The aim of this study is to bring to light and make clear the characteristic equivoque Pavlov made when he conceived the neurophysiological circuit involved in conditioned behavior as if this circuit contained or reduced, in its own terms, such behavior. I also wish to point out how this interpretation implies a distorted concept of the relationships between neurophysiology and behavior. As an alternative, it is proposed that behavior, which is always operant behavior, is not at all reducible to its neurophysiological ingredients, but instead acts like an arrow-head for adaptation that, in turn, confers a subordinate function to the neurophysiological ingredients involved. To make this evident, behavior is considered an operant organic activity that takes place in an environment of “remote co-present” texture, and different from its neurophysiological ingredients, which take place within the context of spatial contiguity relationships. Keywords: physiology, psychology, reflexological objectivism

-The development of the objective method in investigating the physiological activities of the cerebral hemispheres -Technical methods employed in the objective investigation of the functions of the cerebral hemispheres. -The formation of conditioned reflexes by means of conditioned and direct stimuli, etc

Pavlov’s first report on conditioning emphasized its role in allowing the animal to adjust to its environment. Contemporary theories have seen this adjustment in terms of developing accurate knowledge of the environment. Three aspects of that thinking are explored: how the animal acquires initial knowledge, how it changes its knowledge when conditions of the world change, and how it makes use of multiple knowledge representations. Keywords: error correction, overexpectation, superconditioning, extinction, modulation, Rescorla-Wagner model

Se presenta una reseña biográfica de Iván Pavlov, haciendo énfasis en su formación académica y sus contribuciones a la ciencia en general y a la psicología en particular. Se presentan sus principales hallazgos sobre el aprendizaje asociativo y se discuten tres áreas de desarrollo en el área que continúan siendo de gran impacto en nuestros días: el estudio de los mecanismos conductuales, el estudio de los mecanismos neurobiológicos y el valor funcional del aprendizaje.

One cannot but be struck by a comparison of the following facts. First, the cerebral hemispheres, the higher part of the central nervous system, is a rather impressive organ. In structure it is exceedingly complex, comprising millions and millions (in man - even billions) of cells, i.e., centres or foci of nervous activity. These cells vary in size, shape and arrangement and are connected with each other by countless branches. Such structural complexity naturally suggests a very high degree of functional complexity. Consequently, it would seem that a boundless field of investigation is offered here for the physiologist. Secondly, take the dog, man's companion and friend since prehistoric times, in its various roles as hunter, sentinel, etc. We know that this complex behaviour of the dog, its higher nervous activity (since no one will dispute that this is higher nervous activity), is chiefly associated with the cerebral hemispheres. If we remove the cerebral hemispheres in the dog (Goltz and others), it becomes incapable of performing not only the roles mentioned above, but even of looking after itself. It becomes profoundly disabled and will die unless well cared for. This implies that both in respect of structure and function, the cerebral hemispheres perform considerable physiological work.

Current knowledge on the neuronal substrates of Pavlovian conditioning in animals and man is briefly reviewed. First, work on conditioning in aplysia, that has showed amplified pre-synaptic facilitation as the basic mechanism of associative learning, is summarized. Then, two exemplars of associative learning in vertebrates, fear conditioning in rodents and eyelid conditioning in rabbits, are described and research into its neuronal substrates discussed. Research showing the role of the amygdala in fear conditioning and of the cerebellum in eyelid conditioning is reviewed, both at the circuit and cellular plasticity levels. Special attention is given to the parallelism suggested by this research between the neuronal mechanisms of conditioning and the principles of formal learning theory. Finally, recent evidence showing a similar role of the amygdala and of the cerebellum in human Pavlovian conditioning is discussed. Keywords: Pavlovian conditioning, neural mechanisms, learning theories

Se cumplen 150 años del nacimiento de Pavlov y quizás sea hora de homenajear a un autor que en ciertos aspectos se ha visto un tanto denostado (Mackintosh, 1988). Este es el objetivo de la presente nota histórica que pretende poner de relieve los datos más relevantes sobre su vida y sus principales aportaciones teóricas. También se hará referencia a algunos datos biográficos relacionados con las circunstancias políticas que se vivían en su país. Y para acabar, se presentará una carta que puede considerarse como su testamento espiritual.

