[From Rick Marken (930130.1200)]
Avery Andrews (930129.1823)
Well, I'm just not game to go around claiming that Houk & Rymer, or
P.M.H. Rack, or Abbs & Winstein don't know what they're doing. If
you are, go ahead.
I'm certainly willing to go around claiming (if it is true) that they
don't know doggie breath about control theory. I'm one of those
protestant type scientists that Bill just mentioned -- I've just got
no respect for the priesthood (or the rabbinate, for that matter).
Bill has gone to some lengths to explain how "reaction time" might
fit into the behavior of a control system. I plan to make a HyperCard
stack that will illustrate the "feedback too slow" issues that are
involved when you are actually dealing with a control system.The stack will
be based on a single control system; the user should be able to vary the
time constant and trasport lag of the system; the user should also
be able to apply an impulse or step disturbance to the controlled
variable. The user should also be able to select a fixed reference
input or one that shifts between two values at a selected time rate.
Any other suggestions for such a stack? The idea is to show what would
happen in a typical "reaction time" experiment if the subject
were a control system. Bill has explained this very clearly but maybe
it would help to actually see it dynamically (I know this can be done
with the Little Man Demo but the stack might help isolate and clarify the
problems with the idea that "feedback is too slow" in a control system).
If I actually succeed in building such a stack maybe Avery could use the
results of experiments on the stack in his critique of the "feedback too
slow" myth.
Best
Rick