Laterality in hand preferences and reaching accuracy of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus).
Manual laterality of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) was observed for five different types of reaching. The tamarins displayed species-level right-handedness for spontaneous grasping for food but not for one-arm vertical suspension or any of 3 other types of elicited reaching. The results showed that difficult or novel tasks are neither necessary nor sufficient for the emergence of species-level handedness. Accuracy in retrieving food from a rotating platform was greatest (a) for highly lateralized tamarins, (b) when the preferred hands were used for reaching, (c) for young tamarins, and (d) when the tamarins stood on a narrow, unstable platform instead of a wide, stable one. The results suggest that evolution of species-level handedness is dependent on prior natural selection for increased manual performance that accompanies strongly lateralized hand preferences.
King
J E
JE
Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D009949:Orientation; D011340:Problem Solving; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012452:Saguinus / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D013045:Species Specificity