APA Dictionary of Psychology

in the control of action model, a cognitive mechanism that is held to be active in routine situations where decision making and other executive functions are not required. Perceptual triggers are held to activate previously learned schemas that correspond to habitual tasks and actions, which are thus selected for performance. Compare Supervisory Attentional System. [described in 1980 by U.S. cognitive scientist Donald A. Norman (1935–  ) and British neuropsychologist Timothy Shallice (1940–  )]