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Pre-Crastination Emerges in a Sequential Joint Action Task
April Karlinsky1, Matthew Ray2, Timothy N Welsh3
1Department of Kinesiology, College of Natural Sciences, California State University, San Bernardino, California, USA.
Journal of Motor Behavior
|August 8, 2025
Summary
In joint actions, individuals act as initiators to complete more demanding tasks earlier, a behavior termed pre-crastination. This study shows initiators facilitate partners by doing more work upfront in sequential tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Sequential joint actions involve an initiator and a finisher, with initiators often planning actions to aid finishers.
- The principle of pre-crastination suggests individuals tackle demanding tasks early to reduce later cognitive or motor load.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate pre-crastination in sequential joint action tasks.
- To determine if initiators in a joint task perform more demanding actions earlier.
Main Methods:
- Participants engaged in a sequential task where an initiator passed a cube to a finisher for insertion into a slot.
- The initiator could pre-rotate the cube to varying degrees before passing it.
Main Results:
- Experiment 1: Initiators performed more cube rotations when partnered than individuals working alone.
- Experiment 2: Initiators adjusted rotation based on visual information of the finisher's task.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the concept of pre-crastination in sequential joint actions.
- Co-actors facilitate shared goals by increasing their early effort, demonstrating proactive task management.
Keywords:
Action anticipationmotor experiencepre-crastinationresponse featuressequential joint actionMore Related Videos
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