Shaping the physical world to our ends: The left PF technical-cognition area

Author:

Osiurak François12ORCID,Federico Giovanni3,Fournel Arnaud1,Gaujoux Vivien1,Lamberton Franck4,Ibarrola Danièle4,Rossetti Yves56ORCID,Lesourd Mathieu7

Affiliation:

1. Laboratoire d’Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon

2. Institut Universitaire de France

3. IRCCS Synlab SDN S.p.A.

4. CERMEP-Imagerie du vivant, MRI Department and CNRS UMS3453

5. Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (CRNL), Trajectoires Team (Inserm UMR_S 1028-CNRS-UMR 5292-Université de Lyon)

6. Mouvement et Handicap and Neuro-Immersion, Hospices Civils de Lyon et Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Hôpital Henry Gabrielle

7. Université de Franche-Comté, LINC, CNRS

Abstract

Our propensity to materiality, which consists in using, making, creating, and passing on technologies, has enabled us to shape the physical world according to our ends. To explain this proclivity, scientists have calibrated their lens to either low-level skills such as motor cognition or high-level skills such as language or social cognition. Yet, little has been said about the intermediate-level cognitive processes that are directly involved in mastering this materiality. We aim to focus on this intermediate level for contributing to building a cognitive framework of human technology. Here we show that a technical-reasoning process might be specifically at work in physical problem-solving situations. We found via two distinct neuroimaging studies that the area PF (parietal F) within the left parietal lobe is central for this reasoning process in both tool-use and non-tool-use physical problem-solving and can work along with social-cognitive skills to resolve day-to-day interactions that combine social and physical constraints. Our results demonstrate the existence of a specific cognitive module in the human brain dedicated to materiality, which might be the supporting pillar allowing the accumulation of technical knowledge over generations. Intensifying research on technical cognition could nurture a comprehensive framework that has been missing in fields interested in how early and modern humans have been interacting with the physical world through technology, and how this interaction has shaped our history and culture.

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

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