The left and the right hemispheres specialise in different tasks. However, it has not yet been fully understood how one hemisphere assumes dominance over the other when it comes to controlling specific functions. Biopsychologists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum describe their latest findings in the journal Cell Reports, published online on 30 October 2018. Dr. Qian Xiao and Professor Onur Güntürkün have demonstrated in pigeons that the dominance is caused by slight differences in temporal activity patterns in both hemispheres.