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Tool mastering today - an interdisciplinary perspective.

Ricarda I Schubotz1, Sonja J Ebel2,3, Birgit Elsner4

  • 1Department of Biological Psychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.

Frontiers in Psychology
|July 3, 2023
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Understanding tool mastery is key to human evolution and culture. This review proposes a framework integrating perceptual, motor, and cognitive abilities to explain how humans and primates master tools, from physical to digital interfaces.

Keywords:
cognitive foundations of tool usefunctional knowledgefunctional opacityobject manipulationproblem solvingsensorimotor decouplingtechnological assistantsvirtual reality

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Neuroscience
  • Anthropology
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

  • Tool use profoundly shapes human life, culture, and evolution.
  • The cognitive processes underlying tool mastery are not fully understood, despite extensive research.
  • Digital tool use presents new challenges due to increased opacity and sensorimotor decoupling.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose a unifying framework for understanding the cognitive architecture of tool mastering.
  • To integrate diverse research findings across disciplines.
  • To identify future research directions in tool use and technological assistance.

Main Methods:

  • Interdisciplinary review synthesizing findings from neuroscience, psychology, behavior, and technology.
  • Proposal of a three-building-block framework for tool mastering.
  • Application of the framework to human and non-human primate behavior, brain networks, and computational models.

Main Results:

  • A proposed framework with three building blocks: (A) perceptual-motor for manipulation knowledge, (B) perceptual-cognitive for functional knowledge, and (C) motor-cognitive for means-end knowledge.
  • The framework integrates research on tool mastering across species and methodologies.
  • Identifies applications for studying the transition to digital and virtual reality tools.

Conclusions:

  • The proposed framework provides a structured approach to understanding tool mastering.
  • An interdisciplinary perspective is crucial for advancing theories on tool use.
  • The framework can guide research on the evolution of tool use and human-technology interaction.