of monkeys and zebrafish

the V&R theory proposes that population-level brain lateralization asymmetries arose because the asymmetry conferred an evolutionary advantage on the group. that is, it paid to have everybody exhibit the same brain biases. the main evidence was in the shoaling of fish, which had a better chance of escaping prey when they all swam together and had the instinctual response of turning the same direction. this is counterbalanced by the prey then figuring out that they should attack on the other side, which conferred some advantage to the outliers in the group, those who swam left when everyone else swam right. then there was evidence that the fish could change the direction of their lateralization, and that some species cycle from left-brain to right-brain and back in their flight response bias.

so what does this tell us about humans/primates/any other animal? that lateralization may have occurred back when we were all fish, or earlier? but then what about the switching? why right in the first place? is it consistent across species?

ooh - it would be fun to write about finch songs. plus ten thousand and three people are studying birdsong. now i see why... it brings together lateralization patterns, learning, communication modes, sound, evolution -> hell yeah.