Table of Contents

ControlProjection

Contents

Overview

A ControlProjection is a type of ModulatoryProjection that projects to the ParameterPort of a ProcessingMechanism. It takes the value of a ControlSignal of a ControlMechanism and uses it to modify the value of the parameter associated with the ParameterPort to which it projects. All of the ControlProjections in a Composition, along with its other control components, can be displayed using the Composition’s show_graph method with its show_control argument assigned as True.

Creating a ControlProjection

A ControlProjection can be created using any of the standard ways to create a Projection, or by including it in a tuple that specifies a parameter for a Mechanism, MappingProjection, or the function of either of these. If a ControlProjection is created explicitly (using its constructor), and either its receiver or sender argument is not specified, its initialization is deferred. If it is included in a parameter specification, the ParameterPort for the parameter being specified will be assigned as the ControlProjection’s receiver. If the receiver belongs to a Mechanism that is part of a Composition, then the ControlProjection’s sender is assigned to a ControlSignal of the Composition’s controller. Otherwise, its initialization is deferred.

Deferred Initialization

When a ControlProjection is created, its full initialization is deferred until its sender and receiver have been fully specified. This allows a ControlProjection to be created before its sender and/or receiver have been created (e.g., before them in a script), by calling its constructor without specifying its sender or receiver arguments. However, for the ControlProjection to be operational, initialization must be completed by a call to its deferred_init method. This is done automatically if the ControlProjection is included in a tuple specification for the parameter of a Mechanism or its function, when the ControlMechanism is created for the Composition to which the parameter’s owner belongs (see Creating a ControlMechanism).

Structure

The sender of a ControlProjection is a ControlSignal of a ControlMechanism. The value of the sender is used by the ControlProjection as its variable; this is also assigned to its control_signal attribute, and serves as the input to the ControlProjection’s function. The default function for a ControlProjection is an identity function (Linear with slope=1 and intercept=0); that is, it simply conveys the value of its control_signal to its receiver, for use in modifying the value of the parameter that it controls. Its receiver is the ParameterPort for the parameter of the Mechanism or its function Mechanism_Base.function> that is controlled by the ControlProjection.

Execution

A ControlProjection cannot be executed directly. It is executed when the ParameterPort to which it projects is updated. Note that this only occurs when the Mechanism to which the ParameterPort belongs is executed (see Lazy Evaluation for an explanation of “lazy” updating). When a ControlProjection is executed, its function gets the control_signal from its sender and conveys that to its receiver. This is used by the receiver to modify the parameter controlled by the ControlProjection (see Modulation and ParameterPort Execution for how modulation operates and how this applies to a ParameterPort).

Note

The changes to a parameter in response to the execution of a ControlProjection are not applied until the Mechanism that receives the ControlProjection are next executed; see Lazy Evaluation for an explanation of “lazy” updating).

Class Reference

class psyneulink.core.components.projections.modulatory.controlprojection.ControlProjection(sender=None, receiver=None, control_signal_params=None)

Subclass of ModulatoryProjection that modulates the value of an InputPort, ParameterPort, or OutputPort of a Mechanism. See Projection for additional arguments and attributes.

Parameters
sender

source of the control_signal.

Type

ControlSignal

receiver

ParameterPort for the parameter to be modified by the ControlProjection.

Type

ParameterPort of Mechanism

variable

same as control_signal.

Type

2d np.array

control_signal

the value of the ControlProjection’s sender.

Type

1d np.array

value

the value used to modify the parameter controlled by the ControlProjection (see Modulation and ParameterPort Execution for how modulation operates and how this applies to a ParameterPort).

Type

float

projection_sender

alias of psyneulink.core.components.mechanisms.modulatory.control.controlmechanism.ControlMechanism

_instantiate_sender(sender, params=None, context=None)

Check if DefaultController is being assigned and if so configure it for the requested ControlProjection

If self.sender is a Mechanism, re-assign to <Mechanism>.outputPort Insure that sender.value = self.defaults.variable

This method overrides the corresponding method of Projection, before calling it, to check if the

DefaultController is being assigned as sender and, if so: - creates projection-dedicated inputPort and outputPort in DefaultController - puts them in DefaultController’s input_ports and outputPorts attributes - lengthens variable of DefaultController to accommodate the ControlProjection - updates value of the DefaultController (in response to the new variable)

Notes

  • the default function of the DefaultControlMechanism simply maps the inputPort value to the outputPort

  • the params arg is assumed to be a dictionary of params for the ControlSignal of the ControlMechanism

Returns

_instantiate_receiver(context=None)

Handle situation in which self.receiver was specified as a Mechanism (rather than Port)

Overrides Projection._instantiate_receiver, to require that if the receiver is specified as a Mechanism, then:

the receiver Mechanism must have one and only one ParameterPort; otherwise, passes control to Projection_Base._instantiate_receiver for validation

Returns

exception psyneulink.core.components.projections.modulatory.controlprojection.ControlProjectionError(error_value)