Nov 27 2009
Primate Brain Lateralization, Hand Gestures and the Evolution of Language
Almost one year ago to the day I made a post about research into the “handedness” of gorillas: Shake Hands with that Gorilla. That primate species, it seems, has a preference for using its right arm/hand. New research appearing in the Jan 2010 issue of Cortex relates this finding on chimpanzee handedness:
A large majority of the chimpanzees in the study showed a significant bias towards right-handed gestures when communicating, which may reflect a similar dominance of the left hemisphere for communication in chimpanzees as that seen for language functions in humans. [source]
The news was not a surprise to me, for a few years ago I had attended a lecture on the handedness of chimps. The focus of that research, however, was slightly different. It tested hand preference during object manipulation and tool use. One interesting tidbit I learned was that when chimps throw stones (whether fastball or change-up), they tend to hurl them righty.
That research was conducted by American researchers in Georgia. This newer research had a different set of investigators, lending greater credence to it.
The French co-authors, Dr. Adrien Meguerditchian and Prof. Jacques Vauclair, from the Aix-Marseille University (Aix-en-Provence, France), also point out that “this finding provides additional support to the idea that speech evolved initially from a gestural communicative system in our ancestors. Moreover, gestural communication in apes shares some key features with human language, such as intentionality, referential properties and flexibility of learning and use”.
Very interesting.
Last year I ended my post with words equally valid today.
This means that if you ever meet a gorilla or chimpanzee in the forest, when you go to shake hands there won’t be confusion as to which to extend.
