Monocular deprivation alters the direction of functional and morphological asymmetries in the pigeon's (Columba livia) visual system.
One-day-old pigeons (Columba livia) were monocularly deprived by occluding the left or the right eye for 10 days. Up to 3 years later, degree and direction of functional and morphological asymmetries of deprived and control pigeons were analyzed. In control pigeons, the usual right-eye superiority was obtained in a visual discrimination task. In left-eye deprived pigeons, this behavioral asymmetry was strengthened, whereas the direction of lateralization was reversed in right-eye deprived birds. A morphological tectum analysis revealed that control and left-eye deprived pigeons displayed similar asymmetries, with the left-monocular deprived pigeons exhibiting more pronounced left-right differences. Tectal morphometry of right-eye deprived pigeons displayed a reversed pattern. Overall, the present study shows that a short period of posthatch monocular deprivation is sufficient to alter behavioral and morphological visual asymmetry for several years.
Manns
M
M
Biopsychologie, Facultät für Psychologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. mannsmbo@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Güntürkün
O
O
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D010856:Columbidae; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*