Hand preferences in captive gorillas, orang‐utans and gibbons

Olson, David; Ellis, Jane; Nadler, Ronald D.

doi:10.1002/ajp.1350200203

Cited by 110 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

107

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The results in nearly every study reveal equal numbers of subjects that were left-handed, right-handed, and without a preference (Christel, 1994;Hopkins, 1993;Hopkins, 1995b;Marchant, 1983;Steiner, 1990;Tonooka & Matsuzawa, 1995). This same finding has been reported in other great-ape species, including gorillas (Annett & Annett, 1991;Olson, Ellis, & Nadler, 1990), orangutans (Cunningham, Forsythe, & Ward, 1989;Hopkins, 1993), and bonobos (Hopkins, Bennett, Bales, Lee, & Ward, 1993;Hopkins & de Waal, 1995).…”

supporting

confidence: 67%

“…Depicted in Figure I are the average percentages of right-hand use for quadrupedal and bipedal reaching in four species of great ape. l These data have been derived from the original publications of Hopkins (1993), Hopkins, Bennett, et al (1993), and Olson et al (1990). As can be seen, the shift in hand preference is dramatic enough to result in a significant population-level expression of right-handedness.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Chimpanzee handedness revisited: 55 years since Finch (1941)

Hopkins

1996

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Chimpanzees and other great apes have long held the fascination of psychologists because of their morphological and behavioral similarities to humans. This paper describes the historical interest in studies on chimpanzee handedness and reviews current findings. Data are presented which suggest that transient changes in posture result in the transient expression of right-handedness in chimpanzees. The role of tool use as an evolutionalY mechanism underlying the expression of right-handedness is challenged. Rather, emphasis is placed on the role of bimanual feeding as a behavioral adaptation for the expression of handedness. Suggestions for further research on the nature of nonhuman primate handedness are made in light of these findings.Approximately 85% to 90% ofhumans are right-handed (Annett, 1985). Moreover, 98% of right-handed individuals are left-hemisphere dominant for linguistic functions (Rasmussen & Milner, 1977). Thus, right-handedness and left-hemisphere specializations for linguistic functions are correlated functions. The concept of hemispheric specialization dates back to the early studies of Dax, Wernicke, and Broca, and one topic of interest that emerged from these early studies was whether or not animals possessed similar specializations of the left and right cerebral hemispheres (see Harris, 1993, for review). Ofparticular interest was whether nonhuman primates exhibited handedness, and chimpanzees and other great apes were often discussed as interesting subjects because of their physical and morphological similarity to humans. However, most reports ofhandedness in chimpanzees and other great apes were anecdotal (Yerkes, 1927).In 1941, Glenn Finch ofthe Yerkes Primate Center, then located in Orange Park, Florida, reported in Science the first systematic study on handedness in 30 chimpanzees. The study included 26 adults and 4 adolescents and utilized four measures ofhand preference, including (I) pulling in a string with attached food, (2) picking up 10 pieces offood spaced at 3-in. intervals, (3) picking up food when displacing a metal object covering it, and (4) selecting in-

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 67%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzee handedness revisited: 55 years since Finch (1941)

Hopkins

1996

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In prosimians, preferential use of the left hand is increased when they adopt an upright versus a tripedal posture . This is also the case in some New and Old World monkeys and lesser apes (Hook-Costigan and Rogers, 1997;Olson et al, 1990). However, among great apes, there is increased use of the right versus the left hand when they adopt an upright posture (Hopkins, 1993;Hopkins et al, 1993;Olson et al, 1990, cf.…”

Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 86%

Simple Reaching Is Not So Simple: Association Between Hand Use and Grip Preferences in Captive Chimpanzees

