Introductory lecture to session IV on the sequencing of action

Abstract

The appreciable time required to react means that action must be programmed to anticipate future events if performance is to keep in step with a developing situation. The minimum length of time over which such programmes operate depends on the various factors which influence reaction time. The maximum length of time appears to depend on several factors, including some kind of short-term storage analogous to, but probably different from, that of immediate memory for cognitive material, and also including much longer-term processes underlying programmes extending over periods from a minute or so up to many years. Consideration is given to various possible factors setting maximum limits to programmes of action, to the effects of long practice, and to the difficult problems raised by the fact that programmes, although initiated at a particular moment, nevertheless involve sequences of action phased over a period of time. Future work on all these questions is seen as requiring the close co-operation of experimental psychologists and neurophysiologists.