Chimps hand over new clue to brain

 

By DAVID WAHLBERG

Cox News Service

Monday, December 06, 2004

 

 

ATLANTA — Southpaws, give chimps a hand.

 

New research in chimpanzees says being left-handed has little to do with the language part of the brain, as has been thought, and more to do with motor skills.

 

That means lefties have probably been around much longer than believed — at least 5 million years, when scientists say humans and apes branched on the primate family tree. And evolution has purposely kept them.

 

"Being left-handed must confer some advantages," said William Hopkins, a psychologist at Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center, who led the studies. "There must be a reason they have hung around so long."

 

Nobody knows what causes about one in 10 people to have dominant left hands. Some scientists say it's hereditary, though specific genes have not been found. Others say something goes awry in fetal development.

 

Lefties are more likely to have autism, dyslexia and schizophrenia, Hopkins said, but they are also more likely to be Mensa members and talented musicians. The pros and cons are thought to stem from left-handed people being "right brained" — more creative but less analytical. Generally, one side of the brain controls the other side of the body.

 

Language skills are associated with the left side of the brain, and many scientists have said early humans developed a preference for their right hands when they acquired speech. Studies scanning the language centers of people's brains have backed this up.

 

But Hopkins, a right-hander, wondered why two-thirds of chimps prefer their right hand, even though they don't have what we consider speech.

 

Hopkins, Claudio Cantalupo and their Yerkes research team gave 66 chimps appetizing hands-on tasks: picking up raisins, eating oranges and bananas, and fishing peanut butter out of plastic tubes. Then the scientists scanned the animals' brains using magnetic resonance imaging machines.

 

Whether the chimps used their right or left hands to handle their treats had much more to do with asymmetries in the motor control parts of their brains than with the language areas; lefties had larger movement centers on the right.

 

Another study at Yerkes determined that chimps in general have more of the asymmetries found in people's brains than previously thought, backing up the results about left-handedness. Both studies appear in today's issue of the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

 

Recent research in people also suggests that language centers in the brain may not determine hand preference, said Hopkins, who also teaches at Berry College in Rome, Ga.

 

The chimp studies don't explain why people are left-handed. But they could help researchers look for more biological clues to schizophrenia and other disorders associated with abnormal brain patterns, Hopkins said.

 

And the findings reinforce the idea that, while left-handed people historically suffered from social stigma, nature must have had a reason to maintain them. Think of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Mike Vick and former President Bill Clinton; both are southpaws.

 

Lefties are likely to have better spatial memories, Hopkins said.

 

"Maybe they're better at navigating," he said. "With chimps, maybe they're better at remembering where that really ripe fruit is."

Southpaws!

Southpaws!

 

Of course I don't really fit the terms they give of lefties of being musical and artistic. I'm so far from it. I'm much more analytical in a sense.

   

 

Of course I don't really fit the terms they give of lefties of being musical and artistic.  I'm so far from it.  I'm much more analytical in a sense.

Give it time Jas... the schizophrenia will kick in soon enough.

 

 

 

 

Where is the part of the study that says lefties have a tendency to post on Soxtalk

You know what I also noticed: this smilie is a lefty

 

As are a bunch of our others :fyou

 

I'm also convinced that being a lefty is an advantage athletically (such sports as tennis, baseball, etc) and a disadvantage socially (scissors, notebooks, etc)

Edited December 7, 200421 yr by danman31

You know what I also noticed: this smilie is a lefty

 

As are a bunch of our others :fyou     

 

We rule the universe.

 

I used to hate the cheap left-handed scissors they tried to pass on to us back in school for projects. Those things couldn't kill a fly.

 

We rule the universe.

 

I used to hate the cheap left-handed scissors they tried to pass on to us back in school for projects.  Those things couldn't kill a fly.

And the damn spiral notebooks.

 

And of course their is writing with pencils and getting pencil lead on your hand.

And the damn spiral notebooks.

 

And of course their is writing with pencils and getting pencil lead on your hand.

Don't forget pen ink. I'm constantly licking my fingers and rubbing off the ink when I'm taking notes. It's funny how we all came up with the same things. Notebooks and scissors.

 

There are times when I wish there was a leftorium.

And the damn spiral notebooks.

 

And of course their is writing with pencils and getting pencil lead on your hand.

Ha that's the worst too. I'm always having to clean my hand after math class, friggen lead. Have you ever seen those left-handed spiral notebooks. My left-handed friend gave me one once, it's weird.

 

Also, I'm honestly not a big fan of the left-handed desks, even as a lefty.

Ahh, stupid desks. I despise school desks that are made for righties. But then I wouldn't be used to having a left handed desk anyway. It would screw me up so badly.

Ahh, stupid desks. I despise school desks that are made for righties. But then I wouldn't be used to having a left handed desk anyway. It would screw me up so badly.

All the left-handed desks I've seen, all have this insane slant (like this " / ") ...I swear they just decide to turn the reject right-handed desks into lefty desks.

 

What a great convo.

Edited December 7, 200421 yr by greasywheels121

Ha that's the worst too.  I'm always having to clean my hand after math class, friggen lead.  Have you ever seen those left-handed spiral notebooks.  My left-handed friend gave me one once, it's weird. 

 

Also, I'm honestly not a big fan of the left-handed desks, even as a lefty.

Yeah I can't deal with the left handed desks. It's easier to lean on your right arm and write with your left. The pen/pencil thing is so annoying, just like writing on a chalk/white board. If you're not careful you just leave a huge-ass smudge across the board.

 

One talent that I think lefties have more than righties is using a fork and a knife at the same with different hands. I didn't realize until a little while ago that not a lot of people can do it.

And the damn spiral notebooks.

 

And of course their is writing with pencils and getting pencil lead on your hand.

There, too.

 

 

 

LMAO!!

 

 

What a great convo.

You guys have me LMAO with tears in my eyes...

 

This is s*** that a right handed person never ever thinks about..

 

Here's a right handed smiley...

And an ever more important one..

LMAO!! 

This combination is maybe the greatest thing I've ever seen.

Dang I'm shocked how many other lefties are on this board. I'm aphibious, I write and try to bowl with my left hand. I switch hit, and mas.. uh nevermind.

i'm a righty and i get lead on my hand

I'm aphibious

 

lol, I think you mean ambidextrous.

 

write and try to bowl with my left hand. I switch hit, and mas.. uh nevermind.

 

Writing smoked everything else in handedness. You're a lefty.

I'm a southpaw.

We talked about some of this in a neuropsych class I took. It was kind of cool--I'm right handed, but not purely right handed because I do some things with my left. If you want to find your Handedness on a scale it's kind of fun--I'm a 68.7.

 

Edinburgh Handedness Inventory

-55.6

It won't work for me.