The Cognition of Sequences

Book excerpt: It is impossible to perceive the innumerable stimuli impinging on our senses, all at once. Out of the myriad stimuli, external and internal, a few are selected for further processing; and even among these, we try to put each in some sort of relation with the others, to be able to make some sense about them all. Time, of course, is an elementary dimension we use to organize our experiences. Thus, the perception of sequences is basic to human cognition. Nevertheless, research addressing sequences is rather sparse. Partly, this is due to difficulty in designing experiments in this area due to huge individual differences. Then, there is the assumption that temporal order has more to do with memory than perception. Another problem is that sequences seem endemic to the auditory world. So much so that some researchers have suggested that sound provides the ‘auditory scaffolding’ for sequencing behavior. Little wonder that research studies addressing sequences in modalities other than audition are extremely rare. This research topic aimed to gather a holistic picture of sequencing behaviour among humans by collecting snapshots of the current research on the topic of sequencing. We particularly sought contributions which addressed sequences beyond the auditory modality. The single unifying criteria for these diverse contributions was that they shed new light on previously unexplored empirical relationships and/or provoked new lines of research with incisive ideas regarding sequencing behavior. Seasoned researchers contributed their views on perception, memory, and production of sequences.