Recent successful robotic models of complex tasks
are characterized by use of deictic primitives and
frequent access to the sensory input. Such models
require only limited memory representations, a well-
known characteristic of human cognition. We show,
using a sensori-motor copying task, that human
performance is also characterized by deictic strategies
and limited memory representations. This suggests
that the deictic approach is afruitful one for under-
standing human brain mechanisms; it also suggests a
computational rationale for the limitations on human
short term memory
