Editorial: Perceptual Control Theory and its application

The fundamental idea of Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) has been known since at least the time of Aristotle, and was well expounded by William James. It is that people act so as to bring about the conditions they desire to perceive their world as they wish it to be. They control their perceptions. However, the technical understanding required to turn this idea into a theory was largely developed only in this century. This editorial illustrates the nature of hierarchic control, and shows how control tasks can be partitioned between a human and a machine. It then considers some common but incorrect objections to PCT as a basis for psychology, and finally describes the eight papers that constitute this Special Issue. © 1999 Academic Press