Experimental Research on Hand Use and Function in Primates

Abstract

The primate hand has long intrigued researchers of different disciplines. The extensive and elegant work of Napier included careful observations about the anatomy and function of the primate hand. While such observations and inferences substantially advanced our understanding of the primate hand, a more complete insight into the function of a complex organ such as the hand requires experimental investigation to illuminate patterns of joint movement, muscle activity, and loads. In the last decades, researchers have collected a wealth of information about hand morphology and function by setting up and conducting laboratory-based experiments. In this chapter, we give a comprehensive overview of the experimental work on the nonhuman primate hand that has been done since Napier’s publications in the 1950s. We discuss the different methods that are being used to study hand function: behavioral studies, kinematics, kinetics, dynamic palmar pressure, electromyography, medical imaging and computer modeling. Ultimately, studies focusing on hand form and function, especially those that include a diversity of extant species and integrate different types of data, will lead to a better understanding of the evolution of the human hand.