Light exposure of the embryo and development of behavioural lateralisation in chicks, I: olfactory responses

Abstract

Chicks exposed to light during late foetal life experience stimulation of the right eye only and, in consequence, develop asymmetries of the crossed visual projections from thalamus to forebrain and differences in performance of some visual tasks when using the right or left eye. The present study compared dark- and light-incubated chicks in a test of olfaction in which clove oil odour was presented together with a coloured bead. When the chicks were tested with a blue bead and using the right nostril (left nostril occluded by wax), head shaking and pecking were elevated, compared to pretest responses to an unscented, white bead. No significant elevation of head shaking occurred in chicks tested with the blue bead and using the left nostril, although pecking increased, which indicates that these chicks attended to the visual parameters of the bead but not the odour. It appears that, when the left nostril is used, attention to an attractive visual stimulus suppresses responses to olfactory input to the left hemisphere. When the clove oil odour was presented together with a less attractive, red bead, no significant lateralisation emerged. Light or dark experience prior to hatching had no effect on the lateralised performance of the blue-bead test.