Prediction as Feedforward

[from Gary Cziko 921222.0430 GMT]

Dennis Delprato and Bill Powers:

I suppose here's another misunderstanding concerning control systems that
we might want to add to our library.

In discussion the application of control system models to understanding
"motor control" with a physiological psychologist, he was arguing that the
ability to predict meant that feedforward was taking place. The example he
used was predicting the movement that an object would take and using that
knowledge for tracking (like how it's easier to point to a the end of a
swinging pendulum than to a fly caught in the shower stall with you).

I don't think I did a very good job at trying to explain how tracking
patterns can be seen as controlling a higher-level perceptual variable.
Perhaps someone can help could help me out with this. It is also related,
I believe, to the discussion between Taylor and Powers concerning what a
control systems has to be able to "predict" in order to maintain good
control.--Gary

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