The ultimate tool, it could be said, is the brain and body. Therefore, a way to understand tool use is to study the brain's control of the body. A more manageable aim is to use the tools of cognitive science to explore the planning of physical actions. Here, I focus on two kinds of physical acts which directly or indirectly involve tool use: producing finger-press sequences, and walking and reaching for objects. The main question is how people make choices between finger-press sequences, and how people make choices between walk-and-reach sequences. Are the choices made with reference to motor imagery, in which case the longer the sequences are the longer it takes to choose between them, or are shortcuts taken which rely on distinctive features of the alternatives? The reviewed experiments favor the latter alternative. The general view of action planning emerging from this work is one in which action features are highlighted and held in memory, not just to choose between potential actions but also to control the unfolding of long actions over time. Speculations are offered about tool use.

中文翻译：

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终极工具：身体、身体动作的计划以及心理意象在选择运动行为中的作用

可以说，终极工具是大脑和身体。因此，了解工具使用的一种方法是研究大脑对身体的控制。一个更易于管理的目标是使用认知科学的工具来探索身体动作的计划。在这里，我专注于两种直接或间接涉及工具使用的身体行为：产生手指按压序列，以及行走和伸手去拿物体。主要问题是人们如何在手指按压序列之间做出选择，以及人们如何在步行和到达序列之间做出选择。是参考运动意象做出的选择，在这种情况下，序列越长，在它们之间进行选择的时间就越长，还是采取依赖于替代方案独特特征的捷径？审查的实验支持后一种选择。从这项工作中出现的行动计划的一般观点是，行动特征被突出显示并保存在记忆中，不仅可以在潜在行动之间进行选择，还可以控制长时间行动的展开。提供了有关工具使用的推测。