The visual encoding of familiar and unfamiliar tools

How do we extract meaning and understand the action potential of everyday objects? In this eye-tracking study, we show that familiarity with tools modulates the temporal dynamics of their visual exploration. Twenty-five right-handed participants (14 females; mean age = 23.6 ± 3.34 years) freely observed images of familiar and unfamiliar tools while their eye movements were recorded over a 1500-millisecond window. All tools were post-hoc segmented into functional and manipulative areas. Participants initially prioritized functional components—particularly for unfamiliar tools. Attention to manipulative features emerged later and remained attenuated throughout viewing. In contrast, familiar tools prompted earlier and sustained visual attention on manipulative regions, suggesting faster access to action-related representations. These results support a sequential semantic-to-sensorimotor model of object perception, in which previous knowledge facilitates the transition from semantic identification to action-related engagement.