James J. Gibson’s scientific contributions

... Notably, the mental rotation of hand tools may activate the premotor cortex in the hemisphere opposite the dominant hand, influenced by the object's manipulability [28], which could similarly play a role in handling puzzle pieces. Affordances and Embodied Cognition: Gibson's affordance theory explains that the environment offers certain actions to actors [29], while embodied cognition examines how the body itself or the body's interaction with the environment shapes cognition [30]. Flusberg and Boroditsky [12] demonstrated the role of embodied cognition, showing that mental rotation slows under motor imagery following the physical experience of heavier objects, with similar effects reflected in mental navigation findings [31]. ...

Reference:

Functional perspectives in mental jigsaw puzzles: Insights from eye-tracking, questionnaire, and behavioral data