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Navigating Through an Asymmetrical Brain: Lateralisation and Homing in Pigeon

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Behavioral Lateralization in Vertebrates

Abstract

The ability of homing pigeons to find their way back home after displacement has fascinated researchers for more than a century. Pigeons rely on a map-and-compass system to navigate, especially when released from an unfamiliar site. Olfactory cues and the sun’s azimuth provide, respectively, primarily a navigational map and compass information to accomplish this task. Magnetic cues provide subsidiary compass information. In addition, pigeons can also rely on a spatial representation of the visual landmarks when navigating over familiar terrains. The neural structures underlying these capabilities have been thoroughly investigated. Taking advantage of the neuroanatomical organisation of the avian brain, several studies have addressed lateralisation (i.e. the functional contribution of the left and the right sides of the brain) of homing behaviour. A survey of the most recent contribution to this topic will be presented, with particular attention to the olfactory system, the visual system and the hippocampus.

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Abbreviations

AD:

Dorsal arcopallium

CA:

Commissura tectalis

CT:

Commissura tectalis

CDL:

Dorsolateral corticoid arena

DSD:

Decussatio supraoptica dorsalis

Cpi:

Piriform cortex

CPP:

Prepiriform cortex

E:

Entopallium

Gld:

Nucleus geniculatus lateralis, pars doralis

HD:

Hyperpallium densocellulare

HF:

Hippocampal formation

HL:

Hyperpallium laterale

MSt:

Medial striatum

NFL:

Frontolateral nidopallium

OB:

Olfactory bulb

Rt:

Nucleus rotundus

SM:

Medial septum

TSM:

Tractus septomesencephalicus

TeO:

Tectum opticum

TnA:

Nucleus taeniae

W:

Wulst

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Palazzo Fedrigotti—Corso Bettini 31, 38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy

    Tommaso Pecchia & Giorgio Vallortigara

  2. Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Volta 6, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Anna Gagliardo, Caterina Filannino & Paolo Ioalè

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  1. Tommaso Pecchia
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  2. Anna Gagliardo
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  3. Caterina Filannino
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  4. Paolo Ioalè
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  5. Giorgio Vallortigara
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Correspondence to Tommaso Pecchia .

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  1. , Department of Evolutionary and Functiona, University of Parma, Via Farini 90, Parma, 43121, Italy

    Davide Csermely

  2. , Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy, Via Venezia 10, Padua, 35131, Italy

    Lucia Regolin

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Pecchia, T., Gagliardo, A., Filannino, C., Ioalè, P., Vallortigara, G. (2013). Navigating Through an Asymmetrical Brain: Lateralisation and Homing in Pigeon. In: Csermely, D., Regolin, L. (eds) Behavioral Lateralization in Vertebrates. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30203-9_8

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