[from Gary Cziko 2007.06.20 13:42 CDT]
[From Rick Marken (
2007.06.20.0830)]
Bill Powers (2007.06.20.0858 MDT)–
Attached is what I think will be the final verion of PCT for the
Beginner.
Very nice. Still not perfect, of course (I am pretty sick of the car
driving example; how about something more eco-friendly, like driving
neocons out of the government;
Or something both eco-friendly and less political, like riding a bicycle (as in the example I used in my presentation in China last year). Bicycles are much more interesting to control than cars because you have to control both your travel direction and your balance, and both of these are interconnected in a non-intuitive way. To turn right you have to first turn slightly left in order to get the bike to lean to the right (counter-steering). This is explicitly taught in motorcycle training courses because on a heavy motorcycle if you don’t first push on the right hand grip to turn the wheel to the left and lean the motorcycle to the right, you will not be able turn right at all. On a light bicycle, the counter-steering needed is so slight that most bicyclists don’t even know they do it. It is also counter-intuitive that if you start to fall to the right you need to turn the handlebars to the right. This is something that training wheels do not help a child to learn.
This week I have been observing a bicycle camp designed to teach developmentally challenged children (cerebral palsy, autism, Downs syndrome, etc.) to ride a bicycle. It is called Lose the Training Wheels and has been designed by former University of Illinois engineering professor Richard Klein <
http://www.losethetrainingwheels.org>.
Dr. Klein’s method involves using a series of ingeniously modified
bikes having either rollers of varying tapers in place of rear wheels or weighted front wheels (16 lbs. pounds of lead in
the
front tire–no flats!) so that each child can practice bicycle riding
with success at various levels of difficulty. After five 75-minute
sessions over five days 80% of them can ride a regular bike. I think this is a wonderful example of how knowledge of physics and engineering can be used to help children ride a bicycle who wouldn’t normally be able to do so by creating a “bridge” between an easily ridable bike and a regular bike and keeping the learning task always moderately challenging to maximize the chances of successful reorganization of control systems.
···
====================================
Back to the PCT for Beginners:
I like this very much and want to be able to share it with others as soon as Bill gives permission to do so. I could easily modify the car driving to bicycle riding, but I suspect that many more people who read this will be car drivers rather than bike riders, althought that wouldn’t be the case in China (yet).
I would like ot see this part highlighted and changed a little bit to make it less dependent on the preceding sentence (so it could be used as alone as a quote), because it make PCT immediately appealing and sensible:
Instead of:
The difference between these theories is a matter of which is in control: the organism or the world outside the organism. According to PCT, the organism is the controller. It controls what happens to itself, by affecting the external world.
I suggest:
The difference between traditional theories of behavior and PCT is a matter of which is in control: the organism or the world outside the organism. According to PCT, the organism is the controller. It controls what happens to itself, by acting on the external world.
Later:
This arrangement of simple cause-effect components keeps the perception closely matching the reference signal, even a changing reference signal, and the overall effect is no longer simple causation.
How about adding the word “circular”?
This circular arrangement of simple cause-effect components keeps the perception closely matching the reference signal, even a changing reference signal, and the overall effect is no longer simple causation.
For:
. . . unless some teacher makes him stop to be scolded for running
How about:
. . . unless some teacher stops and scolds him for running in the hallway.
–Gary