Manual laterality for pointing gestures compared to grasping actions in guenons and mangabeys

Abstract

International audienceIn both humans and apes, the production of communicative gestures appears to be controlled by cerebral structures in the left hemisphere that would be distinct from those involved in noncommunicative actions. Whether communicative gestures also rely on specific lateralized systems in monkeys remains unclear. We assessed manual laterality for requesting gestures, i.e. pointing, and for grasping actions in two species of Old World monkeys, Campbell's monkeys, Cercopithecus campbelli, and red-capped mangabeys, Cercocebus torquatus, using the Bishop QHP task. The food items were placed at five positions in front of the monkeys and they were located at out-of-reach, far or close distance from the monkeys, to induce pointing gestures and grasping actions requiring full or low arm extensions, respectively. The mangabeys that exhibited the greatest skills for pointing referentially were more right-handed for pointing gestures than for grasping actions. We propose that in Old World monkeys, as in humans and apes, the production of intentional and referential gestures may rely on the activation of specific regions of the left hemisphere specialized in the processing of communicative signals. Subjects from both species preferred to use the hand that was closest to the item for grasping actions requiring low arm extension whereas they used the contralateral hand for grasping actions requiring full arm extension and pointing gestures. These results are discussed in relation to hypotheses on postural control and arboreality

Patterns of hemispheric specialization for a communicative gesture in different primate species

“…). Although in contradiction with our other tested species and also with chimpanzees (Hopkins & Wesley, ), this kind of hand preference's pattern had already been described in galagos (Ward, Milliken, & Stafford, ), mangabeys and guenons (Maille, Chapelain, Déruti, Bec, & Blois‐Heulin, ), while pointing or grasping to objects placed at far distances. We suggest that this difference of behavior could be due to differences between species in terms of ecological habits and more particularly to the fact that capuchins, galagos, and guenons are arboreal, mangabeys are both arboreal and terrestrial, whereas Tonkean macaques, olive baboons, chimpanzees, and human infants are terrestrial (Schmitt, ).…”

The origins of gestures and language: history, current advances and proposed theories

“…Call & Tomasello, ; Liebal, Pika & Tomasello, ; Cartmill & Byrne, )], small apes [white‐handed gibbons, Hylobates lar (Baldwin & Teleki, ); siamangs, Hylobates syndactylus (Fox, ; Liebal, Pika & Tomasello, )] and diverse species of New World monkeys [e.g. Columbian spider monkeys, Ateles geoffroyi rufiventris (Schaffner & Aureli, ); squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus (Anderson et al ., ); tufted capuchins, Cebus apella (Hattori, Kuroshima & Fujita, , ; Meunier et al ., ); white‐faced capuchins, Cebus capucinus (Perry et al ., ; Perry & Manson, )] and Old World monkeys [Campbell's monkeys, Cercopithecus campbelli (Maille et al ., ); mandrills (Laidre, , ); olive baboons, Papio anubis (e.g. Meguerditchian & Vauclair, ; Meunier, Prieur & Vauclair, ; Molesti, Meguerditchian & Bourjade, ); red‐capped mangabeys, Cercocebus torquatus (Maille et al ., , , b ); several macaque species (e.g.…”

“…Columbian spider monkeys, Ateles geoffroyi rufiventris (Schaffner & Aureli, ); squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus (Anderson et al ., ); tufted capuchins, Cebus apella (Hattori, Kuroshima & Fujita, , ; Meunier et al ., ); white‐faced capuchins, Cebus capucinus (Perry et al ., ; Perry & Manson, )] and Old World monkeys [Campbell's monkeys, Cercopithecus campbelli (Maille et al ., ); mandrills (Laidre, , ); olive baboons, Papio anubis (e.g. Meguerditchian & Vauclair, ; Meunier, Prieur & Vauclair, ; Molesti, Meguerditchian & Bourjade, ); red‐capped mangabeys, Cercocebus torquatus (Maille et al ., , , b ); several macaque species (e.g. Maestripieri, , ; Hesler & Fischer, ; Meunier, Fizet & Vauclair, ; Shimooka & Nakagawa, ; Canteloup, Bovet & Meunier, , b )] [see also Call & Tomasello, for a review].…”

“…For the signaller's gesture to be considered as intentional it must ( i ) have a social goal, ( ii ) be directed towards a particular recipient as evidenced by body orientation, gaze alternation and/or physical contact with the recipient, and ( iii ) elicit a voluntary response from the recipient indicated by gazing at the recipient (signaller waits for the recipient's response), and/or communication persistence when the recipient does not react or the recipient's response does not match the signaller's goal [e.g. bonobos (Pika, Liebal & Tomasello, ; Genty, Neumann & Zuberbühler, ; Fröhlich et al ., ); chimpanzees (Tomasello, Gust & Frost, ; Leavens, Hopkins & Thomas, ; Hobaiter & Byrne, ); gorillas (Pika, Liebal & Tomasello, ; Genty et al ., ); orangutans (Cartmill & Byrne, ); bonnet macaques Macaca radiata (Deshpande, Gupta & Sinha, ); Campbell's monkeys and red‐capped mangabeys (Maille et al ., ); olive baboons (Meguerditchian & Vauclair, ; Meunier, Prieur & Vauclair, ); Tonkean macaques, Macaca tonkeana (Meunier, Fizet & Vauclair, ); see also Pollick & de Waal, and Call & Tomasello, ]. As documented by many authors, diverse criteria have been proposed to differentiate intentionally produced gestures from innate and/or conditioned gestures (i.e.…”

Decision‐making under risk of gain in young children and mangabey monkeys

“…The subject being tested was isolated from dominant conspecifics and could move freely during the test. All subjects had previously participated in other studies (Maille, Déruti, Chapelain, Bec, & Blois‐Heulin, ; Maille, Engelhart, Bourjade, & Blois‐Heulin, ) so they were all habituated to be tested and isolated. All subjects were familiarized with the experimenter.…”