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Creating semantics in tool use

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Abstract

This article presents the first evidence for a functional link between tool use and the processing of abstract symbols like Arabic numbers. Participants were required to perform a tool-use task after the processing of an Arabic number. These numbers represented either a small (2 or 3) or a large magnitude (8 or 9). The tool-use task consisted in using inverse pliers for gripping either a small or a large object. The inverse pliers enable to dissociate the hand action from the tool action in relation to the object (i.e., closing the hand led to an opening of the tool and vice versa). The number/tool hypothesis predicts that the quantity representation associated with Arabic numbers will interact with the action of the tool toward the object. Conversely, the number/hand hypothesis predicts that the quantity associated with numbers will interact with the action of the hand toward the tool. Results confirmed the first hypothesis and rejected the second. Indeed, large numbers interacted with the action of the tool, such that participants were longer to perform an “opening-hand/closing-tool” action after the processing of large numbers. Moreover, no effect was detected for small numbers, confirming previous studies which used only finger movements. Altogether, our finding suggests that the well-known finger/number interaction can be reversed with tool use.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants from ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche; Project “Démences et Utilisation d’Outils/Dementia and Tool Use,” ANR-2011-MALZ-006-03; F. Osiurak; Project “Cognition et économie liée à l’outil/Cognition and tool-use economy” ECOTOOL; ANR-14-CE30-0015-01; F. Osiurak) and was performed within the framework of the LABEX CORTEX (ANR-11-LABX-0042; F. Osiurak) of the Université de Lyon within the programme “Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-11-IDEX-0007; F. Osiurak) operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, INCIA - Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (UMR 5287), Université de Bordeaux, Bât. 2A- 2ème étage, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076, Bordeaux Cedex, France

    Arnaud Badets & Aymar de Rugy

  2. Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, 33000, Bordeaux Cedex, France

    Thomas Michelet

  3. Centre for Sensorimotor Performance, School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Aymar de Rugy

  4. Laboratoire d’Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université de Lyon, Lyon, France

    François Osiurak

  5. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    François Osiurak

Authors
  1. Arnaud Badets
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  2. Thomas Michelet
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  3. Aymar de Rugy
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  4. François Osiurak
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arnaud Badets.

Additional information

Handling editor: Shenbing Kuang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing); Reviewers: Luisa Sartori (University of Padua), Luisa Lugli (University of Bologna).

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Badets, A., Michelet, T., de Rugy, A. et al. Creating semantics in tool use. Cogn Process 18, 129–134 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-017-0795-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-017-0795-8

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