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Hand Preference for Tool‐Use in Capuchin Monkeys ( C ebus apella) Is Associated With Asymmetry of the Primary Motor Cortex
Author(s) -
PHILLIPS KIMBERLEY A.,
THOMPSON CLAUDIA R.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1098-2345
pISSN - 0275-2565
DOI - 10.1002/ajp.22079
Subject(s) - central sulcus , laterality , primate , neuroscience , psychology , primary motor cortex , motor cortex , right hemisphere , nonhuman primate , lateralization of brain function , preference , cortex (anatomy) , hand preference , biology , audiology , cognitive psychology , medicine , evolutionary biology , stimulation , economics , microeconomics
Skilled motor actions are associated with handedness and neuroanatomical specializations in humans. Recent reports have documented similar neuroanatomical asymmetries and their relationship to hand preference in some nonhuman primate species, including chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. We investigated whether capuchins displayed significant hand preferences for a tool‐use task and whether such preferences were associated with motor‐processing regions of the brain. Handedness data on a dipping tool‐use task and high‐resolution 3T MRI scans were collected from 15 monkeys. Capuchins displayed a significant group‐level left‐hand preference for this type of tool use, and handedness was associated with asymmetry of the primary motor cortex. Left‐hand preferent individuals displayed a deeper central sulcus in the right hemisphere. Our results suggest that capuchins show an underlying right‐hemisphere bias for skilled movement. Am. J. Primatol. 75:435‐440, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.