Involuntary feedback responses reflect a representation of partner actions
Seth R Sullivan, John H Buggeln, Jan A Calalo, Truc T Ngo, Jennifer A Semrau, Michael J Carter, Joshua GA Cashaback, Kunlin Wei, Seth R Sullivan, John H Buggeln, Jan A Calalo, Truc T Ngo, Jennifer Semrau, Michael J Carter, Joshua Cashaback · 2026
Read Involuntary feedback responses reflect a representation of partner actions by Seth R Sullivan, John H Buggeln, Jan A Calalo, Truc T Ngo, Jennifer A Semrau, Michael J Carter, Joshua GA Cashaback, Kunlin Wei, Seth R Sullivan, John H Buggeln, Jan A Calalo, Truc T Ngo, Jennifer Semrau, Michael J Carter, Joshua Cashaback (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13197164.txt.
Description
Seth Sullivan and six co-authors tested whether fast reflex movements already reflect what a partner plans to do, in a study published in 2026. People coordinate actions with ease, from dance to team games. High-level plans guide deliberate actions, but fast reflex pathways were thought to run without that knowledge. The team paired people on a joint screen task where a sudden shift forced a quick correction.
The reflex corrections were not blind. They took account of the partner's own costs, such as accuracy and effort, as game theory predicted they would. That means a rich internal model of the partner feeds even the fastest response loops. The authors describe the result as top-down shaping of low-level circuits. The finding helps explain how joint actions stay smooth at speed. It may also guide robot partners that must work closely with human hands.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Seth R Sullivan, John H Buggeln, Jan A Calalo, Truc T Ngo, Jennifer A Semrau, Michael J Carter, Joshua GA Cashaback, Kunlin Wei, Seth R Sullivan, John H Buggeln, Jan A Calalo, Truc T Ngo, Jennifer Semrau, Michael J Carter, Joshua Cashaback |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 124 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |