306 MAN AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



logical to assume the existence of receptor organs 

 within the brain mediating between the inflowing 

 impulses and the outgoing action currents? 



The innumerable receptor mechanisms effector cep- 

 tors in the brain may be likened to hundreds of 

 thousands of wireless receiving stations each of which 

 registers only those messages received from the specific 

 transmitter to which it is adjusted ; or they may be 

 compared to a vast number of tone receptors in a 

 great chamber, each of which will deliver its specific 

 note only in response to sound waves of a specific 

 length and velocity. 



In such manner one may suppose that each of the 



innumerable stimuli that reaches the brain activates 



only the action pattern which by that master-artificer 



- Environment has been attuned to that stimulus. 



Application of Theory of Action Patterns 



If the predication of such a method of evolving 

 character and individuality seems strange, it may be 

 well to contemplate the steps by which man from 

 the moment of his birth acquires the "experience" by 

 means of which he is able to cope with environment. 



There are first the simple reactions of sucking, cry- 

 ing, winking, sneezing. Gradually, more contacts, 

 some beneficial, some harmful, are made. Objects 

 and persons stand out from the chaos of sur- 

 roundings, judged and catalogued by the one stand- 

 ard of their effect on him the infant. We may 

 suppose that each new contact writes a new rec- 

 ord on the delicate matrix a record of the sev- 



