The Relation of Perception and Motor Action: Ideomotor Compatibility and Interference in Divided Attention

Ideomotor theory is one variation of the general position that perception and motor action are related. According to this theory, a perceptual representation of the goal of a response must be generated prior to response initiation. Ideomotor theory can be extended by assuming that generation of this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of motor behavior 1991-09, Vol.23 (3), p.155-162
Main Authors: Klapp, Stuart T., Porter-Graham, Kimberly A., Hoifjeld, Annabel R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
attention
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition. Intelligence
compatibility
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
ideomotor theory
interference
Miscellaneous
perceptual-motor
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
response integration
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Summary:Ideomotor theory is one variation of the general position that perception and motor action are related. According to this theory, a perceptual representation of the goal of a response must be generated prior to response initiation. Ideomotor theory can be extended by assuming that generation of this representation, which usually is required prior to motor action, is not needed if the stimulus itself corresponds to the response goal, that is, if the stimulus and response are ideomotor compatible. Because processing to generate the response representation is not needed with ideomotor compatibility, it should be possible to control two responses simultaneously without mutual interference if at least one stimulus-response relation is ideomotor compatible. Although supported in previous work involving discrete responses, this prediction of perfect time-sharing was found not to hold in the experiments reported here. These experiments, unlike those showing perfect time-sharing, involved continuous responses. We propose an alternative version of ideomotor compatibility, in which perfect time-sharing can occur if an integrated stimulus is provided to match the continuous and integrated response.
ISSN:0022-2895
1940-1027
DOI:10.1080/00222895.1991.10118359