Memory Drum Theory's C Movement

Abstract

Franklin Henry's “memory drum” theory of neuromotor reaction (Henry & Rogers, 1960) was one of the most influential studies of the response programming stage of information processing. The paper is the most-cited study ever published in the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. However, few people know there is a noteworthy error in the paper, namely in the description of the C movement, the most complicated of the three responses studied. Henry himself was unaware of the error for nearly 20 years after the paper's publication. The purpose of our paper is to accord the factual record its due respect by revealing the history about the error and its correction. The data are in the form of the original 1960 paper which describes the C movement, a paper by Howell (1953), and personal letters from Henry dating from 1979, when the error was first discovered, and continuing through 1986. In one letter, Henry attributed the error to a mild and specific form of aphasia, manifested by word reversals, from which he suffered throughout his scholarly life. Such a revelation makes the career of this remarkable scholar even more remarkable.

Key words:

• Motor programming
• Reaction time
• Research methods
• Response complexity

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark G. Fischman

Portions of this paper were presented at the 2006 meeting of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, and the 2007 meeting of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity. We thank Jim Cauraugh and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript. Please address all correspondence concerning this article to Mark G. Fischman, Auburn University, Department of Kinesiology, Auburn, AL 36849.