Hemispheric Specialization for Processing the Communicative and Emotional Content of Vocal Communication in a Social Mammal, the Domestic Pig.

ABSTRACT: In humans, speech perception is lateralized, with the left hemisphere of the brain dominant in processing the communicative content and the right hemisphere dominant in processing the emotional content. However, still little is known about such a division of tasks in other species. We therefore investigated lateralized processing of communicative and emotionally relevant calls in a social mammal, the pig (Sus scrofa). Based on the contralateral connection between ears and hemispheres, we compared the behavioural and cardiac responses of 36 young male pigs during binaural and monaural (left or right) playback to the same sounds. The playback stimuli were calls of social isolation and physical restraint, whose communicative and emotional relevance, respectively, were validated prior t

SUBMITTER: Leliveld LMC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7714956 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature