The primate chair also comprises two independent sliding doors at the front, allowing execution of manual dexterity tasks with both hands, separately or simultaneously (Schmidlin et al. 2011). Each experimental session was recorded with one to three digital video cameras, depending on the task (drawer, tube, and bimanual board tasks with one camera; modified Brinkman board task with three cameras; Schmidlin et al. 2011).

The duration of a typical daily behavioral session was about 60 min and the experiments were conducted with background Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical music to cover possible disturbing, external noise. At the end of the session, the animals received their daily ration of food, composed of cereals, fruits, and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical vegetables, in addition to the rewards (food pellets) received during the tests. Human subjects The human subjects were 20 persons

(students) aged between 18 and 30 years old. The human experiments were conducted in the context of practical courses for students at the University of Fribourg and the subjects gave their full consent to the experimental protocol. They agreed that the data may be used anonymously for the present study. The human subjects first declared Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical themselves either as left- or as Selleck SB431542 right-handers and it corresponded to the hand they used to write. Based on this initial self-declaration, there were ten left-handers (six men and four women) and ten right-handers (four men and six women). Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The size of each of these two groups (n = 10) was chosen as to approximately match the group size of monkeys (n = 8). Given the human population bias for right-hand preference (about 90%), self-declared left-handers were deliberately recruited, thanks to a large pool of students available Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical on the campus. It is expected that the self-declared left-handers are less lateralized than the self-declared right-handers. Each human subject was enrolled in a single behavioral session (lasting about

60–90 min) and he/she executed three manual dexterity tasks, before responding to the handedness questionnaire at the end of the session. The set-ups for the three manual dexterity tasks were positioned on a table and the behavioral session was recorded with a digital video camera. The subjects began Mannose-binding protein-associated serine protease with the modified Brinkman board task, followed by the bimanual board task, and finally, the tube task. Before the beginning of the tests, the subjects sat on a chair in the middle and in front of the experimental table. They had to adjust the height of the chair to feel comfortable. Behavioral tasks The assessment of handedness was based on a palette of behavioral manual dexterity tasks, in which macaque monkeys (n = 8) and human subjects (n = 20) were enrolled.