---
title: "Perceptual control theory"
chunk: 5/7
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptual_control_theory"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:56:52.953091+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The reorganization concept has led to a method of psychotherapy called the method of levels (MOL). Using MOL, the therapist aims to help the patient shift his or her awareness to higher levels of perception in order to resolve conflicts and allow reorganization to take place.

== Neuroscience ==

=== Learning ===
Currently, no one theory has been agreed upon to explain the synaptic, neuronal or systemic basis of learning. Prominent since 1973, however, is the idea that long-term potentiation (LTP) of populations of synapses induces learning through both pre- and postsynaptic mechanisms. LTP is a form of Hebbian learning, which proposed that high-frequency, tonic activation of a circuit of neurones increases the efficacy with which they are activated and the size of their response to a given stimulus as compared to the standard neurone (Hebb, 1949). These mechanisms are the principles behind Hebb's famously simple explanation: "Those that fire together, wire together".
LTP has received much support since it was first observed by Terje Lømo in 1966 and is still the subject of many modern studies and clinical research. However, there are possible alternative mechanisms underlying LTP, as presented by Enoki, Hu, Hamilton and Fine in 2009, published in the journal Neuron. They concede that LTP is the basis of learning. However, they firstly propose that LTP occurs in individual synapses, and this plasticity is graded (as opposed to in a binary mode) and bidirectional. Secondly, the group suggest that the synaptic changes are expressed solely presynaptically, via changes in the probability of transmitter release. Finally, the team predict that the occurrence of LTP could be age-dependent, as the plasticity of a neonatal brain would be higher than that of a mature one. Therefore, the theories differ, as one proposes an on/off occurrence of LTP by pre- and postsynaptic mechanisms and the other proposes only presynaptic changes, graded ability, and age-dependence.
These theories do agree on one element of LTP, namely, that it must occur through physical changes to the synaptic membrane/s, i.e. synaptic plasticity. Perceptual control theory encompasses both of these views. It proposes the mechanism of 'reorganisation' as the basis of learning. Reorganisation occurs within the inherent control system of a human or animal by restructuring the inter- and intraconnections of its hierarchical organisation, akin to the neuroscientific phenomenon of neural plasticity. This reorganisation initially allows the trial-and-error form of learning, which is seen in babies, and then progresses to more structured learning through association, apparent in infants, and finally to systematic learning, covering the adult ability to learn from both internally and externally  generated stimuli and events. In this way, PCT provides a valid model for learning that combines the biological mechanisms of LTP with an explanation of the progression and change of mechanisms associated with developmental ability.
Powers in 2008 produced a simulation of arm co-ordination. He suggested that in order to move your arm, fourteen control systems that control fourteen joint angles are involved, and they reorganise simultaneously and independently. It was found that for optimum performance, the output functions must be organised in a way so as each control system's output only affects the one environmental variable it is perceiving. In this simulation, the reorganising process is working as it should, and just as Powers suggests that it works in humans, reducing outputs that cause error and increasing those that reduce error. Initially, the disturbances have large effects on the angles of the joints, but over time the joint angles match the reference signals more closely due to the system being reorganised. Powers suggests that in order to achieve coordination of joint angles to produce desired movements, instead of calculating how multiple joint angles must change to produce this movement the brain uses negative feedback systems to generate the joint angles that are required. A single reference signal that is varied in a higher-order system can generate a movement that requires several joint angles to change at the same time.