A New Perspective on Motor Skill Automation

Abstract

The article by Richard A. Schmidt is directed to the locus of movement control. The paper's major goal is to describe a reconciliation between the peripheralists and the centralists. Schmidt describes major research issues for the future, along with current thinking about the central control of action in various theoretical conceptualizations of the structure of central motor programs. In the presentation on motor skill automation George E. Stelmach and Douglas D. Larish introduce the concept of attention and review research findings concerning attention, automation, and movement. They recommend automatic sequencing as a more viable theoretical position. Empirical support is given for the stance taken by these authors, followed by examples of potential approaches to research in motor behavior.