Hopkins

Russell²,

Hook

et al. 2005

Int J Primatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We assessed the relationship between grip preference and hand use in chimpanzees in 2 experiments. In experiment 1, we evaluated consistency in hand use and grip preference across 4 food types. The chimpanzees showed population-level right-handedness and there are significant positive associations for both hand and grip use across food types. In experiment 2, we assessed validity of hand use in relation to grip preference in 2 colonies of chimpanzees via the same methodology. Differences in hand preferences between colonies were associated with variation in the observed grip preferences. There was no evidence of rearing effects on handedness in either colony. We discuss the overall results in the context of the evolution of handedness in relation to increasing motor demands as manifest in variation on grasping behavior. KeywordsChimpanzee; hand preference; grip preference There has been considerable historical (Ettlinger, 1988;Fagot and Vauclair, 1991;Marchant and McGrew, 1991;Warren, 1980) and contemporary (Corballis, 1992, in press; Hopkins and Cantalupo, in press;McGrew and Marchant, 1997;Palmer, 2002) debate regarding the presence or absence of population-level hand preferences in nonhuman primates and the factors that influence the expression of handedness in nonhumans. The question of whether nonhuman primates express population-level asymmetries is of considerable theoretical interest because of the alleged role of hemispheric specialization in the evolution of complex human behavior including tool-use, bipedalism and language (Bradshaw and Rogers, 1993). In the absence of a clear transition from no handedness to handedness throughout the evolutionary continuum, we can only postulate how handedness and hemispheric specialization evolved. Further understanding of factors that influence the expression of handedness in nonhuman primates is important to evaluate various models of the evolution of hemispheric specialization in primates.6To whom correspondence should be addressed to William D. Hopkins, Division of Psychobiology, Living Links Center, Yerkes Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322; e-mail: Ircbh@rmy.emory.edu.. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptInt J Primatol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2007 December 27. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThe most commonly used measure of hand preference in nonhuman primates is simple reaching (Lehman, 1993). Despite numerous studies in a variety of nonhuman primate species, there is little evidence that it induces population-level handedness. However, recent studies suggested that posture can influence the expression of directional biases in hand use for simple reaching (Fagot and Vauclair, 1991;MacNeilage et al., 1987;Westergaard et al., 1998). In prosimians, preferential use of the left hand is increased when they adopt an upright versus a tripedal posture . This is also the case in some New and Old World monkeys and lesser apes (Hook-Costigan and Rogers, 1997;Olson et al., 1990). H...

show abstract

“…Very few data are available on hand preference in gorillas. Some authors have shown a significant right-hand preference on a mesh retrieval task [Olson et al, 1990]. Another study found a symmetrical distribution of subjects with right-hand, left-hand and no hand preference when simply reaching for food and a left-hand preference by gorillas tested on a spatial task requiring precise alignment of two openings [Fagot and Vauclair, 1988b].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, several studies have demonstrated population-level lateral hand bias E. Pouydebat Handibio EA 4322, Université du Sud Toulon-Var Avenue de l'université, BP 20132 FR-83957 La Garde (France) Tel. +33 04 9414 2948, E-Mail pouydeba @ univ-tln.fr for different manual activities in numerous non-human primate species including prosimians [Masataka, 1989;Ward et al, 1993], New World and Old World monkeys [Kimura, 1979;Fagot and Vauclair, 1991;Diamond and McGrew, 1994;Lacreuse and Fragaszy, 1996;Westergaard et al, 1997;Spinozzi et al, 1998], and great apes [Olson et al, 1990;Hopkins, 1993;Hopkins et al, 1993a, b;Hopkins and de Waal, 1995;Hopkins and Leavens, 1998;Corp and Byrne, 2004]. Very few data are available on hand preference in gorillas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Task on Hand Preference: Individual Differences among Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Pouydebat¹,

Reghem²,

Gorce³

et al. 2011

IJFP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The degree of task complexity and bimanual complementarity have been proposed as factors affecting lateralization strength in humans. However, a large number of studies have demonstrated group-level lateral hand bias for different manual activities in numerous non-human primate species. However, no study has tested the effects that a variety of tasks may have in inducing differences in hand preference. Here, we aim to test if 3 adult gorillas exhibited a greater hand preference bias performing 4 tasks of varying complexity: grasping small versus large foods, proto-tool use task and tool use task involving greater visuospatial requirements. We found that (1) the complexity of the task does not necessarily induce a right-handed bias and (2) a subject can be right-handed for a complex task and left-handed for another one. These results, complemented by many publications on hand preference in non-human primates, reveal a great variability in hand preference, which makes it very difficult to deduce any details of hominin handedness with artefacts.

show abstract

Hand preferences in captive gorillas, orang‐utans and gibbons

Cited by 110 publications

References 16 publications

Chimpanzee handedness revisited: 55 years since Finch (1941)

Chimpanzee handedness revisited: 55 years since Finch (1941)

Simple Reaching Is Not So Simple: Association Between Hand Use and Grip Preferences in Captive Chimpanzees

Influence of the Task on Hand Preference: Individual Differences among Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About