杏吧原创

GIRLS can鈥檛 throw, say American government scientists, and that鈥檚
official鈥攐r as official as a verdict can be when it鈥檚 based on a study
into the ability of a few dozen human volunteers and monkeys to chuck things
into a bucket.

Barroom bores will take the findings as conclusive evidence of male
superiority. But researchers from the US National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development were concerned with a loftier subject: how a 鈥渘eurologically
demanding task鈥� such as aimed throwing may have contributed to the evolution of
human characteristics such as upright posture and right-handedness.

The researchers made 25 human volunteers and 17 capuchin monkeys attempt to
throw balls or stones into a bucket placed either 3 or 6 metres away. They found
that men had a better aim than women鈥�32 per cent more accurate
overall鈥攂ut no corresponding difference was found between male and female
monkeys.

The researchers are not sure why there is a sex difference in people but not
monkeys. Many may argue that social learning is the key鈥攇irls aren鈥檛
dragged out into fields by their fathers for lessons in how to throw a ball like
a man. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 possible,鈥� says team leader and comparative psychologist Greg
Westergaard of Labs of Virginia, who worked with the National Institute group.
鈥淭hough we went out of our way to make sure none of the people had any
particular experience in throwing.鈥�

The researchers also admit to possible flaws in the study. Despite rewarding
the monkeys with food for hitting each target, they say they can鈥檛 be sure the
human and monkey subjects were similarly motivated to complete the throwing
task. A case of paying peanuts and getting monkeys, perhaps?