Tool use and causal cognition / edited by Teresa McCormack, Christoph Hoerl, and Stephen Butterfill.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

McCormack, Teresa.

Hoerl, Christoph.

Butterfill, Stephen A. (Stephen Andrew)

Series:

Consciousness and self-consciousness

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cognition.

Causation.

Tool use in animals.

Tools--Social aspects.

Tools.

Cognition and culture.

Physical Description:

ix, 255 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Summary:

What cognitive abilities underpin the use of tools, and how are tools and their properties represented or understood by tool-users? Does the study of tool use give us a unique or distinctive source of information about the causal cognition of tool-users? Tool Use and Causal Cognition provides a new interdisciplinary perspective on these issues with contributions from leading psychologists studying tool use and from philosophers containing new analyses of the nature of causal understanding.

Studies of tool use have been used to examine an exceptionally wide range of aspects of cognition, such as planning, problem-solving and insight, naive physics, and the relationships between action and perception. Tool use is a topic of major interest to those interested in animal cognition, because it implies that the animal has knowledge of the relationship between objects and their effects. Thus, a key debate in recent research on animal cognition concerns the level of cognitive sophistication that is implied by tool use, Developmental psychologists have been addressing related questions regarding the processes through which children acquire the ability to use tools. In neuropsychology, patterns of impairments in tool use due to brain damage, and studies of neural changes associated with tool use, have also led to debates about the different types of cognitive abilities that might underpin tool use, and about how tool use may change the way space or the body is represented.

A ground-breaking volume that covers several disciplines, Tool Use and Causal Cognition will be of interest to psychologies, including animal researchers and developmental psychologists, as well as philosophers and neuroscientists. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Tool Use and Causal Cognition: An Introduction / Teresa McCormack McCormack, Teresa, Christoph Hoerl Hoerl, Christoph, Stephen Butterfill Butterfill, Stephen 1

2 A Philosopher Looks at Tool Use and Causal Understanding / James Woodward Woodward, James 18

3 The Development of Human Tool Use Early in Life / Marissa L. Greif Greif, Marissa L., Amy Needham Needham, Amy 51

4 Through a Floppy Tool Darkly: Toward a Conceptual Overthrow of Animal Alchemy / Daniel J. Povinelli Povinelli, Daniel J., Derek C. Penn Penn, Derek C. 69

5 Causal Knowledge in Corvids, Primates, and Children: More Than Meets the Eye? / Amanda Seed Seed, Amanda, Daniel Hanus Hanus, Daniel, Josep Call Call, Josep 89

6 The Evolutionary Origins of Causal Cognition: Learning and Using Causal Structures / Brian J. Edwards Edwards, Brian J., Benjamin M. Rottman Rottman, Benjamin M., Laurie R. Santos Santos, Laurie R. 89

7 Tool Use, Planning, and Future Thinking in Children and Animals / Teresa McCormack McCormack, Teresa, Christoph Hoerl Hoerl, Christoph 129

8 Representing Causality / Christopher Peacocke Peacocke, Christopher 148

9 Why Do Language Use and Tool Use Both Count as Manifestations of Intelligence? / John Campbell Campbell, John 169

10 Effects of Brain Damage on Human Tool Use / Georg Goldenberg Goldenberg, Georg 183

11 Human Tool Use: A Causal Role in Plasticity of Bodily and Spatial Representations / Lucilla Cardinali Cardinali, Lucilla, Claudio Brozzoli Brozzoli, Claudio, Francesca Frassinetti Frassinetti, Francesca, Alice C. Roy Roy, Alice C., Alessandro Farnè Farnè, Alessandro 202

12 Tool Use and the Representation of Peripersonal Space in Humans / Charles Spence Spence, Charles 220.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199571154

0199571155

OCLC:

732318641