Pavlov’s contribution to experimental psychology was to invent a technique that allowed him to undertake a prolonged and systematic series of well-controlled experiments that, astonishingly enough, uncovered many if not most of the phenomena of what is rightly called Pavlovian conditioning. It was not for another 30 years or more that Englishspeaking psychologists began to match that achievement. Of course there have been new developments and discoveries since his time. Two examples are discussed: the important role of variable associability or attention even in simple conditioning, and the rigorous application of associative learning theory to the behavior of adult humans. Keywords: Pavlov, associationism, attention, associative learning

La fundación, logros y proliferación de la terapia de conducta han sido ampliamente alimentados por la fundamentación del movimiento en los principios y teorías conductuales. Aunque las explicaciones conductuales de la génesis y el tratamiento de la psicopatología difieren en la importancia que le atribuyen al condicionamiento clásico o al operante, a la mediación de factores cognitivos y al papel de las variables biológicas, el descubrimiento de Pavlov de los principios del condicionamiento fue esencial para la fundación de la terapia de conducta en la década de 1950, y sigue estando en el centro de la moderna terapia de conducta. La confianza de Pavlov en un modelo fisiológico del sistema nervioso, comprensible en el contexto de una temprana neurología, ha tenido implicaciones para los terapeutas de conducta interesados en el estudio de los tipos de personalidad. Sin embargo, el principal legado de Pavlov a la terapia de conducta fue su descubrimiento de las “neurosis experimentales” que, como mostraron sus discípulas Eroféeva y Shenger-Krestovnikova, se producían y eliminaban mediante los principios del condicionamiento y el contracondicionamiento. Este descubrimiento puso la base del primer procedimiento de terapia de conducta empíricamente validado, la desensibilización sistemática, desarrollada por Wolpe. En este artículo se analizan los orígenes pavlovianos de la terapia de conducta y se pone de manifiesto la relevancia de los principios del condicionamiento para la moderna terapia de conducta. Se muestra que el condicionamiento pavloviano representa mucho más que un paradigma sistemático de aprendizaje básico. Es también una fundamentación teórica esencial para la teoría y la práctica de la terapia de conducta. Palabras clave: terapia de conducta, condicionamiento pavloviano, tipos de conducta

Se conmemora el 60 aniversario de la muerte de I.P. Pavlov con un panorama de las publicaciones, actividades y proyectos de investigación en la Psicología española de 1936. Se considera el impacto brutal de la Guerra Civil Española (1936-1939) en el desarrollo de la ciencia psicológica en España.

This work presents a critical analysis of Pavlov’s influence that goes beyond the conventional view: that which reduces his influence in American psychology to the behaviorism of Watson and Hull. In order to understand the nature of the Russian physiologist’s influence in American psychology, we propose a distinction between three approaches to it: 1) the symbolic approach, on representing a model of the possibility of constructing an objective psychology; 2) the methodological approach, given the importance of the technique of conditional reflexes; and 3) the theoretical approach, which is derived from his theory of higher nervous activity. This perspective permits us to suggest that most of Pavlov’s influence on behaviorism was of a symbolic and methodological nature—though the methodological influence also reached other authors that did not belong to the behaviorist traditions, as was the case of Mateer. As far as the theoretical influence is concerned, our work proposes that it is more visible in authors such as Gantt and Liddell, or even in authors such as Boldirev, Director of the Pavlovian Laboratory at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. The case of Gantt is especially interesting because, in addition to his important contributions, he played an essential role in the foundation of the Pavlovian Society, and the journal Conditional Reflex. What our work proposes is that to understand the nature of Pavlov’s influence in American psychology it is necessary to take into account the very characteristics of that psychology: its pragmatic interests, its methodological rigor, the dominant systems of neo-behavioral theory and the changes that occurred after the Second World War. Keywords: Pavlov, American psychology, behaviorism

