What controls it is the little three finger "craw-foot" which is located by the rotating axel shaft (do you call it "spindle"?). Anyhow, for the machine to reverse the spinning, the middle finger should point just about directly at the axel shaft. Then when rotating a "cam" will tip the fingers over by some 20 deg or so and an electric switch will reverse the motor. You should hear a low "click" when the craw-foot is in the right position for reverse agitation, if the processor is turned of. (The click is too low to hear when the machine is running.)
If these fingers are pointing out away from the axel shaft, the motor will not reverse.
//Björn