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Tool use as distributed cognition: how tools help, hinder and define manual skill.
Chris Baber1, Manish Parekh1, Tulin G Cengiz2
1School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK.
Frontiers in Psychology
|March 8, 2014
Summary
Tool use involves both cognitive and physical skills, relying on external representations within the human-environment-tool-object system. This perspective extends Distributed Cognition to understand how artifacts-in-context afford skilled performance.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Psychology
Background:
- Tool use integrates cognitive and physical performance.
- Understanding representations is key to tool use.
- Existing models may not fully capture external representations in tool use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of representations in tool use.
- To argue for the necessity of external representations in understanding cognitive-physical interplay.
- To extend the notion of Distributed Cognition to include artifacts-in-context and praxis.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of tool use and representation.
- Exploration of Distributed Cognition theory.
- Examination of "affordance" in the context of tool-object interaction.
Main Results:
- Tool use relies on external representations within the human-environment-tool-object system.
- Artifacts-in-context afford use, and responding to these affordances is skilled performance.
- Affordance involves anticipation of user actions and system complementarity, distinct from motor control adaptation or tool schemas.
Conclusions:
- A framework incorporating external representations and artifacts-in-context is crucial for understanding skilled tool use.
- The concept of "affordance" in tool use signifies anticipation and system complementarity.
- Further research should distinguish affordance from motor adaptation and tool schemas.
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