Vertebrate whole‐body‐action asymmetries and the evolution of right handedness: A comparison between humans and marine mammals. Issue 6 (1st August 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: MacNeilage, Peter F.
• Is Part Of: Developmental psychobiology. Volume 55:Issue 6(2013)
• Page Start: 577
• Page End: 587
• Publication Date: 2013-08-01
• Subjects: Psychobiology -- Periodicals; 155
• DOI: 10.1002/dev.21114
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0012-1630

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="dev21114-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <p>As part of a vertebrate‐wide trend toward left brain/right side asymmetries in routine whole‐body actions, marine mammals show signs of rightward appendage‐use biases, and short‐ and long‐term turning asymmetries most of which are unique in non‐humans in being just as strong as right handedness, and even stronger than human handedness‐related turning biases. Short‐term marine mammal turning asymmetries and human about‐turning asymmetries share a leading right side, suggesting a commonality in left hemisphere intentional control. The long‐term leftward turning bias that both groups share may be an indirect result of both sensory and motor influences on the right side in dolphins, but be induced by a right‐hemisphere‐controlled spatial/attentional bias to the left in humans. Marine mammals may share, with humans and other higher primates, a left hemisphere specialization for action dynamics, although evidence is currently lacking for human‐like right hemisphere specializations relevant to action in other vertebrates. <italic>© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc</italic>. Dev Psychobiol 55: 577–587, 2013.</p> </sec> </abstract>