Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich, pronounced PAV lov, ih VAHN peh TRAW vihch (1849-1936), a Russian physiologist, won the 1904 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for his research on digestion. He showed how the vagus nerve controls the flow of digestive juices of the stomach and pancreas. For the next 30 years, Pavlov studied brain functions. He found that, by repeated association, an artificial stimulus (such as a bell) could be substituted for a natural stimulus (food) to cause a physiological reaction (salivation). He called this a conditioned reflex. Pavlov believed that all acquired habits, and even higher mental activity, depend on chains of conditioned reflexes.
Pavlov was born in Ryazan, Russia. He was educated in Russia and Germany.
Contributor: Audrey B. Davis, Ph.D., Former Curator of Medical Sciences, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
0 comments:
Post a Comment