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. Here, bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) were presented with videos of female conspecifics and prey that either moved or were stationary, along with a control video of an empty background. Females exhibited a left eye bias towards conspecifics but males did not, however, both sexes looked at conspecifics significantly longer than prey. Further, animals used their left eye significantly longer when viewing moving stimuli of both categories. These results suggest that, in lizards, lateralized eye use when viewing conspecifics may be controlled by sex, and strongly influenced by stimulus movement. This study therefore provides important insights into the role of lateralized processing in lizard perception, and sets the scene for future work investigating the role of sex on perception of conspecifics and the role of motion in lateralized eye use.

Highlights

  • We looked at lateralized eye use in bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) watching and interpreting video stimuli showing conspecifics and prey that were either moving or stationary

  • We predicted a right eye preference towards prey if videos are perceived the same way as live stimuli; a left eye preference when observing female conspecifics, if there is no difference in response towards males and females; and no eye preferences for female conspecifics if the response towards males is caused by the potential for agonistic interaction with them

  • In contrast to previous research, which focused on the perception of male lizards in videos mostly by other males (Clark et al, 1997; Macedonia & Stamps, 1994; Ord & Evans, 2002; Ord et al, 2002; Van Dyk & Evans, 2007; Yang et al, 2001), this study looked at the perception of females

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Summary

Introduction

Various reptile species are known to show considerable lateralization of their behavior (Rogers et al, 2013; Vallortigara & Rogers, 2005), with information about predators and conspecifics being more obtained by the left eye (Bonati, Csermely, López, & Martín, 2010; Hews, Castellano, & Hara, 2004; Hews & Worthington, 2001), and information about prey being more obtained by the right eye (Bonati & Csermely, 2011; Bonati, Csermely, & Romani, 2008; Bonati, Csermely, & Sovrano, 2013; Robins et al, 2005). We predicted a right eye preference towards prey if videos are perceived the same way as live stimuli; a left eye preference when observing female conspecifics, if there is no difference in response towards males and females; and no eye preferences for female conspecifics if the response towards males is caused by the potential for agonistic interaction with them

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