400 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— J, K. 



4. That the initial effect of a reward is to foster favovjable cliaracteristics in an 

 intention, whilst the initial efiects of a penalty are unfavourable. 



5. That certain forms of supervision operate favourably independently of fear of the 

 supervising agent, and that influence of this kind is carried over to unsupervised 

 periods of work. 



The investigations here referred to suggest certain modifications in accepted 

 interpretations of ' work curves ' based upon industrial statistics. It is suggested, 

 furthermore, that in general a practicable policy for the control of human volitional 

 activity lies not so much in the endeavour to induce radically new motives in human 

 pursuits, but rather in the piecemeal modification of specific characteristics of the 

 desires that are actually operative and empirically manifested in social and industrial 

 life. 



Mr. J. M. Blackburn. — Analytic Tests in Relation to Rifle- Shooting 

 Efficiency. 



Tuesday, September 9. 



Dr. W. J. FiNAB,!).— Perseveration and the Introvert. 



Dr. H. Banister. — The Psychology of the Tuberculous Patient. 



Dr. P. C. P. Cloake. — Conditioned Reflexes : their Interest to the Psycholo- 

 gist. 



This paper describes briefly some of the experimental work of Pavlov and his 

 pupils on excitatory and inhibitory conditioned reflexes, and their value in elucidating 

 the nervous processes which occur in the cerebral cortex. 



The various ways of inducing inhibition, by extinction, by delaying the presentation 

 of the unconditioned stimulus, by differentiation of a specialised stimulus, and by 

 combination of the conditioned stimulus with an indifferent stimulus without 

 reinforcement of the combination, are referred to. 



Experiments indicating the identity of generalised inhibition in the cortex and 

 sleep are described, and the neurological mechanisms of catalepsy and somnambulism 

 shown to be less extensive states of cortical inhibition. 



Finally, the experimental production of functional nervous breakdown in the dog 

 is described and attributed to the intense interaction of excitatory and inhibitory 

 processes in the cortex. 



This is considered to support the psychological theory attributing functional 

 nervous diseases to intrapsychic conflicts. 



Pavlov's methods of restoring dogs so affected to their normal state are shown to 

 have similarities to empirical methods of treating human neuroses. 



Dr. A. Wohlgemuth. — Psychological Analogues of the Conditioned Reflex. 



Afternoon. 



Visit to Stoke Park Colony, with Section L. Demonstrations in 

 Mental Deficiency and its Kecognition, by Prof. R. J. A. Berry. 



SECTION K— BOTANY. 



Thursday, September 4. 



Presidential Address by Dr. A. W. Hill, F.R.S., on Recent Develop- 

 ments and Present-day Problems in Taxonomic and Economic Botany. 

 (Seep. 191.) 



Mr. E. M. Marsden Jones and Dr. W. B. Turrill. — Species Studies in 

 Plants. 



Besearch. Concentrated work has been in progress for about six years on British 

 species of Silene, Centaurea, Saxifraga, Ranunculus, Geum, Anthyllis, and Primula. 



