HAND USE AND GESTURAL COMMUNICATION IN CHIMPANZEES (PAN-TROGLODYTES)

Hand use in gestural communication was examined in 115 captive chimpan zees (Pan troglodytes). Hand use was measured in subjects while they g estured to food placed out of their reach. The distribution of hand us e was examined in relation to sex, age, rearing history, gesture type, and whether the subjects vocalized while gesturing. Overall, signific antly more chimpanzees, especially females and adults, gestured with t heir right than with their left hand. Foods begs were more lateralized to the light hand than pointing, and a greater prevalence of right-ha nd gesturing was found in subjects who simultaneously vocalized than t hose who did not. Taken together, these data suggest that referential, intentional communicative behaviors, in the form of gestures, are lat eralized to the left hemisphere in chimpanzees.