Hi everyone,
I am a third year Psychology student at the University of Manchester and we have recently been learning about Perceptual Control Theory and I'm interested in how it can apply/compare/contrast to neuroscience.
I have some ideas about it but I'm not sure about the specifics.
Perceptual Control theory (PCT) can provide an explanation of neural organisation that deals with the current issues. PCT describes the hierarchical control of behaviour as being determined by control of perception rather than behaviour, and identifies that the brain is a means toward transferring perceptual signals derived from the external environment into the internal environment of billions of interconnected neurons. Control systems within the brain and body are responsible for keeping perceptual signals within survivable limits, regardless of the nature of the environment that they are derived from. PCT does not propose that there is an internal model that the brain simulates behaviour within, but rather that one of the characteristic features of cerebral organisation of behaviour is the principle lack of cerebral organisation, and that it sets reference values based on various external and internal inputs and attempts to reduce the discrepancy between the reference value and perception (Cools, 1985). Because PCT argues that there is no internal representation of behaviour, as behaviour needs to constantly adapt and change for an organism to maintain its perceptual goals, it can provide an explanation of how abstract action representations emerge through learning through spontaneous reorganisation of the hierarchy. Mansell (2011) identified that PCT proposes that conflict occurs between reference values for perception rather than between different responses, and that learning is implemented as trial-and-error changes of the properties of control systems (Marken & Powers, 1989), rather than any specific response being ‘‘reinforced.’’ Arguably, this allows behaviour to remain adaptive to the environment as it unfolds, rather than relying on learned action patterns that may not fit.
The hierarchies of perceptual control have been simulated in computer models and provide a close match to behavioural data. Marken (1986)
The preceding explanation of PCT principles provides justification of how the PCT theory can provide a valid explanation of neural organisation and how it can explain some of the Current issues of conceptual models.
Cools, A.R. (1985) Brain and Behaviour: Hierarchy of feedback systems and control of input -
http://www.pctweb.org/Cools1985.pdfMansell, W. (2011). Control of Perception Should be Operationalised as a Fundamental Property of the Nervous System. Topics in Cognitive Science, 3, 257-261
Marken, R.S. (1986) Perceptual organization of behavior: A hierarchical control model of coordinated action.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 12(3), 267-276.
Marken, R.S & Powers, W.T (1989). Random-walk chemotaxis: Trial-and- error as a control process. Behavioral Neuroscience, 103, 1348-1355.
I would love to hear everyone's thoughts....
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