outh, tried apparently
to get it there again, and in the course of a few days was able to put
it there at will. The child's "aimless" movements at the start were
probably impulsive, but they were not directed towards any
preconceived end. Then, having observed a desirable result of one
movement, he worked towards that result by trial and error, till
finally he had the necessary movement so closely linked to the thought
of the result as to follow directly upon the thought.

Once brought under voluntary control, a movement becomes with further
repetition habitual and mechanical, and no longer voluntary or even
impulsive. Thus the voluntary {527} performance of an act intervenes
between the native or instinctive doing of it and the later habitual
doing of it. Blowing out a match affords another example of this
course of events. A child can of course blow out, instinctively, when
he has the natural stimulus for strong expiration, but he cannot at
will blow at the lighted match. Being prompted and shown, he comes by
degrees to be able to blow out the match; during the learning stage he
has to try, and the act is voluntary; but with further practice it
becomes involuntary, though it may still be executed as part of a
larger voluntary act, such as preventing a burning match from setting
fire to something on which it has fallen.

A complex act, or series of movements, may be voluntary as a whole,
being directed towards some preconceived result, while the single
movements that constitute the series are mechanical, their particular
results no longer being thought of separately. This is well
illustrated by the instances of typewriting, speaking, and signing the
name, mentioned a moment ago. With practice, the interest in a
performance goes more and more to the final result and deserts the
elements of the act.

It is during the organization of reactions that they require attention
and must be thought of before being executed. Organization goes on and
on, a thoroughly organized reaction being later combined with others
into a still bigger act. New demands constantly made upon the
individual prevent him, however well organized, from ever reaching the
condition of a wholly automatic machine. Will, in the sense of action
aimed at the accomplishment of foreseen results, stays with him to the
end.

Ideomotor Action

Involuntary movement is not always "sensorimotor", which means
directly aroused by a sensory stimulus; oftener {52