The Neuroscience of Human Tool Use
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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Evolution of Nervous Systems: Second Edition. ed. / J Kaas. 2. ed. Oxford: Academic Press, 2016. p. 341-353.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - The Neuroscience of Human Tool Use
AU - Valyear, Kenneth
PY - 2016/12/16
Y1 - 2016/12/16
N2 - In this chapter we review evidence for two complementary theories of the neural organization of human tool use. First, it is likely that experience-dependent modifications to preexisting neural substrates devoted to hand control and common to other living primates are essential. These mechanisms are highly and acutely plastic, and this acute plasticity is essential for learning new sensorimotor control mappings between tools and the body, and for adaptively changing between them. Second, the evidence also suggests that more complex human tool use behavior relies on additional cortical substrates, some of which may be uniquely human. A core network of predominately left-lateralized and highly functionally fractionated brain areas including inferior parietal, middle frontal, and posterior middle temporal cortex appear to be essential. Inferior parietal and posterior middle temporal areas may have undergone disproportionate expansion throughout the course of human evolution, and the connective properties that link these areas with frontal cortex may be uniquely human.
AB - In this chapter we review evidence for two complementary theories of the neural organization of human tool use. First, it is likely that experience-dependent modifications to preexisting neural substrates devoted to hand control and common to other living primates are essential. These mechanisms are highly and acutely plastic, and this acute plasticity is essential for learning new sensorimotor control mappings between tools and the body, and for adaptively changing between them. Second, the evidence also suggests that more complex human tool use behavior relies on additional cortical substrates, some of which may be uniquely human. A core network of predominately left-lateralized and highly functionally fractionated brain areas including inferior parietal, middle frontal, and posterior middle temporal cortex appear to be essential. Inferior parietal and posterior middle temporal areas may have undergone disproportionate expansion throughout the course of human evolution, and the connective properties that link these areas with frontal cortex may be uniquely human.
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-0128040423
SP - 341
EP - 353
BT - Evolution of Nervous Systems
A2 - Kaas, J
PB - Academic Press
CY - Oxford
ER -