Article

In everyday life, we are led to reuse the same tools (e.g., fork, hammer,
coffee-maker), raising the question as to whether we have to systematically
recreate the idea of the manipulation which is associated with these tools. The
gesture engram hypothesis offers a straightforward answer to this issue, by
suggesting that activation of gesture engrams provides a processing advantage,
avoiding portions of the process from being reconstructed de novo with each
experience. At first glance, the gesture engram hypothesis appears very
plausible. But, behind this beguiling simplicity lies a set of unresolved
difficulties: (1) What is the evidence in favour of the idea that the mere
observation of a tool is sufficient to activate the corresponding gesture engram?
(2) If tool use can be supported by a direct route between a structural
description system and gesture engrams, what is the role of knowledge about tool
function? (3) And, more importantly, what does it mean to store knowledge about
how to manipulate tools? We begin by outlining some of the main formulations of
the gesture engram hypothesis. Then, we address each of these issues in more
detail. To anticipate our discussion, the gesture engram hypothesis appears to be
clearly unsatisfactory, notably because of its incapacity to offer convincing
answers to these different issues. We conclude by arguing that neuropsychology
may greatly benefit from adopting the hypothesis that the idea of how to
manipulate a tool is recreated de novo with each experience, thus opening
interesting perspectives for future research on apraxia.
CI - Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS