Ok, let me try to clarify this Picture Control and RAW business. It is true the if you shoot RAW the image is stored in your SD card as the sensor recorded it, unmolested by the camera's processing engine. But it is not true that the image is not affect.
Here's a simple experiment to try. Set your camera's WB to Tungsten (the little light bulb.) Now go shoot a scene in the outdoors during daylight. Now import the RAW .NEF file into either LR or ACR - you WILL see a very bluish image because of the Tungsten WB you set. Why is that? Because the camera embeds the WB information in the NEF file metadata and when LR or ACR reads the NEF file, it sets its WB and Tint settings to correspond to the setting it reads. Yes, the RAW NEF file is still RAW and so you can easily restore to whatever you want by moving the sliders around. That's the same with the picture control settings of your camera when you shoot RAW. When you first import to LR or ACR you'll get an image that has all the original information as recorded by the sensor but LR/ACR will set their sliders to correspond to your camera setting as the initial starting point. In other words, the program (LR or ACR) will read the shooting information data (which is part of the raw image file) and will set the Lightroom "switches" for the WB, color control etc but they are all "soft" switch and the raw file data are not changed. No information is lost but upon first inspection, you'll see the image as presented by the camera's picture control setting you chose. So, if you really want to start uncommitted, set your picture control to NEUTRAL.
Note however, when you go peeking at the image on the LCD, the camera converts it into JPG for your viewing pleasure so you are seeing your camera's jpg rendition of your RAW imaged. By setting picture control to "Neutral" your LCD preview will look more or less like the image you think you captured! Also, set your LCD screen's brightness to 1 or 2 clicks to the dark side ("-" rather than "+") to get a more or less closer rendition of what you will get (and save battery.) But never use the LCD preview to evaluate how well your image is exposed - use the histogram.
Hope that makes sense!
