The Toolman effect: Preexisting non-tool-use experience improves subsequent tool-use performance

• Main Authors: François Osiurak, Pénélope Griffon, Vivien Gaujoux, Emanuelle Reynaud, Jordan Navarro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-10-01
• Series: Acta Psychologica
• Subjects: Tool use; Tool-related effectiveness; Tool-related efficiency
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691821001396

This study explores whether performing a cognitive task without using a tool (i.e., preexisting non-tool-use experience) impacts subsequent tool-use performance. Sixty participants moved an avatar within a maze in four directions (up, down, left, right). The keys were remapped 90° anticlockwise (e.g., the right key → upward). Therefore, the participants had to learn the mental-rotation-based perceptual-motor transformation to complete the path as quickly as possible and with as few errors as possible. In Tool trials, a cognitive tool (i.e., an arrow symbol) helped the participants to find the correct key. In No Tool trials, they completed the task without the cognitive tool. The tool was introduced either early or late in the task. At the end of the task, all participants completed the task without the tool. Results indicated that preexisting non-tool-use experience improved subsequent tool-use efficiency (i.e., completion times). In addition, the early introduction of the tool induced an effectiveness bias (i.e., accuracy) that persisted even after the removal of the tool. By contrast, its late introduction favored the emergence of an efficiency bias that persisted even after the introduction of the tool. These findings provide new insights into the role of users' intrinsic cognitive skills in tool use.