Effect of target animacy on hand preference in Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana).
Twenty-eight captive Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) were involved in the current study. Many individuals showed handedness, with a modest tendency toward left-hand use especially for animate targets, although no group-level handedness was found. There was no significant gender difference in the direction and strength of hand preference for both targets. Females showed a significantly higher overall rate of actions toward animate targets than inanimate targets for both hands, whereas males displayed almost the reversed pattern. There were no significant interactions between lateral hand use and target animacy for either males or females. Most individuals showed rightward or leftward laterality shift trends between inanimate and animate targets. These findings to some extent support the existence of a potential trend concerning a categorical neural distinction between targets demanding functional manipulation (inanimate objects) and those demanding social manipulation (animate objects), even though specialized hand preference based on target animacy has not been fully established in this arboreal Old World monkey species.
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal and Plant Resistance, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Binshui West Road 393, Xiqing District, Tianjin, 300387, China. zdp_0609@163.com.
Dapeng
D
Zhao
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal and Plant Resistance, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Binshui West Road 393, Xiqing District, Tianjin, 300387, China.
Xiangling
X
Tian
Beijing Wildlife Zoo, Beijing, China.
Xinchen
X
Liu
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal and Plant Resistance, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Binshui West Road 393, Xiqing District, Tianjin, 300387, China.
Zhuoyue
Z
Chen
College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, China.
Baoguo
B
Li
D000818:Animals; D016673:Colobinae; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006225:Hand; D008297:Male
Arboreal monkeys; Behavioral laterality; Brain lateralization; Postural origin theory; Right hemisphere hypothesis; Target animacy