Behavioral and cerebral laterality in animals

Abstract

Još od prvih početaka neuroznanstvenih i bihevioralnih istraživanja, stručnjaci nailaze na specifičnu pojavu koja se naziva lateralnost. Budući da se ta pojava manifestira na razini ponašanja, ali i na kognitivnoj razini, nastaju dva podtipa lateralnosti: bihevioralna i cerebralna lateralnost. Proučavajući životinjsko ponašanje i morfologiju, ustanovljeno je da je lateralnost karakteristika kompletne linije kralježnjaka i nekih skupina beskralježnjaka, a s povećanom stopom istraživanja u posljednje vrijeme, pretpostavljena je i genetička pozadina te pojave. Uz dodatna otkrića o ekološkim utjecajima na pojavu lateralnosti, znanstvenici pokušavaju naći odgovore na pitanja vezana uz postanak i starost lateralnosti, njezinu raširenost i moguću biološku prednost među organizmima.From the beginning of neuroscientific and behavioral researches, experts are comming across a specific phenomenon called laterality. Since this phenomenon manifests at the behavioral level, but also at the cognitive level, two subtypes of laterality appear: bihevioral and cerebral laterality. Through studies of animal behavior and morphology, it has been established that laterality is a characteristic of the complete linage of vertebrates and some groups of invertebrates, and lately, with an increased research rate, a genetic background is also assumed. With additional discoveries of ecological impacts on laterality, scientists are trying to find the answers to questions concerning the origin and age of laterality, how widespead laterality is, and the potentional biological advantage of laterality among organisms