Hand and paw preferences in relation to the lateralized brain

Title
Hand and paw preferences in relation to the lateralized brain
Publication Date
2009
Author(s)
Rogers, Lesley
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9956-1769
Email: lrogers@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:lrogers
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
The Royal Society Publishing
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2008.0225
UNE publication id
une:5270
Abstract
Hand preferences of primates are discussed as part of the broad perspective of brain lateralization in animals, and compared with paw preferences in non-primates. Previously, it has been suggested that primates are more likely to express a species-typical hand preference on complex tasks, especially in the case of coordinated hand use in using tools. I suggest that population-level hand preferences are manifested when the task demands the obligate use of the processing specialization of one hemisphere, and that this depends on the nature of the task rather than its complexity per se. Depending on the species, simple reaching tasks may not demand the obligate use of a specialized hemisphere and so do not constrain limb/hand use. In such cases, individuals may show hand preferences that are associated with consistent differences in behaviour. The individual's hand preference is associated with the expression of behaviour controlled by the hemisphere contralateral to the preferred hand (fear and reactivity in left-handed individuals versus proactivity in right-handed individuals). Recent findings of differences in brain structure between left- and right-handed primates (e.g. somatosensory cortex in marmosets) have been discussed and related to potential evolutionary advances.
Link
Citation
Royal Society of London. Philosophical Transactions B. Biological Sciences, 364(1519), p. 943-954
ISSN
1471-2970
0962-8436
Start page
943
End page
954

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