ABSTRACT

Sensory laterality is influenced by the individual’s attentional state. There are variations in the way different individuals of a same species attend to stimuli. When confronted to novelty, some individuals are more explorative than others. Curiosity is composed of sensation and knowledge seeking in humans. In the present study, we hypothesized that more curious animals, i.e., showing more sensory exploration would be less lateralized than quietly attentive individuals, performing instead more gazing behaviours. In order to test this hypothesis and its possible generality, we performed two studies using two animal models (dolphins and starlings) and two modalities (visual and auditory) of presentation of species-specific and non-species-specific stimuli. Both dolphins and starlings presented more gazes for the species-specific stimuli and more exploratory components for the non-species-specific stimuli. Moreover, in both cases, the non-species-specific stimuli involved more lateralized responses whereas there was no or less clear laterality for the species-specific stimuli. The more exploratory dolphins and starlings also showed a decreased laterality: the more “curious” individuals showed no laterality. Further studies are needed on characterization of curiosity in relation to attention structure. The present study suggests that individual variations in sensory laterality may help disentangle the subtle differences between curiosity, attention and boldness.

摘要

感官偏侧性受个体的注意力状态影响。同一物种的不同个体参与刺激的方式有所不同。当面对新颖性时，有些人比其他人更具探索性。好奇心是由人类的感官和知识寻求组成的。在本研究中，我们假设更多好奇的动物，即表现出更多感官探索的人，比安静地专心的人偏向侧面，而表现出更多的凝视行为。为了检验该假设及其可能的普遍性，我们使用两种动物模型（海豚和八哥）和两种表示物种特异性和非物种特异性刺激的方式（视觉和听觉）进行了两项研究。海豚和star鸟对特定物种的刺激表现出更多的目光，对非物种特定的刺激表现出更多的探索性成分。此外，在这两种情况下，非物种特异性刺激都涉及更多的侧向反应，而物种特异性刺激则没有或没有明显的侧向性。探索性的海豚和and鸟越多，他们的侧卧感也越低：“好奇”的个体越没有侧卧感。需要进一步研究与注意力结构有关的好奇心特征。本研究表明，感觉侧面的个体差异可能有助于消除好奇心，注意力和胆量之间的细微差别。非物种特异性刺激涉及更多的侧向反应，而物种特异性刺激则没有或没有明显的侧向性。探索性的海豚和and鸟越多，他们的侧卧感也越低：“好奇”的个体越没有侧卧感。需要进一步研究与注意力结构有关的好奇心特征。本研究表明，感觉侧面的个体差异可能有助于消除好奇心，注意力和胆量之间的细微差别。非物种特异性刺激涉及更多的侧向反应，而物种特异性刺激则没有或没有明显的侧向性。探索性的海豚和and鸟越多，他们的侧卧感也越低：“好奇”的个体越没有侧卧感。需要进一步研究与注意力结构有关的好奇心特征。本研究表明，感觉侧面的个体差异可能有助于消除好奇心，注意力和胆量之间的细微差别。