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Roles of Technical Reasoning, Theory of Mind, Creativity, and Fluid Cognition in Cumulative Technological Culture

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Abstract

Cumulative technological culture can be defined as the progressive diversification, complexification, and enhancement of technological traits through generations. An outstanding issue is to specify the cognitive bases of this phenomenon. Based on the literature, we identified four potential cognitive factors: namely, theory-of-mind, technical-reasoning, creativity, and fluid-cognitive skills. The goal of the present study was to test which of these factors—or a combination thereof—best predicted the cumulative performance in two experimental, micro-society conditions (Communication and Observation conditions; n = 100 each) differing in the nature of the interaction (verbal, visual) allowed between participants. The task was to build the highest possible tower. Participants were also assessed on the four aforementioned cognitive factors in order to predict cumulative performance (tower height) and attractiveness. Our findings indicate that technical-reasoning skills are the best predictor of cumulative performance (tower height), even if their role may be restricted to the specific technological domain. Theory-of-mind skills may have a facilitator role, particularly in the Communication condition. Creativity can also help in the generation of novel ideas, but it is not sufficient to support innovation. Finally, fluid cognition is not involved in cumulative technological culture. Taken together, these findings suggest that domain-specific knowledge (i.e., technical-reasoning skills) remains critical for explaining cumulative technological culture.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche; Project “Cognition and tool-use economy” ECOTOOL; ANR-14-CE30–0015-01), and was performed within the framework of the LABEX CORTEX (ANR-11-LABX-0042) of Université de Lyon, within the program “Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-11-IDEX-0007) operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

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  1. Laboratoire d’Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université de Lyon, Psychologie, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France

    Emmanuel De Oliveira, Emanuelle Reynaud & François Osiurak

  2. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    François Osiurak

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  1. Emmanuel De Oliveira
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  2. Emanuelle Reynaud
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Correspondence to François Osiurak.

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De Oliveira, E., Reynaud, E. & Osiurak, F. Roles of Technical Reasoning, Theory of Mind, Creativity, and Fluid Cognition in Cumulative Technological Culture. Hum Nat 30, 326–340 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-019-09349-1

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