Open AccessRelationship between visuospatial attention and paw preference in dogs
Author(s) -
Marcello Siniscalchi,
Serenella d’Ingeo,
Serena Fornelli,
Angelo Quaranta
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/srep31682
Subject(s) - laterality , preference , psychology , lateralization of brain function , attentional bias , audiology , task (project management) , cognitive psychology , cognition , developmental psychology , medicine , neuroscience , management , economics , microeconomics
The relationship between visuospatial attention and paw preference was investigated in domestic dogs. Visuospatial attention was evaluated using a food detection task that closely matches the so-called “cancellation” task used in human studies. Paw preference was estimated by quantifying the dog’s use of forepaws to hold a puzzle feeder device (namely the “Kong”) while eating its content. Results clearly revealed a strong relationship between visuospatial attention bias and motor laterality, with a left-visuospatial bias in the left-pawed group, a right-visuospatial bias in the right-pawed group and with the absence of significant visuospatial attention bias in ambi-pawed subjects. The current findings are the first evidence for the presence of a relationship between motor lateralization and visuospatial attentional mechanisms in a mammal species besides humans.