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The chimpanzee brain shows human‐like perisylvian asymmetries in white matter
Author(s) -
Cantalupo Claudio,
Oliver Joanne,
Smith Jarrod,
Nir Talia,
Taglialatela Jared P.,
Hopkins William D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06830.x
Subject(s) - white matter , neuroscience , psychology , human brain , cognitive psychology , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology
Modern neuroimaging technologies allow scientists to uncover interspecies differences and similarities in hemispheric asymmetries that may shed light on the origin of brain asymmetry and its functional correlates. We analyzed asymmetries in ratios of white to grey matter in the lateral aspect of the lobes of the brains of chimpanzees. We found marked leftward asymmetries for all lobar regions. This asymmetry was particularly pronounced in the frontal region and was found to be related to handedness for communicative manual gestures as well as for tool use. These results point to a continuity in asymmetry patterns between the human and chimpanzee brain, and support the notion that the anatomical substrates for lateralization of communicative functions and complex manipulative activities may have been present in the common hominid ancestor.