HAPTIC PERCEPTION IN BABOONS (PAPIO-PAPIO) - PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE FORLATERALIZATION IN ACCURACY AND EXPLORATION TIME

Two baboons performed 2 types of haptic discrimination of three-dimens ional object pairs, by using the right and left hands in the same numb er of trials. One task focused on the discrimination of the objects' s hape, another on the convexity or concavity of the objects. It was fou nd that the left was better than the right hand to discriminate the sh ape of objects. Regardless of the task, objects were also explored lon ger with the left than with the right hand. It is suggested that these hand differences are congruent with the hypothesis of an advantage of the right hemisphere in monkeys for haptic perception.