Biobehavioural correlates of hand preference in free‐ranging female primates

Abstract

In this research we examined biological and behavioural correlates of handedness in a subject cohort of 41 free‐ranging young female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Specifically, we examined relationships between handedness and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of the monoamine metabolites 5‐hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5‐HIAA) and homovanillic acid (HVA), plasma concentrations of the hormones cortisol and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), prolactin, and multiple indices of social behaviour, including proximity to other animals, grooming, submission, and aggression. Handedness was determined through systematic observation of animals reaching for food in their unrestricted home environment. We found a population‐level bias for left‐hand use in this cohort of young females. The frequency of right versus left hand use was positively correlated with CSF 5‐HIAA, plasma cortisol concentrations, the frequency of submissive behaviour, and with the frequency of bouts in which animals received low‐level aggression. The positive correlation between right versus left hand use, submissive behaviour, and received aggression found here in females contrasts with the negative correlation among these same variables that we have previously reported in rhesus males. We conclude that these results may be explicable in terms of sex‐based differences in rhesus life‐history patterns, and that the influence of the serotonergic system on patterns of male aggression, social behaviour, and handedness, and the associations between handedness and social behaviour found previously among males may not be generalised to female rhesus macaques.