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A short history of ideo-motor action

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Abstract

The ideo-motor theory, which is currently receiving heightened interest in cognitive psychology, looks back on a long history. Essentially two historical roots can be presented. A British one, initiated by Laycock (1845) and Carpenter (1852), which was developed in order to explain ideo-motor phenomena by means of cerebral reflex actions. A second and older root is the German one by Herbart (1816, 1825), Lotze (1852), and Harless (1861), which considered the ideo-motor principle a fundamental mechanism of all intentional human behaviour. Both roots converged in James’ (1890) Principles of Psychology before they fell into oblivion due to the dominance of behaviorism in the first half of the 20th century. The few empirical ideo-motor studies of the early 20th century are briefly described. Finally, similarities and differences in the history of the ideo-motor theory are delineated and a perspective is given covering research questions that could be examined in the future.

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Notes

  1. According to Wozniak (1999) other members of this research group were: Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783–1862), Robert Dunn (1799–1877), Henry Holland (1788–1873), Thomas Laycock (1812–1876) John Daniel Morell (1816–1891), and Daniel Noble (1810–1885).

  2. In the history of psychology the conception of physiological psychology is usually ascribed to Wilhelm Wundt (1873/1874). This is not entirely correct when considering the work of the research-group around Carpenter.

  3. Nevertheless, Carpenter denied that Laycock had already described the triggering of cerebral reflexes by ideas and presented these findings of Laycock as his own. This resulted in an ongoing dispute concerning authorship between the two (cf. Carpenter, 1871; Laycock, 1860, 1876).

  4. But one could suppose that Lotze was confronted with the works of the anatomist Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777) during his medical studies. Professor von Haller held a position in the Department of Anatomy, Surgery, and Botany at the University of Göttingen from 1736 till 1753 (cf. Beug, 1977). As mentioned earlier, Laycock (1845) had also made reference to von Haller as a scholar who supported the substrate theory. Maybe von Haller is the connecting link between Laycock and Lotze.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Peter A. French and Wolfgang Prinz for their important and constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper. Additionally, Viola Rost and Christian Stöcker should be mentioned for their help in checking and improving the English. Last but not least, many thanks to Christian Stöcker especially for translating the old German quotations from Herbart, Lotze, and Harless.

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  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Germany

    Armin Stock & Claudia Stock

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Stock, A., Stock, C. A short history of ideo-motor action. Psychological Research 68, 176–188 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-003-0154-5

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