The role of expertise in tool use: skill differences in functional action adaptations to task constraints.
Tool use can be considered a particularly useful model to understand the nature of functional actions. In 3 experiments, tool-use actions typified by stone knapping were investigated. Participants had to detach stone flakes from a flint core through a conchoidal fracture. Successful flake detachment requires controlling various functional parameters simultaneously. Accordingly, our goals were twofold: (a) to examine the regulation of kinetic energy by varying the properties of the hammers and the goal, and (b) to characterize the difference in action regulation across skill levels. All groups were able to modify their actions according to changes in task goals, but only experts displayed fine-tuning to functional parameters (i.e., regulate actions according to changes in hammer weight in a manner that left kinetic energy unchanged). Expertise is considered to depend on the identification of the interactions between functional parameters.
Bril
Blandine
B
Groupe de Recherche Apprentissage et Contexte, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France. blandine.bril@ehess.fr
Rein
Robert
R
Nonaka
Tetsushi
T
Wenban-Smith
Francis
F
Dietrich
Gilles
G
D000054:Acceleration; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011340:Problem Solving; D011361:Professional Competence; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D053001:Tool Use Behavior; D014892:Weight Perception