Affinito Simona, Eteson Brienna, Cáceres Lourdes Tamayo, Moos Elena Theresa, Karakostis Fotios Alexandros
DFG Center for Advanced Studies "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools", Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 19;14(1):26936. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-77452-0.
Technological innovation has been crucial in the evolution of our lineage, with tool use and production linked to complex cognitive processes. While previous research has examined the cognitive demands of early stone toolmaking, the neurocognitive aspects of early hominin tool use remain largely underexplored. This study relies on electroencephalography to investigate brain activation patterns associated with two distinct early hominin tool-using behaviors: forceful hammerstone percussion, practiced by both humans and non-human primates and linked to the earliest proposed stone tool industries, and precise flake cutting, an exclusive hominin behavior typically associated with the Oldowan. Our results show increased engagement of the frontoparietal regions during both tasks. Furthermore, we observed significantly increased beta power in the frontal and centroparietal areas when manipulating a cutting flake compared to a hammerstone, and increased beta activity over contralateral frontal areas during the aiming (planning) stage of the tool-using process. This original empirical evidence suggests that certain fundamental brain changes during early hominin evolution may be linked to precise stone tool use. These results offer new insights into the complex interplay between technology and human brain evolution and encourage further research on the neurocognitive underpinnings of hominin tool use.
技术创新在我们人类谱系的进化过程中至关重要,工具的使用和制造与复杂的认知过程相关联。虽然先前的研究已经考察了早期石器制造的认知需求,但早期人类使用工具的神经认知方面在很大程度上仍未得到充分探索。本研究依靠脑电图来调查与两种不同的早期人类工具使用行为相关的大脑激活模式:有力的石锤敲击,人类和非人类灵长类动物都会进行,且与最早提出的石器工业有关;精确的石片切割,这是人类特有的行为,通常与奥杜威文化相关。我们的结果表明,在这两项任务中额顶叶区域的参与度都有所增加。此外,与石锤相比,在操作石片时,我们观察到额叶和中央顶叶区域的β波功率显著增加,并且在工具使用过程的瞄准(规划)阶段,对侧额叶区域的β活动增加。这一原始的实证证据表明,早期人类进化过程中某些基本的大脑变化可能与精确的石器使用有关。这些结果为技术与人类大脑进化之间复杂的相互作用提供了新的见解,并鼓励对人类使用工具的神经认知基础进行进一步研究。