Preparation is a term that is used quite freely during private, informal discussions. As the argument becomes more formal and more public, "e;priming,"e; "e; feed-forward"e; and similar jargon terms take its place, presumably because they are better defined, safer, and more acceptable. However, in spite of the caution that surrounds its use, it is clear that "e;preparation"e; denotes a useful concept. The purpose of the Franco-American Conference on Preparatory States and Processes was to try to clarify this concept by inviting investigators from different specialties in the behavioral and neural sciences to present and discuss illustrations of the use of the concept from their own work.