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Motor Theories of Cognitive Structure: A Historical Review

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Book cover Cognition and Motor Processes

Abstract

In this review an attempt is made to sketch the history of motor theories in the fields of perception and cognition. The term “motor theory” has never been well defined; in the absence of an accepted definition, it will be used to denote a theory which maintains that movement or its sensory consequences are a constituent element of a mental process, such that the process would not exist or would have different qualities, had the motor component been absent. The review will be restricted to visual perception and cognition, and emphasis will be placed on eye movements. A complete inventory of motor theories will not be given; rather, I intend to describe three lines of thought to which most motor theories can be related.

The (motor) theory is so simple and so easy to present that every one is glad to believe it. The only question that any one cares to raise is how much of it will the known facts permit one to accept. Pillsbury (1911, p. 84)

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Authors
  1. Eckart Scheerer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung für Experimentelle und Angewandte Psychologie, Universität Bielefeld, Postfach 8640, 4800, Bielefeld 1, Federal Republic of Germany

    Wolfgang Prinz

  2. Institute for Perception TNO, Postbus 23, Kampweg 5, 3769 DE, Soesterberg, The Netherlands

    Andries F. Sanders

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© 1984 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Scheerer, E. (1984). Motor Theories of Cognitive Structure: A Historical Review. In: Prinz, W., Sanders, A.F. (eds) Cognition and Motor Processes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69382-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69382-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-69384-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-69382-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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