Summary: | Most adjustment to the environment are to serially apprehended action signals that are psychologically inter-dependent in the sense that response to any one stimulus change is related to the preceding stimuli, and often in anticipation of those to follow. That is, each item of information is by itself an incomplete action signal. Many of these adjustments are typical elements in the complex skills required to operate modern equipment such as that used in tracking systems. Characteristically, equipment of this sort transmits information at speeds that are not under the operator’s control, and that are independent of his responses; i.e. performance of the particular task is mechanically paced. The modern environment contains numerous situations of this type. These focus attention on the need for experimental study, and greater understanding of human skill in performance when responding to information that is serially presented at a relatively rapid but arbitrary rate, with each stimulus by itself an incomplete action signal.
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