Role of the Spatial Frames of Reference in the Genesis of the Action Slips

Abstract

Within the classical approach by Norman (1981); action slips are essentially due to activation and triggering of a unappropriate schema. The aim of this study was to investigate action slips starting from the consideration that action is always performed in a space. In our hypothesis, spatial frames of reference could be conceptualized as low level schemata, able to be activated and triggered. Occurrence of slips was recorded for pairs of stimuli located in different spaces (that is when a shift between the two spatial schemata occurred) and for stimuli located in the same space. Results suggest that spatial frames of reference can be usefully conceptualized as low-level schemata and that simultaneous activation of different frames may underlie the genesis of action slips.

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