ArticleBehavioural brain research2017
Motor skill for tool-use is associated with asymmetries in Broca's area and the motor hand area of the precentral gyrus in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).
Article in Behavioural brain research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bipedalism and brain expansion explain human handedness.PLoS biology · 2026Pooled it
- Individual variation in the chimpanzee arcuate fasciculus predicts vocal and gestural communication.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The Chimpanzee Brainnetome Atlas reveals distinct connectivity and gene expression profiles relative to humans.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Human-Chimpanzee Divergence in Brain Connectivity and its Genetic Correlates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Phylogenetic differences in the morphology and shape of the central sulcus in great apes and humans: implications for the evolution of motor functions.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Neuroanatomical asymmetries in nonhuman primates in the homologs to Broca's and Wernicke's areas: a mini-review.Emerging topics in life sciences · 2022Article
- Structural plasticity of motor cortices assessed by voxel-based morphometry and immunohistochemical analysis following internal capsular infarcts in macaque monkeys.Cerebral cortex communications · 2022Article
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- Neurophysiological Changes Induced by Music-Supported Therapy for Recovering Upper Extremity Function after Stroke: A Case Series.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Sulcal Morphology in Cingulate Cortex is Associated with Voluntary Oro-Facial Motor Control and Gestural Communication in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2021Article
- The role of early social rearing, neurological, and genetic factors on individual differences in mutual eye gaze among captive chimpanzees.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Mapping hemispheric asymmetries of the macaque cerebral cortex during early brain development.Human brain mapping · 2020Article
- Neural Processes Underlying Tool Use in Humans, Macaques, and Corvids.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Review
- Asymmetry in the Cytoarchitecture of the Area 44 Homolog of the Brain of the ChimpanzeeFrontiers in neuroanatomy · 2020Article
- Heritability of Gray Matter Structural Covariation and Tool Use Skills in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): A Source-Based Morphometry and Quantitative Genetic Analysis.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2019Article
- Brain Functional Networks Study of Subacute Stroke Patients With Upper Limb Dysfunction After Comprehensive Rehabilitation Including BCI Training.Frontiers in neurology · 2019Article
- Brain Structural Correlates of Odor Identification in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease Revealed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging and a Chinese Olfactory Identification Test.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Article
- Analysis of Alzheimer's Disease Based on the Random Neural Network Cluster in fMRI.Frontiers in neuroinformatics · 2018Article
- Human bipedal instability in tree canopy environments is reduced by "light touch" fingertip support.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- The Evolution of Lateralized Brain Circuits.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Among nonhuman primates, chimpanzees are well known for their sophistication and diversity of tool use in both captivity and the wild. The evolution of tool manufacture and use has been proposed as a driving mechanism for the development of increasing brain size, complex cognition and motor skills, as well as the population-level handedness observed in modern humans. Notwithstanding, our understanding of the neurological correlates of tool use in chimpanzees and other primates remains poorly understood. Here, we assessed the hand preference and performance skill of chimpanzees on a tool use task and correlated these data with measures of neuroanatomical asymmetries in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the pli-de-passage fronto-parietal moyen (PPFM). The IFG is the homolog to Broca's area in the chimpanzee brain and the PPFM is a buried gyrus that connects the pre- and post-central gyri and corresponds to the motor-hand area of the precentral gyrus. We found that chimpanzees that performed the task better with their right compared to left hand showed greater leftward asymmetries in the IFG and PPFM. This association between hand performance and PPFM asymmetry was particularly robust for right-handed individuals. Based on these findings, we propose that the evolution of tool use was associated with increased left hemisphere specialization for motor skill. We further suggest that lateralization in motor planning, rather than hand preference per se, was selected for with increasing tool manufacture and use in Hominid evolution.
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