On the Temporal Dynamics of Tool Use

We humans have a proclivity for materiality as evidenced by our ability to use and make tools or build constructions. Over generations, this proclivity has led to considerably modify the surface of the Earth, a phenomenon known as cumulative technological culture (Osiurak and Reynaud, 2020). This is a fact: we are nowadays surrounded by artifacts (defined here as tools made for a specific purpose). In this context, the epistemological belief can emerge that humans have become mere manipulators, much more concerned with how to manipulate artifacts to make them work than to understand how they work (Osiurak et al., 2020). At a neurocognitive level, this belief has led to the hypothesis that the human brain has developed adaptive mechanisms enabling the selection and planning of the appropriate motor actions1 to manipulate artifacts (Heilman et al., 1982; Rothi et al., 1991; Buxbaum, 2001; van Elk et al., 2014). Thus, when we see an artifact, we might automatically activate not only the motor representation of how to grasp it (so-called structural affordance; e.g., a power grip to grasp and move a hammer from one location to another) but also the motor representation of how to use it in a functional way2 (so-called functional affordance; e.g., a power grip and a broad oscillation of the elbow joint to grasp and use a hammer to pound a nail; Buxbaum and Kalénine, 2010; Thill et al., 2013; see also Bach et al., 2014; Kourtis and Vingerhoets, 2015; Kourtis et al., 2018). This is the automatic activation hypothesis of functional affordances3. In this Opinion article, we question the theoretical and empirical validity of the strong