[from Gary Cziko 930125.0453 GMT]
Rick Marken (930124.1000) says:
I didn't remember your mention of Wickens. I know of him because he
does a LOT of publishing in the journal Human Factors (he is on the
editorial board), he has written chapters in some of the major "compendia"
of Human Factors "wisdom"; he wrote a chapter on manual control for an
important collection of "basic psychological facts" for Human Factors
engineers. I've never met him but he is highly visible to me from his
very active publication activity. I believe he would be considered one
of the current gurus of manual control. He seems to know the mathematics
of control theory quite thoroughly and he knows all the control engineering
tools for studying control systems (Laplace transforms, Bode plots,
etc etc). So he would probably be able to give a very intimidating
review of our control research -- just what we need, I think. He'll
tell us why psychologists already know all this (PCT) and more; our
challenge will be to politely explain that they have missed the most
important point -- that control systems control their own perceptual
input relative to secularly adjustable reference levels. I would bet
dollars to donuts that he won't get it -- but, like William F. Buckley
(who remains clueless about nearly everything except drug policy) he
will at least be a capable opponent.
Very interesting. I had mentioned with his grad student the possibility of
my presenting Bill Powers's demos (which the grad student has seen) to
Wickens and his group. Now I'm not sure if I'm intimidated by what you say
or more eager to do it.
The trouble is, he would be able to eat me alive concerning the math stuff
(I've never plotted any Bodes--does this tell you if your control systems
bodes well for future control? Maybe I should be doing this.). But then
again I only need to present myself as an educational psychologist who is
intrigued with PCT as a model for understanding "higher-order" types of
behavior and would like to find out what the manual-control experts think
of this approach. And the knowledge that behavior controls perception does
give me somewhat of an advantage (or so I've heard).
Could be fun. But could also be a disaster.
I'll keep you posted. If I do get the chance and go for it, I would
appreciate some pre-game coaching. You may not know Wickens, but you've
already seen the game films many times.--Gary
ยทยทยท
------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Cziko Telephone: 217-333-8527
Educational Psychology FAX: 217-244-7620
University of Illinois E-mail: g-cziko@uiuc.edu
1310 S. Sixth Street Radio: N9MJZ
210 Education Building
Champaign, Illinois 61820-6990
USA
------------------------------------------------------------------