Confounding Use of Tools on Physical Tasks

Synonyms

Causal cognition, Tool-use tasks, Trap tasks

Definition

Task manipulations that affect subjects’ tool-use performance.

Introduction

Tool use is a widespread behavior among human and nonhuman animals (see Shumaker et al. 2011 for a review) and understanding which cognitive mechanisms underlie this remarkable behavior has been the subject of an important amount research in the past decades (e.g., Sanz et al. 2013 for a review). Tool-use tasks that require subjects to overcome obstacles to get a reward have been important paradigms devoted to investigate causal knowledge in primates and birds (e.g., Call 2013). In this context, trap tasks – particularly, trap tube tasks – have been used extensively in recent years. Generally these tasks involve presenting subjects with a stick, a clear tube with a trap on its bottom part and a reward placed inside the tube next to the trap and outside of the subject’s direct reach. Subjects have to use the stick to get the reward out of the tube...