Behavioral and neuroanatomical correlates of white matter asymmetries in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: William D. Hopkins, Emory University; Jared P. Taglialatela, Emory University; Leslie Dunham, Emory University; Peter Pierre, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• Language: English
• Date: 2007-04
• Publisher: Wiley: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © The Authors (2007). Journal Compilation © Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Final Published Version (URL): http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05502.x/abstract
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: European Journal of Neuroscience
• ISSN: 0953-816X
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 8
• Start Page: 2565
• End Page: 2570
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported in part by NIH grants RR-00165, NS-42867, NS-36605 and HD-38051.
• Keywords: white matter; non-human primates; handedness; brain asymmetry
• Research Categories: Biology, Animal Physiology; Health Sciences, Pharmacology; Psychology, Psychobiology

Abstract

Although behavioral and brain asymmetries have been documented in non-human primates, lateralization in cortical connectivity as reflected in white matter has not been described in any species, despite the intrinsic theoretical interest in white matter expansion during primate brain evolution. Here we report evidence of population-level leftward asymmetries in the white matter of chimpanzees. We further report that lateralization in white matter correlates with their handedness as well as neuroanatomical asymmetries in the precentral gyrus. These findings suggest that chimpanzees show asymmetries in cortical connectivity and these may serve as the foundation for morphological and behavioral laterality in primates, including humans.