SOME ASPECTS OF THE ELABORATION OF 



CONDITIONED CONNECTIONS AND FORMATION OF 



THEIR PROPERTIES 



E. A. ASRATYAN 



Much in the field of conditioned reflexes was achieved by Ivan Pavlov 

 and his pupils and by his other followers ni many countries of the world. 

 Nevertheless, many aspects of this problem have not yet been satisfactorily 

 investigated and require further experimental study and theoretical 

 elaboration. At present, many scientists in the U.S.S.R. and elsewhere 

 are studying, as Pavlov's scientific heritage, the elaboration of conditioned 

 reflexes, the formation of their properties, their preservation, anc^ the 

 significance of various factors acting favourably on these processes. My 

 collaborators and myself are among them. 



At present the main trend of our experimental and theoretical investiga- 

 tions in this field is the study of the role of the strength of stimuh and 

 their sequence in the elaboration of conditioned reflexes and the formation 

 of their properties. The purpose of this paper is to report our findings and 

 present our interpretation of them. 



The important role played by the relative strength of the excitatory 

 processes which take place in nervous structures and especially in the cor- 

 tex, is generally known. Pavlov has stated: 'Prime importance must be 

 ascribed, of course, to strength relations in the activity of the cortex.'^ He 

 also repeatedly emphasized the great importance of the pattern of com- 

 binations of stimuli in time for the elaboration of conditioned reflexes. He 

 stated that 'since conditioned stimuli play the role of signals, they must 

 become effective only wlien they precede the signalized physiological 

 activity. '- 



Our collaborators investigated these problems in dogs in the usual 

 semi-soundproof chambers designed for the study of conditioned reflexes. 

 In order to elaborate conditioncc^ reflexes with definite functional pro- 

 perties, we combined in various ways either two so-called 'indifferent' 

 stimuli, or two different unconditioned stimuli, or one 'indifferent' and 

 one unconditioned stimulus. The characteristic feature of our experiments 



^ I. P. Pavlov, Complete Works, vol. Ill, 1949, p. 382. 

 - 1. P. Pavlov, Complete Works, vol. Ill, 1949, p. 381. 



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