Abstract:Lateralized eye use is thought to increase brain efficiency, as the two hemispheres process different information perceived by the eyes. It has been observed in a wide variety of vertebrate species and, in general, information about conspecifics appear to elicit a left eye preference whilst information about prey elicits the opposite. In reptiles, this phenomenon has only been investigated using live conspecifics in agonistic contexts, and so it is not clear whether it can be found when using video stimuli. He… Show more
“…Other paradigms have been successful with free-ranging macaques [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Future research might also investigate neglected taxa, like recent studies measuring looking behaviour towards conspecific [ 61 ] and predator [ 62 ] stimuli in lizards.…”
Section: Literature Review: Results and Discussionmentioning
Simple SummaryGood animal welfare requires minimizing suffering and promoting positive experiences. To achieve this, we need reliable indicators of animals’ psychological states. In humans, different moods and emotions (“affects”) are associated with changes in visual attention (“attention bias”). We review studies investigating whether attention biases are also indicators of affect in animals. Although research is limited, evidence for affect-driven attention biases has been found in several species, especially primates and livestock. These studies are discussed in relation to tasks developed for measuring attention in humans. We identify additional findings from human psychology that might be applied to animals, particularly species not studied before, and conclude that affect-driven attention bias is a promising welfare indicator. However, it may be more useful for studying responses to specific stimuli, rather than general wellbeing. With further study, we hope these findings contribute to fulfilling society’s ethical obligations towards animals.AbstractAttention bias describes the differential allocation of attention towards one stimulus compared to others. In humans, this bias can be mediated by the observer’s affective state and is implicated in the onset and maintenance of affective disorders such as anxiety. Affect-driven attention biases (ADABs) have also been identified in a few other species. Here, we review the literature on ADABs in animals and discuss their utility as welfare indicators. Despite a limited research effort, several studies have found that negative affective states modulate attention to negative (i.e., threatening) cues. ADABs influenced by positive-valence states have also been documented in animals. We discuss methods for measuring ADAB and conclude that looking time, dot-probe, and emotional spatial cueing paradigms are particularly promising. Research is needed to test them with a wider range of species, investigate attentional scope as an indicator of affect, and explore the possible causative role of attention biases in determining animal wellbeing. Finally, we argue that ADABs might not be best-utilized as indicators of general valence, but instead to reveal specific emotions, motivations, aversions, and preferences. Paying attention to the human literature could facilitate these advances.
“…Other paradigms have been successful with free-ranging macaques [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Future research might also investigate neglected taxa, like recent studies measuring looking behaviour towards conspecific [ 61 ] and predator [ 62 ] stimuli in lizards.…”
Section: Literature Review: Results and Discussionmentioning
Simple SummaryGood animal welfare requires minimizing suffering and promoting positive experiences. To achieve this, we need reliable indicators of animals’ psychological states. In humans, different moods and emotions (“affects”) are associated with changes in visual attention (“attention bias”). We review studies investigating whether attention biases are also indicators of affect in animals. Although research is limited, evidence for affect-driven attention biases has been found in several species, especially primates and livestock. These studies are discussed in relation to tasks developed for measuring attention in humans. We identify additional findings from human psychology that might be applied to animals, particularly species not studied before, and conclude that affect-driven attention bias is a promising welfare indicator. However, it may be more useful for studying responses to specific stimuli, rather than general wellbeing. With further study, we hope these findings contribute to fulfilling society’s ethical obligations towards animals.AbstractAttention bias describes the differential allocation of attention towards one stimulus compared to others. In humans, this bias can be mediated by the observer’s affective state and is implicated in the onset and maintenance of affective disorders such as anxiety. Affect-driven attention biases (ADABs) have also been identified in a few other species. Here, we review the literature on ADABs in animals and discuss their utility as welfare indicators. Despite a limited research effort, several studies have found that negative affective states modulate attention to negative (i.e., threatening) cues. ADABs influenced by positive-valence states have also been documented in animals. We discuss methods for measuring ADAB and conclude that looking time, dot-probe, and emotional spatial cueing paradigms are particularly promising. Research is needed to test them with a wider range of species, investigate attentional scope as an indicator of affect, and explore the possible causative role of attention biases in determining animal wellbeing. Finally, we argue that ADABs might not be best-utilized as indicators of general valence, but instead to reveal specific emotions, motivations, aversions, and preferences. Paying attention to the human literature could facilitate these advances.
“…Previous research in bearded dragons using videos of live conspecifics showed that females exhibited a left eye bias towards conspecifics while males did not, and both sexes used their left eye significantly longer when viewing moving stimuli rather than stationary stimuli (Frohnwieser et al 2017). These stimuli were non-threatening, as all recorded animals were females and did not exhibit head bobbing.…”
Section: Ratio Of Left Eye Use To Right Eye Usementioning
confidence: 74%
“…We expected bearded dragons to show a greater relative left eye preference towards: (i) models of conspecifics than towards random objects; (ii) towards stimuli with eyes than without eyes; (iii) towards naturally colored models than towards gray ones; and (iv) towards moving than stationary robots. Furthermore, we expected females to show more lateralization towards conspecific stimuli than males, as was shown in a previous study using video stimuli (Frohnwieser et al 2017). Finally, we expected males to exhibit antagonistic behavior towards head bobbing robots, such as head bobbing themselves or approaching the stimulus.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 74%
“…The preferred direction taken to reach the prey is the right for the majority of those (4 of 5, it may be a potentially useful tool for evaluating how animals categorize stimuli representing conspecifics. It also seems to be a useful tool to examine differentiation of conspecifics and other stimuli in bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps Ahl, 1927), as females (but not males) prefer to use their left eye when viewing videos of conspecifics (Frohnwieser et al 2017). Therefore, we used this method to investigate which visual features of an animal were important for it to be perceived as a conspecific lizard.…”
Artificial animals are increasingly used as conspecific stimuli in animal behavior research. However, researchers often have an incomplete understanding of how the species under study perceives conspecifics, and hence which features needed for a stimulus to be perceived appropriately. To investigate the features to which bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) attend, we measured their lateralized eye use when assessing a successive range of stimuli. These ranged through several stages of realism in artificial conspecifics, to see how features such as color, the presence of eyes, body shape and motion influence behavior. We found differences in lateralized eye use depending on the sex of the observing bearded dragon and the artificial conspecific, as well as the artificial conspecific's behavior. Therefore, this approach can inform the design of robotic animals that elicit biologically-meaningful responses in live animals.
“…A computer monitor was positioned in one end of the arena, this was used to present video stimuli to the observer animal ( figure 1 a ). Bearded dragons have been shown previously to respond to videos of conspecifics [ 35 ]. Figure 1.…”
Recent work exploring the relationship between early environmental conditions and cognition has shown that incubation environment can influence both brain anatomy and performance in simple operant tasks in young lizards. It is currently unknown how it impacts other, potentially more sophisticated, cognitive processes. Social-cognitive abilities, such as gaze following and social learning, are thought to be highly adaptive as they provide a short-cut to acquiring new information. Here, we investigated whether egg incubation temperature influenced two aspects of social cognition, gaze following and social learning in adult reptiles (Pogona vitticeps). Incubation temperature did not influence the gaze following ability of the bearded dragons; however, lizards incubated at colder temperatures were quicker at learning a social task and faster at completing that task. These results are the first to show that egg incubation temperature influences the social cognitive abilities of an oviparous reptile species and that it does so differentially depending on the task. Further, the results show that the effect of incubation environment was not ephemeral but lasted long into adulthood. It could thus have potential long-term effects on fitness.
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