ABSTRACT
We communicate verbal information in three principal ways: We write, we speak, and we use keyboards. Maximum information rates in speech and typing are higher than in writing (Seibel, 1972), and as more of our work uses computers, keyboard entry is becoming increasingly impor tant. This chapter reports some new findings about the temporal patterns of rapid movement sequences in speech and typewriting and what these patterns might mean in relation to the advance planning or “motor pro gramming” of such sequences. We shall be concerned with how response factors affect the time to initiate a prespecified rapid movement sequence after a signal (the “ simple-reaction” time) when the goal is to complete the sequence as quickly as possible, as well as how such factors affect the rate at which movements in the sequence are produced.2 The response factor of central interest will be the number of elements in the sequence.
