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Related Experiment Videos

Left-handedness and longevity in primates.

G C Westergaard1, I D Lussier

  • 1Division of Research, LABS of Virginia, Inc., Yemassee, SC 29945, USA.

The International Journal of Neuroscience
|September 24, 1999
PubMed
Summary

Handedness shifts with age in rhesus macaques, with young adults favoring left hands and older macaques favoring right hands. This age-related shift in hand preference suggests a maturational component to handedness across primate evolution.

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Area of Science:

  • Primate behavior
  • Neuroscience
  • Evolutionary biology

Background:

  • Human populations exhibit a decline in left-handedness with age.
  • The underlying mechanisms and evolutionary basis of age-related handedness shifts are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate age-related changes in hand preference using the rhesus macaque as a model.
  • To explore the evolutionary origins of handedness and sex differences in hand preference.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed hand preference in young-adult and aged rhesus macaques.
  • Analyzed group-level biases in hand use across different age classes.
  • Compared findings with existing data across primate taxa.

Main Results:

  • Young-adult macaques showed a significant bias towards left-hand use.
  • Aged macaques exhibited a significant bias towards right-hand use.
  • The shift from left to right-handedness with age was not due to subject elimination but a maturational change.

Conclusions:

  • Handedness shows a maturational shift towards right-hand preference with increasing age in primates.
  • Hand preference and sex differences in handedness are evolutionarily ancient traits rooted in primate origins.

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