[From Erling Jorgensen (2017.02.08 0940 EST)]
Hi Richard,
(Richard Pfau (2017.02.07 18:48 EST)]
Listening to the first two lectures of Peter M. Vishton in a CD-based course titled “Outsmart Yourself: Brain-Based Strategies to a Better You” (Chantilly, Virginia: The Great Courses, 2016), it seems (using language common to present-day psychology) that when a reward is received, a goal is achieved, and/or anxiety is reduced, dopamine is released in the brain, often resulting in pleasurable feelings.
My interpretation of this using PCT (a thought that is new to me at least, and one that further links PCT theory to physiology + conscious feelings) is that the reduction or elimination of “error signals” results in the rele ase of dopamine in the brain – a release that is sometimes consciously experienced as feelings of pleasure.
If this thought seems somewhat “on target”, has anything been written about it in the PCT literature? If so, please provide a reference so that I can learn more. (If not written up, the idea might be worth exploring by a PCTer more knowledgeable than me).
[EJ] I remember having some CSGnet discussions with Bill Powers sort of in this vein. The association in my mind was with how Comparators may function, & that certainly ties in with your intuition about changing “error signals.” Among my own saved files, there’s one from 2005 with the subject heading, “Re: Conflict and Reorganization,” so you might search the CSGnet archives with that phrase. My specific post was: “[From Erling Jorgensen (2005.01.21 1310 EST)]”.
[EJ] That discussion did not specifically relate to Dopamine, nor do I have a very broad understanding of how (or where all) Dopamine functions in the brain. If Dopamine release is connected in some way with reducing error signals, then the neurophysiology of Comparators would be relevant.
[EJ] In one of my contributions to the upcoming “Living Control Systems IV” volume, I make the case that the thalamus may constitute a bank of PCT-type comparators. The projected title is “Thalamus Through a PCT Microscope.” Henry Yin (in a couple of 2014 articles) makes the case that there is another bank of comparators in the striatum of the basal ganglia, specialized for transition control to bring about movement-related goals. And in the CSGnet discussion from 2005 that I cite above, Bill Powers makes the comment:
In the brain stem, cells in the olivary nucleus receive
excitatory collaterals from the sensory pathways, and
inhibitory efferent snals from nuclei of the cerebellum
and other sources… the layer is a layer of comparators.
… And of course, the motor cells of the spinal cord are
all comparators.
[EJ] So these might be some directions to explore. Again, I don’t know if Dopamine has been tied to any of these mechanisms, & I would be skeptical of a simplistic association. For one thing, error signals do not only reduce. And various neurotransmitters seem implicated in how neural signals are propagated. The 2005 exchange with Bill was a functional discussion of what limited properties would be necessary for error signals to function as intrinsic variables with respect to the PCT reorganization system.
[EJ] Interesting speculations that you are bringing up. Good luck in seeing where you emerge!
All the best,
Erling