A Behavioral Study of Brain Lateralization in Gray Treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis): Does a "Right-Ear Advantage" Bias Phonotaxis?

Abstract

The tendency for humans to characterize themselves as “right-brained” or “left-brained” emerges from the observation that the left and right hemispheres exhibit some specialization for different functions. Previous electrophysiological studies of frogs suggest they may also exhibit brain lateralization in the form of a right ear advantage (REA) for the sensory processing of conspecific advertisement calls. Because frogs must compare information from two ears to accurately localize sound sources, we hypothesized that a REA could lead to a directional bias in phonotaxis toward calling males.