Pigeons show how meta-control enables decision-making in an ambiguous world
- In situations where the left and right brain sides receive conflicting information that leads to incompatible response options, the brain requires efficient problem-solving mechanisms. This problem is particularly significant in lateralized brains, in which the hemispheres differ in encoding strategies or attention focus and hence, consider different information for decision-making. Meta-control, in which one hemisphere dominates ambiguous decisions, can be a mechanism that ensures fast behavioral reactions. We therefore confronted pigeons with a task in which two stimulus classes were brought into conflict. To this end, we trained pigeons simultaneously on two categories (cats or dogs) whereby each hemisphere learnt only one of the categories respectively. After learning, the birds were confronted with stimulus pairs that combined a picture with a cat (positive for one hemisphere) and a picture with a dog (positive for the other hemisphere). Pecking responses indicated the hemisphere dominating response selection. Pigeons displayed individual meta-control despite equal categorization performances of both brain hemispheres. This means that hemispheric dominance only emerged in interhemispheric conflict situations. The analysis of response latencies indicate that conflict decisions relied on intrahemispheric processes. Interhemispheric components played a role for more complex decisions. This flexibility could be a crucial building block for the evolutionary success of a lateralized brain.
Author: | Martina MannsORCiDGND, Tobias OttoORCiDGND, Laurenz SalmORCiDGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-97099 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83406-7 |
Parent Title (English): | Scientific reports |
Publisher: | Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature |
Place of publication: | London |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2023/02/28 |
Date of first Publication: | 2021/02/15 |
Publishing Institution: | Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek |
Volume: | 11 |
Issue: | Article 3838 |
First Page: | 3838-1 |
Last Page: | 3838-10 |
Note: | Dieser Beitrag ist auf Grund des DEAL-Springer-Vertrages frei zugänglich. |
Institutes/Facilities: | LWL-Universitätsklinikum Bochum, Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Präventivmedizin |
LWL-Universitätsklinikum Bochum, Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Präventivmedizin, Klinik für experimentelle und molekulare Psychiatrie | |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | Philosophie und Psychologie / Psychologie |
open_access (DINI-Set): | open_access |
Licence (English): | Creative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International |