Cerebral lateralization was once thought to be unique to humans, but is now known to be widespread among the vertebrates. Lateralization appears to confer cognitive advantages upon those that possess it. Despite the taxonomic ubiquity and described advantages of lateralization, substantial individual variation exists in all species. Individual variation in cerebral lateralization may be tied to individual variation in behaviour and the selective forces that act to maintain variation in behaviour may also act to maintain variation in lateralization. Sex differences may also be an important source of variation in lateralization, as differences between males and females are often observed. Here, I present three papers that collectively deal with the interrelationships between sex, behaviour and cerebral lateralization in the convict cichlid. My results illustrate that lateralization is related to personality-like characteristics in the convict cichlid, and that there are important differences between the sexes in their pattern of lateralization.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/492 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Reddon, Adam R. |
| Contributors | Hurd, Peter (Psychology), Sturdy, Christopher (Psychology), Cassady St. Clair, Colleen (Biological Sciences), Boutin, Stanley (Biological Sciences) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 736628 bytes, application/pdf |
| Relation | Reddon, A. R. & Hurd, P. L. (2008). The relationship between cerebral lateralization and aggression in the convict cichlid. Biology Letters, 4:338-340., Reddon, A. R. & Hurd, P. L. (2009) Individual differences in cerebral lateralization are associated with shy-bold variation in the convict cichlid. Animal Behaviour, 77, 189-193., Reddon, A. R. & Hurd, P. L. (2009) Sex differences in cerebral lateralization of a cichlid fish when detouring to view emotionally conditioned stimuli. Behavioural Processes, 82:25-29., Reddon, A. R. & Hurd, P. L. (In Press) Acting unilaterally: Why do animals with strongly lateralized brains behave differently than those with weakly lateralized brains? Accepted for publication in: Bioscience Hypotheses. |
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