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Control of Perception Should be Operationalized as a Fundamental Property of the Nervous System
Author(s) -
Mansell Warren
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
topics in cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.191
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1756-8765
pISSN - 1756-8757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2011.01140.x
Subject(s) - operationalization , perception , cognition , control (management) , property (philosophy) , stimulus control , psychology , cognitive science , cognitive psychology , stimulus–response model , control system , stimulus (psychology) , computer science , control theory (sociology) , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , engineering , epistemology , philosophy , electrical engineering , nicotine
This commentary proposes that “cognitive control” is neither componential nor emergent, but a fundamental feature of behavior. The term “control” requires an operational definition. This is best provided by the negative feedback loop that utilizes behavior to control perception; it does not control behavior per se. In order to model complex cognitive control, Perceptual Control Theory proposes that loops are organized into a dissociable hierarchical network (PCT; Powers, Clark, & McFarland, 1960; Powers, 1973a, 2008). In this way, behavior is dynamically adaptive to environmental disturbances, rather than being formed by, or superimposed upon, learned associations between stimulus and response.