Skip Navigation



Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on September 29, 2006
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhl085
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/8/1750    most recent
bhl085v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hopkins, W. D.
Right arrow Articles by Taglialatela, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hopkins, W. D.
Right arrow Articles by Taglialatela, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Article

Handedness Is Associated with Asymmetries in Gyrification of the Cerebral Cortex of Chimpanzees

William D. Hopkins 1 *, Claudio Cantalupo 2, and Jared Taglialatela 3

1 Division of Psychobiology, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; Department of Psychology, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA 30030, USA
2 Department of Psychology, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
3 Division of Psychobiology, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
William D. Hopkins, E-mail: whopkins{at}agnesscott.edu


  Abstract

Gyrification of the cerebral cortex reflects complexity in cortical folding during development of the brain. In this paper, we evaluated whether chimpanzees show asymmetries in gyrification and if variation in gyrification asymmetries were associated with handedness. Magnetic resonance images were obtained in a sample of 76 chimpanzees, and gyrification measures were obtained from 10 equally spaced slices of the cortex. Asymmetry quotients (AQs) in gyrification were compared for 4 measures of handedness including reaching, coordinated bimanual actions, manual gestures, and throwing. Overall, the chimpanzees showed significant differences between the right and left hemispheres that were region specific. Significant differences in AQ's were found in right- and nonright-handed chimpanzees for throwing and, to a lesser degree, for manual gestures. Increasing age was associated with increasing gyrification in the prefrontal regions, particularly in female chimpanzees. The results indicate that variation in gyrification between hemispheres is associated with functional measures of laterality in chimpanzees.

Keywords: asymmetry; chimpanzees; gyrification; handedness.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.