Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

Sniffing with the right nostril: Lateralization of response to odour stimuli by dogs

TitleSniffing with the right nostril: Lateralization of response to odour stimuli by dogs
Publication TypeArticolo su Rivista peer-reviewed
Year of Publication2011
AuthorsSiniscalchi, M., Sasso Raffaella, Pepe A.M., Dimatteo Salvatore, Vallortigara G., and Quaranta A.
JournalAnimal Behaviour
Volume82
Pagination399 - 404
Date Published2011
ISBN Number00033472 (ISSN)
KeywordsAnimal welfare, Animalia, behavioral ecology, behavioral response, canid, Canis familiaris, Citrus limon, developmental biology, Dog, Emotion, Gossypium hirsutum, Laterality olfaction, olfactory cue, physiology, sensory system, visual analysis
Abstract

Lateralization in dogs, Canis familiaris, has been reported for paw usage and response to visual and acoustic stimuli. Surprisingly, however, no investigation of possible lateralization for the most relevant sensory domain of dogs, namely olfaction, has been carried out. Here we investigated left and right nostril use in dogs freely sniffing different emotive stimuli in unrestrained conditions. When sniffing novel nonaversive stimuli (food, lemon, vaginal secretion and cotton swab odours), dogs showed initial preferential use of the right nostril and then a shift towards use of the left nostril with repeated stimulus presentation. When sniffing arousal stimuli such as adrenaline and veterinary sweat odorants, dogs showed a consistent right nostril bias all over the series of stimulus presentations. Results suggest initial involvement of the right hemisphere in processing of novel stimuli followed by the left hemisphere taking charge of control of routine behaviour. Sustained right nostril response to arousal stimuli appears to be consistent with the idea that the sympathetic hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is mainly under the control of the right hemisphere. The implications of these findings for animal welfare are discussed. © 2011 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Notes

