ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces some quantitative tools of control theory that might be used to build a stronger logical box for capturing the phenomena of human performance. The information-processing approach to cognition tends to break up the cognitive system into isolated components that can be studied independently from each other. The book presents the language of dynamic control systems in a context that is friendly to nonengineers and perhaps to beginning engineers as well. The growth of general systems theory reflects recognition of the rich coupling that generally exists among natural phenomena. The flow of matter, energy, and information from environment into systems is considered to be fundamental to the self-organization exhibited by living systems. Radical ecological approaches tend to approach the Shinto philosophy in which humans as distinct systems disappear and the ecology becomes the system of interest.
