Manual Specialisation and Tool Use in Captive Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ): The Effect of Unimanual and Bimanual Strategies on Hand Preference

Abstract

Hand preference for tool use was assessed in a sample of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Whether the subjects solved the tool task using either a unimanual or coordinated bimanual strategy was manipulated in the chimpanzees. No population-level hand preference was found for tool use when unimanual strategies were used by the chimpanzees. However, a population-level right-hand bias was found when coordinated bimanual actions were required of the chimpanzees. A significant correlation was found in hand use for the two hand preference testing conditions. Neither sex nor rearing was found to significantly affect the direction or strength in hand preference. These results may explain discrepancies in hand preference reported in captive and wild chimpanzees with regard to tool use and other manual activities.

Hand use by tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) to extract a small food item from a tube: digit movements, hand preference, and performance

“…However, current data indicate that hand-preference measures can be biased by several variables, such as the postural demands in performing specific activities, the number of actions involved in solving a specific task, and the need to use both hands simultaneously to execute a particular motor pattern [Harrison & Byrne, 2000;Hopkins, 1993Hopkins, , 1995Hopkins & Rabinowitz, 1997;McGrew & Marchant, 1997;Spinozzi et al, 1998;Spinozzi & Truppa, 1999, 2002Westergaard et al, 1997Westergaard et al, , 1998Westergaard & Suomi, 1996]. For example, data from capuchins show that reaching actions involving the complementary use of hands for food retrieval elicit a significant hand bias at the group level, while coordinated-bimanual tasks involving a sequence of problem-solving actions induce strong individual hand preferences.…”

Handedness frequency over more than ten thousand years

“…This way, the choice of the throwing hand is not influenced by the configuration of the experiment. The presence of the target increases the precision of the tasks, which ameliorates the determination of the handedness of the individual (Hopkins 1997).…”

Functional mastery of percussive technology in nut-cracking and stone-flaking actions: experimental comparison and implications for the evolution of the human brain

“…[82]). The task that is most frequently used at present to elicit such behaviours in captive populations is the tube task [83], an extractive feeding task involving an opaque polyvinylchloride (PVC) tube containing smears of peanut butter that can be extracted if one hand holds the tube while part of the other hand is inserted into it.…”