622 if the distance between the left and the right points and or the width that is detected exceeds a predetermined width it can be concluded that the selector finger is located in the selection passageway and it can then be established in step 614 that the neutral gear is engaged at the right end fig1 depicts a selection shift passageway layout in which travel movements of the selector finger not shown are clarified which can be initiated especially for the purpose of detecting the neutral gear position and or an absolute position in the shift direction within the framework of and or in the presence of a neutral reference movement starting from an unknown selector finger position 630 in the shift direction the selector finger not shown is moved especially along the arrow 632 in the selection passageway 322 toward a passageway wall 634 located at an end of the selection passageway 322 when the selector finger reaches passageway wall 634 which is detected via an indirect process the selector finger is moved back in the opposite direction of the selection passageway a predetermined distance along the arrow 636 in the selection direction this predetermined distance is measured such that at the end of this movement the selector finger oriented in the selection direction is located basically at the center between the shift passageways 310 and 314 and or 312 and 316 the selector finger is then moved in the shift direction i e along the arrow 640 up to a region of the longitudinal wall 642 this position can be used for alignment in the shift direction.