International audienceSocial laterality is the core of two major theories: one concerns the evolution of laterality at the population level and the other the evolution of human language. However, few studies have investigated gestural laterality in communication between conspecifics. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to investigate the production of intraspecific gestures taking into account the influence of multiple factors on gestural laterality: first, gestural characteristics (sensory modality, use of a communication tool, sharing degree in the population and duration); second, the interactional context (visual field and body sides of signaller and recipient, and emotional context); and third, individual sociodemographic characteristics of signaller and recipient (age, sex, group, hierarchy, affiliation and kinship). We questioned, first, whether gestural laterality differed with gesture at the population level and second, whether some factors influenced gestural laterality. To do so, we evaluated social laterality in dyadic interactions in 39 chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, living in three groups in captivity. We found that, at the population level, 13 of the 21 gestures we observed were performed predominantly with the right hand. Gestural laterality of signallers was influenced mainly by interactional context, gesture characteristics (except gesture duration) and signallers' hierarchical rank and age. Signallers used their hand ipsilateral to recipients for tactile and visual gestures and their contralateral hand for gestures involving auditory communication and a communication tool. Moreover, signallers' use of their right hand was more important for subordinates. This was also true in negative contexts for gestures common to most of the subjects. Our results further support the hypothesis that laterality in gestural communication might represent a precursor of the left-hemispheric lateralization of language. We discuss our results in relation to theories concerning the origins of cerebral hemispheric lateralization and their consistency with previous studies

Investigating in depth the mechanisms underlying human and non-human primate intentional communication systems (involving gestures, vocalisations, facial expressions and eye behaviours) can shed light on the evolutionary roots of language. Reports on non-human primates, particularly great apes, suggest that gestural communication would have been a crucial prerequisite for the emergence of language, mainly based on the evidence of large communication repertoires and their associated multifaceted nature of intentionality that are key properties of language. Such research fuels important debates on the origins of gestures and language. We review here three non-mutually exclusive processes that can explain mainly great apes' gestural acquisition and development: phylogenetic ritualisation, ontogenetic ritualisation, and learning via social negotiation. We hypothesise the following scenario for the evolutionary origins of gestures: gestures would have appeared gradually through evolution via signal ritualisation following the principle of derived activities, with the key involvement of emotional expression and processing. The increasing level of complexity of socioecological lifestyles and associated daily manipulative activities might then have enabled the acquisition and development of different interactional strategies throughout the life cycle. Many studies support a multimodal origin of language. However, we stress that the origins of language are not only multimodal, but more broadly multicausal. We propose a multicausal theory of language origins which better explains current findings. It postulates that primates' communicative signalling is a complex trait continually shaped by a cost-benefit trade-off of signal production and processing of interactants in relation to four closely interlinked categories of evolutionary and life cycle factors: species, individual and context-related characteristics as well as behaviour and its characteristics. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research to improve our understanding of the evolutionary roots of gestures and language.

A pointing gesture creates a referential triangle that incorporates distant objects into the relationship between the signaller and the gesture's recipient. Pointing was long assumed to be specific to our species. However, recent reports have shown that pointing emerges spontaneously in captive chimpanzees and can be learned by monkeys. Studies have demonstrated that both human children and great apes use manual gestures (e.g. pointing), and visual and vocal signals, to communicate intentionally about out-of-reach objects. Our study looked at how monkeys understand and use their learned pointing behaviour, asking whether it is a conditioned, reinforcement-dependent response or whether monkeys understand it to be a mechanism for manipulating the attention of a partner (e.g. a human). We tested nine baboons that had been trained to exhibit pointing, using operant conditioning. More specifically, we investigated their ability to communicate intentionally about the location of an unreachable food reward in three contexts that differed according to the human partner's attentional state. In each context, we quantified the frequency of communicative behaviour (auditory and visual signals), including gestures and gaze alternations between the distal food and the human partner. We found that the baboons were able to modulate their manual and visual communicative signals as a function of the experimenter's attentional state. These findings indicate that monkeys can intentionally produce pointing gestures and understand that a human recipient must be looking at the pointing gesture for them to perform their attention-directing actions. The referential and intentional nature of baboons' communicative signalling is discussed.