Laboratory of Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University G. d'Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara, Italy.
Neuropsychologia. 2011 Jul;49(9):2658-63. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.05.013. Epub 2011 May 27.
Previous evidence has shown that active tool-use remaps agents' reaching space with far objects being perceived as reachable and graspable. To date, however, there is no evidence that tool-use observation might also be effective in reaching space remapping. The present six experiments show that not only performing but also observing tool actions may extend the representation of reaching space, useful for grasping objects. In addition, like active tool-use, tool-use observation also impacts on visual distance judgment. Interestingly, these effects only occurred when observers shared the same action potentialities with the agent, i.e., while passively holding a tool compatible with the goal and the spatial range of the observed action. The present findings demonstrate that observing someone else acting with a tool may actually shape the way we map the objects and the space around us, suggesting that such a mapping could provide us with a keystone for coordinating and integrating our actions with those of others.
先前的证据表明，主动使用工具会将远距离物体的可达性和可操作性映射到代理的可达空间中。然而，迄今为止，没有证据表明观察工具使用也可能有效地重新映射可达空间。本研究的六个实验表明，不仅执行工具动作，而且观察工具动作也可以扩展抓握物体的可达空间的表示。此外，与主动使用工具一样，观察工具使用也会影响视觉距离判断。有趣的是，只有当观察者与代理具有相同的动作潜能时，这些效应才会发生，即在被动地持有与目标和观察到的动作的空间范围兼容的工具时。本研究的结果表明，观察其他人使用工具可能会影响我们对周围物体和空间的映射方式，这表明这种映射可以为我们提供一个关键，以协调和整合我们与他人的行动。
