Humans, as with many other species, process anything new, unusual and possibly threatening with the right side of their brains. With us, it is via part of both eyes. With creatures who have eyes sited on either side of their heads, it is with the left eye.
Once we are familiar with the object or person, we process it via the left side of the brain, which with those creatures, means via the right eye.
Study of Lateralised Visual Processing in Cows
A study recently published by Dr. Andrew Robins and Prof. Clive Phillips from the Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton, and funded by the Australian Veterinary Association, made some interesting findings.
According to the Jan/Feb edition of the Australian Veterinary Journal, in an article entitled, “Umbrellas Make Cows Turn Anticlockwise”, the researchers established behavioral responses that could improve handling techniques in domestic animals.
Cows and Umbrellas
Apparently opening and closing an umbrella is a test for fearfulness in cows. When a mob of cows was first introduced to the umbrella, the cows encircled it in an anticlockwise direction, watching it warily with their left eyes. The next time the now familiar umbrella was shown to them, the cows, as if giving it the proverbial yawn, reversed direction and viewed it through their right eyes.
The right side of the brain (left cow eye) specializes in rapid response functions such as detection of predators, flight and fight, whereas the left side of the brain (right cow eye) manages language and long term memory.
The researchers found that cattle consistently viewed novel objects, such as the umbrella, or other potential threats with their left eye, meaning they were analysing that threat with the right side of their brain. This idea adds weight to the hypothesis that the brain's right hemisphere is used to perceive danger.
These behavioural experiments were carried out on both dairy and beef herds and were videoptaped to allow for more detailed investigation.
According to the researchers, “ …This directional shift in viewing preferences is consistent with experience-dependent learning found in lateralised visual processing in other, non-mammalian, species, and to our knowledge is the first of such studies to suggest that such lateralised learning processes also exist in mammals.”
The study may well have provided the “foundation for the evolution of lateralization of cognitive specializations”, which, the researchers say, was until recently, “thought to occur only in humans”.
Watch Out for Those Left Horns
Dr Robins said colloquial evidence was that a stroppy cow was more likely to view their potential victim with the left eye or strike with the left horn. Paradoxically the right side of the brain (left cow eye) also specializes in reproductive functions and social cues.
He said we humans use our left eye and left side of our face to communicate aggression and other extreme emotional responses, and that we tend to hold babies on our left sides so we can better interpret their emotional needs.
Maybe the lesson here is to stay well away from the evil left eye of a mad cow, sheep, horse or human, and if you are caught in the middle of a paddock in the middle of a herd in the middle of a rainstorm, don’t risk opening an umbrella.
Sources:
Robins A, Phillips C, Lateralised visual processing in domestic cattle herds responding to novel and familiar stimuli, Laterality. 2010;15(5):514-34. Epub 2009 Jul 23.
Robins A, Phillips C, “Umbrellas Make Cows Turn Anticlockwise”,
Australian Veterinary Journal, January/February edition 2011
Heather Donaldson - Heather Donaldson is a writer, a registered nurse with a diploma in nutrition, an interest in natural medicine, animals and environment.
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