Abstract
The cognitive and neural bases of human tool use.
Highlights
It is a euphemism to say that humans use tools
When asked to light a candle, for example, those patients can light the candle correctly but put it to the mouth in an attempt to smoke it. Such observations have led traditional cognitive models of apraxia to assume that tool use is supported by sensorimotor knowledge about tool manipulation (e.g., Rothi et al, 1991; Buxbaum, 2001)
This sensorymotor hypothesis assumes that manipulation knowledge stored within inferior fronto-parietal areas is critical to tool use skills. This link is suggested by van Elk (2014), who conducted an fMRI study wherein participants had to predict the subsequent use of a presented tool. His results indicate that the left inferior parietal lobe might store hand-posture representations that can be used for planning tool-directed actions as well as for predicting other’s actions
Summary
It is a euphemism to say that humans use tools. Humans possess a vast repertoire of tools they use every day. Most of our understanding has come from the study of brain-damaged patients with tool use disorders, called apraxia of tool use. Such observations have led traditional cognitive models of apraxia to assume that tool use is supported by sensorimotor knowledge about tool manipulation (e.g., Rothi et al, 1991; Buxbaum, 2001).
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