What Puts the How in Where? Tool Use and the Divided Visual Streams Hypothesis

doi:10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70462-3

Cortex

Volume 43, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 368-375

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70462-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

An influential theory suggests that the dorsal (occipito-parietal) visual stream computes representations of objects for purposes of guiding actions (determining ‘how’) independently of ventral (occipito-temporal) stream processes supporting object recognition and semantic processing (determining ‘what’). Yet, the ability of the dorsal stream alone to account for one of the most common forms of human action, tool use, is limited. While experience-dependent modifications to existing dorsal stream representations may explain simple tool use behaviors (e.g., using sticks to extend reach) found among a variety of species, skillful use of manipulable artifacts (e.g., cups, hammers, pencils) requires in addition access to semantic representations of objects' functions and uses. Functional neuroimaging suggests that this latter information is represented in a left-lateralized network of temporal, frontal and parietal areas. I submit that the well-established dominance of the human left hemisphere in the representation of familiar skills stems from the ability for this acquired knowledge to influence the organization of actions within the dorsal pathway.

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Citation Excerpt :
This could be accomplished behaviorally by adopting less demanding technologies (Duke and Pargeter, 2015; Lewis and Harmand, 2016) and/or using mitigating techniques (e.g., heat treatment (Mraz et al., 2019), platform isolation, pressure and punch flaking); socially by providing instruction, support, and motivation for practice (Morgan et al., 2015; Stout and Hecht, 2017); and/or evolutionarily through changes to traits supporting skill acquisition. Relevant traits might include biomechanical features such as postural stability and control (Berrigan et al., 2006; Corbetta, 2005), mobility of the wrist and elbow during percussion (Williams et al., 2014; Rein et al., 2013), and the manipulative capabilities of the core-support hand (Faisal et al., 2010; Key and Dunmore, 2015, 2018), as well as sensorimotor and cognitive capacities required to perceive and integrate subtle object properties with fine-grained kinematics in relation to abstract technological goals (Frey, 2007; Stout, 2011; Orban and Caruana, 2014). These demands implicate a wide array of derived human capacities—ranging from executive attention and the integration of information in working memory (Coolidge and Wynn, 2005; Engle, 2018) to the perception of actions (Hecht et al., 2013a; Key and Dunmore, 2015) and objects (Vanduffel et al., 2002) and the acuity of motor control (Maier et al., 2005; Courtine et al., 2007; Heldstab et al., 2016)—any of which might reasonably have been impacted by selection acting on stone toolmaking aptitude.
Stone tools provide some of the best remaining evidence of behavioral change over long periods, but their cognitive and evolutionary implications remain poorly understood. Here, we contribute to a growing body of experimental research on the cognitive and perceptual-motor foundations of stone toolmaking skills by using a flake prediction paradigm to assess the relative importance of technological understanding vs. accurate action execution in Late Acheulean–style handaxe production. This experiment took place as part of a larger, longitudinal study of knapping skill acquisition, allowing us to assemble a large sample of predictions across learning stages and in a comparative sample of experts. By combining group and individual-level statistical analyses with predictive modeling, we show that understanding and predicting specific flaking outcomes in this technology is both more difficult and less important than expected from previous work. Instead, our findings reveal the critical importance of perceptual motor skills needed to manage speed-accuracy trade-offs and reliably detach the large, invasive flakes that enable bifacial edging and thinning. With practice, novices increased striking accuracy, flaking success rates, and (to an extent) handaxe quality by targeting small flakes with acute platform angles. However, only experts were able to combine percussive force and accuracy to produce results comparable with actual Late Acheulean handaxes. The relatively intense demands for accurate action execution documented in our study indicate that biomechanical properties of the upper limb, cortical and cerebellar systems for sensorimotor control, and the cognitive, communicative, and affective traits supporting deliberate practice would all have been likely targets of selection acting on Late Acheulean toolmaking aptitude.
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Special Issue: Original ArticleWhat Puts the How in Where? Tool Use and the Divided Visual Streams Hypothesis

Abstract

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Distributed memory, modular subsystems and dysphasia

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Is ideomotor apraxia the outcome of damage to well-defined regions of the left hemisphere? Neuropsychological study of cat correlation

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry

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Experimental Brain Research

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Neurology

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Nature Neuroscience

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Special Issue: Original Article
What Puts the How in Where? Tool Use and the Divided Visual Streams Hypothesis