Interactive coordination processes: How the brain accomplishes what we take for granted in computer languages

Abstract

An example of sending two messages in an e-mail program reveals a fundamental sequence-construction mechanism by which perceptual categories and motor schema are automatically generalized. By this mechanism, the human brain accomplishes more flexibly what we take for granted in stored-program computers-ordered steps (a sequence of operators in a problem space), variable bindings, conditional statements, and subgoaling.