[From Rick Marken (950501.0850)]
John E. Anderson (950429.1530 EDT) --
I don't really know what to say. It looks like you have put a lot of effort
into the NSD model and it is probably very important to you. Given your
apparent interest in PCT I think the last thing you want to hear is that NSD
is an S-R model, not a control model. So I won't say anything.
Bruce Abbott (950430.1710 EST) --
I guess what we need to know is whether the CS and US disturbance effects
summate when the two disturbances overlap.
Our conditioning model just shows how a control model can exhibit the
behavioral effects called "classical conditioning". The model, which controls
CS+US, salivates when the CS is presented before the US. What we need to
know (besides why people have thought of this as an important phenomenon) is
what variable the "classically conditioned" organism is controlling; until we
know that we don't even know whether the CS and the US are disturbances, let
alone whether their effects "summate".
Bruce Abbott (950430.1715 EST) to Bill Powers (950427.1038 MDT) --
I believe I follow you. In an ideal control system...
Bill's comments apply to any control system; his point was that lineal cause-
effect thinking (the basis of conventional psychology) no longer applies when
you are dealing with a system (living organism) that is part of a negative
feedback control loop.
Greg Williams (940430) --
So, do you or don't you plan to work with NVP staff to improve future
catalogs with regard to the shortcomings in the current catalog
Of course.
Best
Rick