EYE DOMINANCE IN THE SMALL-EARED BUSH-BABY, OTOLEMUR GARNETTII

Eye-preference has been measured in the small-eared bushbaby, Otolemur garnettii, using two testing conditions, one requiring the subject to look through a grid and the other involving trained looking through a small hole. Monocular eye use was scored for viewing a variety of sti muli. The six subjects (four adult females and two babies) tested usin g the grid showed left-eye dominance for viewing the tester. Five subj ects were tested for viewing food and all were similarly left-eye pref erent. That is, there was indication of an eye preference at the group level. The eye preference did not correlate with handedness for food reaching or holding in the same individuals. When three of the subject s were tested viewing the more arousing stimulus of their babies held in the tester's hand, the eye-preference changed; there was either no preference or a weaker left-eye preference. One subject was tested wit h novel stimuli (a toy monkey, the tester wearing a mask and a rubber snake) and showed a significant shift to a right-eye preference for vi ewing two of these stimuli. Increased arousal, or fear, was apparent i n the latter tests. Comparison is made to eye dominance data for human s.