Manners Matter: Action history guides attention and repair choices during interaction

This study investigated how action histories – unfolding sequences of actions with objects – provide a context for both attentional allocation and linguistic repair strategies. Building on theories of enactive cognition and sensorimotor contingency theory, we experimentally manipulated action sequences (action history) to create either simple or rich “situational models,” and investigated how these models interact with attention and reflect in linguistic processes during human–robot interaction. Participants (N = 30) engaged in a controlled object placement task with a humanoid robot, where the action (manner) information was either provided or omitted. The omission elicited repair behaviors in participants that were in focus of our investigation. For rich models (competing action possibilities) participants demonstrated: a) increased attentional reorientation, reflecting active engagement with the situational model b) preference for restricted repairs, targeting the specific source of trouble in action selection. Conversely, a simple situational model led to more generalized attention patterns and open repair strategies, suggesting weaker constraints on internal processing. These findings highlight how situational structures emerge externally to scaffold internal cognitive processes, with action histories serving as a crucial context for the interface between perception, action, and language. We discuss how to implement such a tight loop in the assistance of a system.