Variations of tool and task characteristics reveal that tool-use postures are anticipated

The authors examined anticipation in tool use, focusing on tool length and tool-use posture. Adults (9 women and 9 men in each experiment) held a rod (length 0.4-0.8 m), with the tip upward; walked toward a cube; chose a place to stop; and displaced the cube with the rod's tip. In 2 experiments, rod length, mass, and mass distribution, and the size of the cube were manipulated. Chosen distance depended on rod length and cube size. Because effects of cube size on distance resulted only from postural changes related to required control, distance anticipated displacement posture. A postural synergy comprising legs and trunk provided a stable platform for the displacement. An arm synergy was less extended for small cubes, longer rods, and handle-weighted rods. Selected distance anticipated those postures.     

Geometrics and dynamics of a rod determine how it is used for reaching

Displacing an object with a hand-held rod provided a simple paradigm for studying tool use. The authors asked how reaching was affected by manipulations of rod properties. Adults held a rod (length =.10 to 1.5 m), with its tip in the air; walked toward an object on a table; chose a place to stop; and displaced the object with the rod's tip. In 3 experiments (Ns = 9, 22, and 17 participants), the authors manipulated rod length, mass, and mass distribution to determine whether and how geometric and dynamic properties affected the chosen distance and the posture. Both the chosen stopping distance and the postures were well accommodated to rod characteristics. Postural adaptations took place only in the arm, which was organized as a synergy. Predictably, rod length explained most of the variance, but small and reliable differences in both distance and posture depended on mass and mass distribution. The chosen distance anticipated not only rod length but also the upcoming posture needed to control the rod.     

Geometries and Dynamics of a Rod Determine How It Is Used for Reaching

Displacing an object with a hand-held rod provided a simple paradigm for studying tool use. The authors asked how reaching was affected by manipulations of rod properties. Adults held a rod (length = .10 to 1.5 m), with its tip in the air; walked toward an object on a table; chose a place to stop; and displaced the object with the rod's tip. In 3 experiments (Ns = 9, 22, and 17 participants), the authors manipulated rod length, mass, and mass distribution to determine whether and how geometric and dynamic properties affected the chosen distance and the posture. Both the chosen stopping distance and the postures were well accommodated to rod characteristics. Postural adaptations took place only in the arm, which was organized as a synergy. Predictably, rod length explained most of the variance, but small and reliable differences in both distance and posture depended on mass and mass distribution. The chosen distance anticipated not only rod length but also the upcoming posture needed to control the rod.     

Action planning in young children's tool use

Tool use consists of at least two coupled phases of activities, involving multi-step problem solving. It therefore provides an interesting window on the development of planning in goal-directed behavior. This study investigated 2-year-olds' and 3-year-olds' hand use in picking up and subsequently using a tool for displacing a target-object towards a specified goal location. The children had to use a stick (Experiment 1; N = 41 in total) or a cane (hooked stick) that was lying in varying starting orientations (Experiment 2; N = 32 in total). Age differences were found in the way goal-related information in combination with tool-related information influenced the choice of which hand to use in different phases of the task. A view on action planning is developed as a dynamic action-selection process for which actions to take. This process integrates factors that are internal to the child's action system (e.g. motor preferences and dexterity) with external (i.e. sensory) sources of information.     

Attracting Our Future into Being–the Syntony Quest

This article explores a new perception of causality and time. It is proposed that our present is not the result of our past; instead it emerges from our futures. The intention to bring into being a world and future where all of us can thrive has been shared by numerous people. Yet despite these intentions, we have not yet been able to effectuate the deeper transformational change required for bringing this forth at the pace and scale now required. This article offers the quintessence of this quest, to liberate our focus from our entrapment within the systems we defined.     

Occluding the trajectory of an object: effects on predicting containment with 9-, 12- and 16-month-olds

Infants of 9-16-month-old repeatedly saw a block that was lowered into the opening of a container. It was found that the more time infants have to see the block relative to the container the easier they detect that the object relation specifies containment.     

Evolutionary Learning Ecosystems for Thrivable Futures: Crafting and Curating the Conditions for Future-Fit Education

Abstract

This paper explores the shifting dynamics in our Learning Landscapes as pressure for deep systemic change mounts. Concepts of future-fit learning and future-creative competencies are introduced as part of a new narrative for new educational paradigms. A Protopia of Evolutionary Learning Ecosystems (ELEs) is proposed. The emergence of ELEs is more likely to curate and foster a thrivability world during those times of growing pressures. Six integral levels of wellbeing for thrivability are postulated, and the role of education to integrate them in the development of future-fit competencies is considered. These competencies are further explored through five evolutionary archetypes.