The evolution of handedness in humans and great apes: a review and current issues.
The evolution of handedness in humans and great apes: a review and current issues.
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发表时间：
2008
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通讯作者：
L. Cashmore;Natalie T Uomini;Amandine S. Chapelain
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作者：
L. Cashmore;Natalie T Uomini;Amandine S. Chapelain
人口水平的右撇子是人类的一个决定性特征。尽管进行了广泛的研究，但我们仍然不知道它在人类进化中出现的条件或时间。我们基于化石和考古学数据对利手起源的研究进行了回顾，其中包括对手的偏好和类人猿用手的研究。数据显示，手臂和手骨中支持右侧优势的骨骼不对称至少在人属中存在，尽管数据对尼安德特人更有说服力。来自工具使用、生产和洞穴艺术的证据证实，右手偏好在尼安德特人中得到确立，并一直保持到现在。类人猿可以提供现实生活中的模型，用于测试在个人和群体层面上促进或增强手的偏好的条件。关于大猩猩用手的数据库表明，它们确实表现出对手的偏好，特别是在复杂的任务中。然而，他们的偏好因任务而异，虽然偶尔会有群体层面的偏见被报道，但没有发现类似人类的利手偏见。我们讨论了在这些方法中遇到的方法学问题。共同的问题包括学科内部和学科之间缺乏商定的术语、样本量小、解释偏差以及未能重复实验。总体而言，化石材料稀缺，保存不善阻碍了传统的计量方法。考古数据往往建立在不可靠的方法上。灵长类数据库的困扰是使用可能不适合揭示手的偏好的测量方法，以及研究之间的方法不一致。我们强调有必要将方法标准化，以允许进行研究和物种比较。我们建议，在提到“惯用手”时，使用“惯用手”和“惯用手”这两个词更为恰当，以避免与每个学科对惯用手的定义相混淆。
Population-level right-handedness is a defining characteristic of humans. Despite extensive research, we still do not know the conditions or timing of its emergence in human evolution. We present a review of research into the origins of handedness, based on fossil and archaeological data for hand preference and great ape hand-use. The data show that skeletal asymmetries in arm and hand bones supporting a rightsided dominance were present at least in the genus Homo, although data are more robust for Neanderthals. The evidence from tool-use, production, and cave art confirms that right-hand preference was established in Neanderthals and was maintained until the present. The great apes can provide real-life models for testing the conditions that facilitate or enhance hand preference at both the individual and group levels. The database on great ape hand-use indicates that they do exhibit hand preferences, especially in complex tasks. However, their preferences vary between tasks, and while group-level biases have occasionally been reported, no human-like handedness bias has been found. We discuss the methodological problems encountered in these approaches. Shared problems include a lack of agreed terminology both within and between disciplines, small sample sizes, interpretation biases and a failure to replicate experiments. In general, there is a paucity of fossil material, with poor preservation hampering traditional metric methods. The archaeological data are often founded on unreliable methods. The primate database is plagued by the use of measures that could be inappropriate for revealing hand preference, and by methodological inconsistencies between studies. We emphasise the need to standardise the methods to allow between studies and species comparisons. We propose that when referring to "handedness" it is more appropriate to use the terms "hand preference" and "hand use", to avoid confusion with each discipline's own definition of handedness.