Reflexology has been present throughout Spanish science since the last third of the nineteenth century and its importance can be seen in the works of authors such as Martín Salazar, Ramón y Cajal, Gómez Ocaña, Simarro and Turró. The most important research in Reflexology in Spain takes place a) at the Schools of Neurophysiology and Psychology in Barcelona and Madrid, b) with a group of authors specializing in pathological medicine and c) in the Military’s Health Department. Pavlov’s work was received in Spain with special interest. Fernández-España, who could be considered the “first Spanish Pavlovian,” emphasized Pavlov’s work in a series dedicated to the study of objective psychology which was published between 1914 and 1924. Planelles was the first investigator to develop a program in Pavlovian experimentation, presenting his results in 1935. The Civil War (1936-1939) ended these and many other Spanish projects in psychology. After the war, interest in Reflexology and Pavlov’s theories slowly rose again, first through psychosomatic medicine and then in the 60’s because of the works of such authors as Monserrat-Esteve, Rof Carballo and Colodrón. The progressive inclusion of psychology in the Schools of Philosophy and Arts after 1968 marked the beginning of a new era. Keywords: reflexology, Pavlov, Spanish psychology

The differential/experimental distinction that Cronbach specified is important because any adequate account of psychological phenomena requires the recognition of the validity of both approaches, and a meaningful melding of the two. This paper suggests that Pavlov’s work in psychology, based on earlier traditions of inquiry that can be traced back to the pre-Socratics, provides a potential way of achieving this melding, although such features as systematic rather than anecdotal methods of observation need to be added. Pavlov’s methodological behaviorist approach is contrasted with metaphysical behaviorism (as exemplified explicitly in Watson and Skinner, and implicitly in the computer-metaphorical, informationprocessing explanations employed by current “cognitive” psychology). A common feature of the metaphysical approach is that individual-differences variables like sex are essentially ignored, or relegated to ideological categories such as the treatment of sex as merely a “social construction.” Examples of research both before and after the “cognitive revolution” are presented where experimental and differential methods are melded, and individual differences are treated as phenomena worthy of investigation rather than as nuisance factors that merely add to experimental error. Keywords: Pavlov, melding of experimental and differential psychology, methodological vs. metaphysical behaviorism, individual differences, sex differences, computer metaphor in current “cognitive” psychology

The concept of conditioning as signalization proposed by Ivan P. Pavlov (1927, 1928) is studied in relation to the theory of stimulus-substitution, which is also attributed to him. In the so-called theory of stimulus-substitution a distinction must be made between an empirical principle of substitution and an actual theory of substitution, which can adopt different forms. The Pavlovian theory of substitution—which conceives substitution as a substitution of the unconditioned stimulus (US) by the conditioned stimulus (CS) in the activation of the representation of the former—can be understood as an explanation or model of signalization. Signalization and substitution are answers to different questions, and the level of analysis to which signalization corresponds, is that which concerns the nature of conditioning as an operation of the animal in the environment. Keywords: Pavlovian conditioning, signalization, substitution

The translation of Pavlov’s lectures (Pavlov, 1927) provided English-speaking psychologists with access to the full scope of Pavlov’s research and theoretical ideas. The impact this had on their study of the psychology of learning can be assessed by examining influential books in this area. This reveals that Watson (1924) had been highly effective in promoting the misleading idea that Pavlov was a fellow S-R theorist. This assumption was not questioned by Tolman (1932), Hilgard and Marquis (1940) or by Hull (1943). However, this mistake was not made by Skinner (1938), who also provided the strongest arguments against Pavlov’s belief that behavioral effects required explanation in terms of physiological processes. Post-1927 most learning research in the English-speaking countries continued to use instrumental, rather than Pavlovian, conditioning procedures. Nevertheless, many of the issues addressed by this research were ones that Pavlov had been the first to raise, so that his major influence can be seen as that of defining a research program for subsequent students of learning. Keywords: Pavlovian conditioning, operant conditioning, behaviorism

The scientific adventure of the Ivan Pavlov Department of Physiology is traced from Pavlov’s and his students pioneer work on “psychic salivation” to the times of the Biological Station at Koltushi. The development of the Department after Pavlov’s death is described and the research trends of the three present laboratories (Neurobiology of Integrative Brain Functions, Psychophysiology of Emotions, and Neurodynamic Correction of Psycho Neurological Pathology) are discussed. Keywords: Pavlov department, physiology, Pavlovian conditioning, neuroscience