212 



BRAIN MECHANISMS AND LEARNING 



our associate Balakin, was recently confirmed by special forms of experi- 

 ments. 



In our laboratory Dr Kasyanov has shown that the respiratory com- 

 ponent of the conditioned reflex is the first conditioned reflex component 

 to form in the effector pathways (Kasyanov, 1950). The cardiovascular 

 complex reaches the effector pathways almost simultaneously with the 

 respiratory component. Gantt's studies have show-n, however, that the 

 cardiac component of the conditioned reflex appears somewhat ahead of 

 the respiratory component (Gantt, I95-)- 



wvv>**iyv*^«-*«^ 



B 



A 



Fig. II 

 Dissociation between the generalized and local excitation of the motor apparatus of the dog 

 after bilateral extirpation of the sensorimotor areas of the cerebral cortex. The generalized 

 reaction (A) is on hand, while the local raising of the hind limb is totally absent (B). 



The recent studies conducted by Shidlovsky in our laboratory with the 

 aid of up-to-date cardiographic apparatus ('Cardiovar', 'Barovar', etc.) 

 have confirmed our former observations and have shown the respiratory 

 component to reach the effector pathways somewhat ahead of the cardiac 

 component (Shidlovsky, 1959). 



It should be noted, however, that these insignificant differences in the 

 appearance of the vegetative excitations in the peripheral organs, where 

 they are detected by suitable apparatus, are of no fundamental importance. 

 They may be due to different lengths of the pathways the excitations must 

 traverse from the centres to corresponding organs, to the number o'l 

 synapses in these pathways, and, lastly, to the peculiarities of the recording 

 apparatus. 



But some aspects of this phenomenon, constant for all types of condi- 

 tioned reactions, are undoubtedly important. For example, the vegetative 



