p. K. ANOKHIN 225 



method, shows that very many forms of behaviour are elaborated accord- 

 iiii? to the aforesaid physiological architecture oi the conditioned reflex 

 (Fig. 16). The diagram shows the completion of the whole stream of 

 excitations, which arose as a result of the afferent synthesis and of deter- 

 mined and particular adaptive effect. Practically every act ni the life of 

 man develops according to this architecture. Both as regards erroneous 

 actions and the initial period of learning new actions, the only criterion 

 of the correctness of the action is, ni our opmion, the coincidence of the 

 assigned excitations with the stream of the return afferent impulses which 

 bring information of the results of the action performed at the given 

 moment. This is particularly well seen in cases in which some erroneous 

 act is performed. How do we detect the errors of an action if the latter 

 has ended 'safely' from the point of view of all the demands made on it 

 by the classical reflex theory? Everything seems to be on hand here: the 

 stimulus, the central apparatus, as it is usually understood, and, lastly, 

 the reflex action. By means of what additional apparatus then does man or 

 the animal discover that the action they have performed is inadequate or 

 erroneous? (Fig. 17). 



The physiological architecture oi the conditioned reflex proposed by 

 us, like that of any 'voluntary action', offers a sufficiently objectively 

 grounded answer to all these questions. At the same time it offers a real 

 basis for a further scientifically objective analysis ot the complex behaviour 

 reactions of man and the animals. 



CONCLUSION 



The concept discussed above is an attempt to unify some of the available 

 information on the physiology of the central nervous system and to com- 

 bine it with the facts obtained in direct studies of the neurophysiological 

 mechanisms of the conditioned reflex. 



It is but natural that, with such a synthesis of the vast number of facts, 

 we had to introduce several new conceptions which correspond to certain 

 mechanisms discovered by us. 



To begin with these conceptions include that of the a§crcut synthesis. 

 The absence of stress on this stage of the complex treatment of all the 

 multiform and numerous afl'erent influences on the organism by the 

 central nervous system rendered unintelligible the very process of forma- 

 tion of the efferent complex of excitations, always of an integrative nature, 

 i.e. always harmoniously combining the functioning components of the 

 whole conditioned reaction. 



