Evaluación de un Inventario modificado para determinar habilidad manual en monos: comparación y análisis evolutivo con la destreza manual humana.

RATTI SILVIA G.; RABELLO P.; TAVARES MC; TOMAZ C; ALVAREZ EO

Revista Médica Universitaria

Revista Médica Universitaria

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 2007 vol. 3 p. 1 - 13

Mechanisms by which man use preferentially one hand over the other have been intensely studied in the past years. Recently, it has been found that manual laterality is not an exclusively function of human beings. Evidence supports laterality in other less evolutionary living systems, including the non human primates which share with man the use of hands. In spite that many workers have provided evidence about laterality in animals, experimental tests applied have been limited to just a few mechanical abilities of animals. In the present work, acknowledging the potency of the Edinburgh Inventory for evaluating hand skill in humans, a modified version adapted to monkeys was used in order to discern manual skill in tufted capuchins (Cebus spp). Results confirmed that laterality for hand use is present in monkeys. Nevertheless, at population level, statistically similar proportions were found for right hand users and non-right hand users (63.6% versus 36.4%), which contrasted with the 90% right hand users and 10% non-right hand users in a sample of school children, tested with the Edinburgh Inventory. Present results give support to the Modified Inventory for monkeys and it is proposed that it could be used to test other non-human primates where manual laterality is under issue.