- Prioritizes accuracy 
- Information is cycled through the thing being controlled, and the thing doing the controlling 
- For example, when driving a car, the thing being controlled is the position of the car, while the driver's visual system receives information and makes corrections

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- Similarly to engineering, in order to control movement, the body must take into account two needs: accuracy and speed 
- Two types of control mechanisms (closed and open loop) are able to prioritize one of these needs when controlling movement 

Control Systems for Movement 

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Closed-Loop Control Mechanisms

- Prioritizes speed 
- Response is preprogrammed, meaning that the sensory information from the output doesn't affect the input (not a continual feedback loop like closed-loop control)
- For example, when a baseball pitcher throws a ball, the pitch will be completed as fast as possible, without accounting for external sensory information 

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