title: Grip morphology and hand use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): evidence of a left hemisphere specialization in motor skill.
abstract: Three experiments on grip morphology and hand use were conducted in a sample of chimpanzees. In Experiment 1, grip morphology when grasping food items was recorded, and it was found that subjects who adopted a precision grip were more right-handed than chimpanzees using other grips. In Experiment 2, the effect of food type on grasping was assessed. Smaller food items elicited significantly more precision grips for the right hand. In Experiment 3, error rates in grasping foods were compared between the left and right hands. Significantly more errors were made for the left compared with the right hand. The cumulative results indicate that chimpanzees show a left-hemisphere asymmetry in motor skill that is associated with the use of precision grips.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychobiology, Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. lrcbh@rmy.emory.edu
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cantalupo
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wesley
authors.forename: Autumn B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Hostetter
authors.forename: Dawn L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Pilcher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis