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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task
Published on: May 3, 2018
(Non)Issues of infinite regress in modeling motor behavior
1Division of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Wayne State University.
Abstract:
In the past, infinite regress criticisms that have been raised about models of motor behavior have been reserved for executive-type models (e.g., Beek & Meijer, 1988). On the basis of Gödel's (1930/1986) proof that an algorithm cannot prove its own validity, the authors reason that executive- as well as self-organized-type explanatory models of motor behavior have infinite regress difficulties. The conclusion offered in the present article is that judgments on a model's theoretical importance should be based not on issues of infinite regress but on other relevant characteristics, such as its propensity for falsification (Popper, 1959).
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