Lateralisation shapes spatial learning in lizards

Daniele Pellitteri-Rosa, Birgit Szabo, Andrea Gazzola

Spatial memory is fundamental cognitive process that allows animals to navigate and interact with their environment effectively. While extensively studied in mammals and birds, the mechanisms underlying spatial cognition in reptiles remain less understood. In this study, we investigated spatial learning and the potential influence of behavioural lateralisation in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis). Using a T-maze, we examined whether lizards could develop short-term spatial memory and whether lateralisation affected their navigation. Experimental lizards received three days of training in the maze without reinforcement, while control lizards had no prior experience. We found that trained lizards rapidly learnt to navigate, reaching a goal shelter faster and more reliably than controls. Additionally, only seven out of twenty individuals exhibited lateralised turning behaviour. Nevertheless, strongly lateralised individuals took longer to reach the goal during training, but this did not necessarily impair performance once the route had been learned. These findings align with research in other taxa, where lateralised individuals often show context-dependent differences in performance, sometimes outperforming non-lateralised individuals under stress. This study contributes to a broader understanding of cognitive evolution across vertebrates and emphasizes the importance of reptiles as models for comparative cognition research.