A theory of Action mode is formulated as an independent configuration of subject organization in which action is performed from the first-person perspective under reduced reflective meta-accessibility of perspective. Its central distinction is between Action mode and Reflection mode. Action mode is characterized by reduced reflective meta-accessibility of perspective, high coupling between perspective and content, operative agency, and feedback-based action updating. Reflection mode is characterized by a different organization in which perspective becomes an object of metacognitive description and report-based evaluation. Reduced reflective accessibility in this mode is compatible with preserved wakefulness, access to content, and organized behavior. Flow, habitual behavior, and obsessive-compulsive perseveration are used as test models. Flow is expected to show low reflective accessibility together with high agency and adaptive action updating; habitual behavior, automated performance with variable flexibility; obsessive-compulsive perseveration, rigid repetition, distress, monitoring intrusions, and impaired switching. The theory predicts a triple dissociation among these profiles in reflective meta-accessibility, agency, feedback use, switching flexibility, and network dynamics.
Ilya Tarasov (Thu,) studied this question.