Cited By :18Export Date: 17 July 2015CODEN: ANBEACorrespondence Address: Siniscalchi, M.; Department of Animal Production, University of Bari ’Aldo Moro’, Strada Prov. le per Casamassima Km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Italy; email: m.siniscalchi@veterinaria.uniba.itReferences: Andrew, R.J., Rogers, L.J., The nature of lateralization in tetrapods (2002) Comparative Vertebrate Lateralization, pp. 94-125. , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, L.J. Rogers, R.J. Andrews (Eds.);Anfora, G., Frasnelli, E., Maccagnani, B., Rogers, L.J., Vallortigara, G., Behavioural and electrophysiological lateralization in a social (Apis mellifera) and in a non-social (Osmia cornuta) species of bee (2010) Behavioural Brain Research, 206, pp. 236-239; Bradshaw, J.L., Rogers, L.J., (1993) The Evolution of Lateral Asymmetries, Language, Tool Use, and Intellect, , Academic Press, New York; Brancucci, A., Lucci, G., Mazzatenta, A., Tommasi, L., Asymmetries of the human social brain in the visual, auditory and chemical modalities (2009) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, pp. 895-914; Broman, D.A., Olsson, M.J., Nordin, S., Lateralization of olfactory cognitive functions: effects of rhinal side of stimulation (2001) Chemical Senses, 26, pp. 1187-1192; Burne, T.H., Rogers, L.J., Chemosensory input and lateralization of brain function in the domestic chick (2002) Behavioural Brain Research, 133, pp. 293-300; Cain, W.S., Odor identification by males and females: predictions vs. performance (1982) Chemical Senses, 7, pp. 129-142; Craig, A.D., Forebrain emotional asymmetry: a neuroanatomical basis? (2005) Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 912, pp. 566-571; Craven, B.A., Neuberger, T., Paterson, E.G., Webb, A.G., Josephson, E.M., Morrison, E.E., Settles, G.S., Reconstruction and morphometric analysis of the nasal airway of the dog (Canis familiaris) and implications regarding olfactory airflow (2007) Anatomical Record, 290, pp. 1325-1340; De Boyer Des Roches, A., Richard-Yris, M.A., Henry, S., Ezzaouïa, M., Hausberger, M., Laterality and emotions: visual laterality in the domestic horse (Equus caballus) differs with objects’ emotional value (2008) Physiology & Behavior, 94, pp. 487-490; Frasnelli, E., Anfora, G., Trona, F., Tessarolo, F., Vallortigara, G., Morpho-functional asymmetry of the olfactory receptors of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) (2010) Behavioural Brain Research, 209, pp. 221-225; Frasnelli, E., Vallortigara, G., Rogers, L.J., Response competition associated with right-left antennal asymmetries of new and old olfactory memory traces in honeybees (2010) Behavioural Brain Research, 209, pp. 36-41; Gagliardo, A., Pecchia, T., Savini, M., Odetti, F., Ioale’, P., Vallortigara, G., Olfactory lateralization in homing pigeons: initial orientation of birds receiving a unilateral olfactory input (2007) European Journal of Neuroscience, 25, pp. 1511-1516; Guo, K., Meints, K., Hall, C., Hall, S., Mills, D., Left gaze bias in humans, rhesus monkeys and domestic dogs (2009) Animal Cognition, 12, pp. 409-418; McGreevy, P.D., Rogers, L.J., Motor and sensory laterality in thoroughbred horses (2005) Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 92, pp. 337-352; MacNeilage, P.F., Rogers, L.J., Vallortigara, G., Origins of the left and right brain (2009) Scientific American, 301, pp. 60-67; Olko, C., Turkewitz, G., Cerebral asymmetry of emotion and its relationship to olfaction in infancy (2001) Laterality, 6, pp. 29-37; Pierman, S., Douhard, Q., Balthazart, J., Baum, M.J., Bakker, J., Attraction thresholds and sex discrimination of urinary odorants in male and female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice (2006) Hormones and Behavior, 49, pp. 96-104; Quaranta, A., Siniscalchi, M., Frate, A., Vallortigara, G., Paw preference in dogs: relations between lateralised behaviour and immunity (2004) Behavioural Brain Research, 153, pp. 521-525; Quaranta, A., Siniscalchi, M., Vallortigara, G., Asymmetric tail-wagging responses by dogs to different emotive stimuli (2007) Current Biology, 17, pp. 199-201; Rogers, L.J., Andrew, R.J., (2002) Comparative Vertebrate Lateralization, , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; Rogers, L.J., Vallortigara, G., From antenna to antenna: lateral shift of olfactory memory in honeybees (2008) PloS One, 3, pp. e2340; Rogers, L.J., Andrew, R.J., Burne, T.H., Light exposure of the embryo and development of behavioural lateralisation in chicks, I: olfactory responses (1998) Behavioural Brain Research, 97, pp. 195-200; Royet, J.P., Plailly, J., Lateralization of olfactory processes (2004) Chemical Senses, 29, pp. 731-745; Savic, I., Berglund, H., Right-nostril dominance in discrimination of unfamiliar, but not familiar, odours (2000) Chemical Senses, 25, pp. 517-523; Siniscalchi, M., Quaranta, A., Rogers, L.J., Hemispheric specialization in dogs for processing different acoustic stimuli (2008) PloS One, 3, pp. e3349. , doi:0.1371/journal.pone.0003349; Siniscalchi, M., Franchini, D., Pepe, A.M., Sasso, R., Vallortigara, G., Quaranta, A., Volumetric assessment of cerebral asymmetries in dogs (2010) Laterality, 6, pp. 1-9; Siniscalchi, M., Sasso, R., Pepe, A.M., Dimatteo, S., Vallortigara, G., Quaranta, A., Catecholamine plasma levels following immune stimulation with rabies vaccine in dogs selected for their paw preferences (2010) Neuroscience Letters, 476, pp. 142-145; Siniscalchi, M., Sasso, R., Pepe, A.M., Vallortigara, G., Quaranta, A., Dogs turn left to emotional stimuli (2010) Behavioural Brain Research, 208, pp. 516-521; Sovrano, V.A., Visual lateralization in response to familiar and unfamiliar stimuli in fish (2004) Behavioural Brain Research, 152, pp. 385-391; Vallortigara, G., Comparative neuropsychology of the dual brain: a stroll through left and right animals’ perceptual worlds (2000) Brain and Language, 73, pp. 189-219; Vallortigara, G., Andrew, R.J., Olfactory lateralization in the chick (1994) Neuropsychologia, 32, pp. 417-423; Vallortigara, G., Rogers, L.J., Survival with an asymmetrical brain: advantages and disadvantages of cerebral lateralization (2005) Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, pp. 575-589; Vallortigara, G., Regolin, L., Pagni, P., Detour behaviour, imprinting, and visual lateralization in the domestic chick (1999) Cognitive Brain Research, 7, pp. 307-320; Vallortigara, G., Rogers, L.J., Bisazza, A., Possible evolutionary origins of cognitive brain lateralization (1999) Brain Research Reviews, 30, pp. 164-175; Vallortigara, G., Chiandetti, C., Sovrano, V.A., Brain asymmetry (animal) (2011) Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2, pp. 146-157. , doi:10.1002/wcs.100; Webber, R.L., Jeffcoat, M.K., Harman, J.T., Ruttimann, U.E., MR demonstration of the nasal cycle in the beagle dog (1987) Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, 11, pp. 869-871; Wells, D.L., Lateralised behaviour in the domestic dog, Canis familiaris (2003) Behavioural Processes, 61, pp. 27-35

URLhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-79960555130&partnerID=40&md5=b02990b8ecd619a957f003373bc09815
Citation Key5372