Handedness in Pongo pygmaeus and Pan troglodytes

Brésard, B.; Bresson, François

doi:10.1016/s0047-2484(83)80005-0

Cited by 58 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Some reports have examined hand preference in chimpanzees (BARD et al, 1990;BRESARD & BRESSON, 1983;FINCH, 1941;TONOOKA & MATSUZAWA, 1993). There is also new evidence of left hand preference in reaching for food among lemurs at the population level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hand preference and tool use in wild chimpanzees

et al. 1993

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ABSTRACT. The hand preference of chimpanzees in their natural habitat was studied at Bossou, Republic of Guinea, West Africa. The quantitative difference in left/right hand use was small in food picking and carrying. In contrast, the chimpanzees employed either the right or left hand in nutcracking behavior using a pair of stones. All adults and many adolescents and juveniles utilized one hand exclusively for holding a hammer stone. Left hand preference was more prevalent among adults. However, when adolescents and juveniles were included, there was no significant bias in the ratio of left/right handers. Nut-cracking behavior requires long-term learning of the fine manipulation of stones and nuts by both hands. Each hand has a separate role, and the hands work together in nut cracking. The differential and complementary use of both hands may be a prime factor promoting exclusive hand preference in chimpanzees comparable to that of humans.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hand preference and tool use in wild chimpanzees

et al. 1993

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“…In CHORAZYNA'S (1976) account of the lateralized behavior of an infant chimpanzee over a 27-month period, it was observed that each newly acquired behavior was preferentially performed with the left hand and in each case, preferential left hand use shifted to preferential right hand use as the infant matured. BRESARD and BRESSON (1983) collected data from an 18-month-old orang-utah and a 22-month-old chimpanzee over an extended period of time but did not find maturational variations in hand preference or discuss their data within a longitudinal context. Since developmental data contribute greatly to considerations of the relative involvement of intrinsic and experiential factors in shaping the behavioral lateralization of an adult animal, longitudinal studies of early lateralization are particularly valuable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A report of behavioral lateralization in an infant orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)

1989

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ABSTRACT. The limb used to perform seven common activities was recorded during weekly observations of an infant orang-utan. For five of these behaviors, preferences were found that remained consistent in their direction, although there were week to week fluctuations in magnitude. Most notably, a right hand preference was found for nonfood reaching and a right hindlimb preference appeared for initiating locomotion. Although initially, food reaching was predominantly with the right hand, a shift toward preferential left hand use occurred during the final weeks of the study. Additionally, a left hand preference appeared when the infant touched either its body or head.

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“…Most ofthe reports were anecdotal (Ferster, 1957;Glaser, 1971), presented little or no data (Dimond & Harries, 1984; o'Neil, Stratton, Ingersoll, & Fouts, 1978), or involved very few subjects, thus limiting generalization of their findings (Bresard & Bresson, 1983;Chorazyna, 1976;Grzimek, 1949;Robinson, 1979;Welles, 1976). In contrast, there were a considerable number of hand-or pawpreference experiments conducted in monkeys, cats, and rodents (see Bradshaw & Rogers, 1993;Warren, 1980, for reviews).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Bimanual handedness tasks are excellent measures of hemispheric specialization in humans for several reasons, including (I) their predictability of left-hemisphere specialization in linguistic functions, (2) the high correlation with self-reports of hand use, and (3) the requirement that the two hands perform different roles, one subordinate and one dominant. The early reports ofbimanual hand use in chimpanzees were largely anecdotal and involved very few subjects (Bresard & Bresson, 1983;Morris, Hopkins, & Bolser-Gilmore, 1993). Such measures included painting (Glaser, 1971), tool use (Nishida & Hiraiwa, 1982), and open-and-search tasks (Bresard & Bresson, 1983;Marchant & Steklis, 1986).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The early reports ofbimanual hand use in chimpanzees were largely anecdotal and involved very few subjects (Bresard & Bresson, 1983;Morris, Hopkins, & Bolser-Gilmore, 1993). Such measures included painting (Glaser, 1971), tool use (Nishida & Hiraiwa, 1982), and open-and-search tasks (Bresard & Bresson, 1983;Marchant & Steklis, 1986). More recently, systematic data have been reported on handedness for bimanual tasks, particularly in the use of tools by feral chimpanzees (Boesch, 1991;McGrew & Marchant, 1992;Sugiyama, Fushimi, Sakura, & Matsuzawa, 1993).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Chimpanzee handedness revisited: 55 years since Finch (1941)

Hopkins

1996

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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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-

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Handedness in Pongo pygmaeus and Pan troglodytes

Cited by 58 publications

References 34 publications

Hand preference and tool use in wild chimpanzees

Hand preference and tool use in wild chimpanzees

A report of behavioral lateralization in an infant orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)

Chimpanzee handedness revisited: 55 years since Finch (1941)

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