors. Thus, studying animal models could provide unique insights into the mechanisms of lateralization. We outline three such avenues of research by providing an overview of experiments on left–right differences in the connectivity of sensory systems, the embryonic determinants of brain asymmetries, and the genetics of lateralization. All these lines of studies could provide a wealth of insights into our own asymmetries that should and will be exploited by future analyses.

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Post-hatch activity-dependent modulation of visual asymmetry formation in pigeons

Cited by 17 publications

References 27 publications

Shaping a lateralized brain: Asymmetrical light experience modulates access to visual interhemispheric information in pigeons

Shaping a lateralized brain: Asymmetrical light experience modulates access to visual interhemispheric information in pigeons

The impact of asymmetrical light input on cerebral hemispheric specialization and interhemispheric cooperation

Hemispheric Asymmetries: The Comparative View

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