dostoinstvo (n.) honor, dignity, moral obligation
pravil’nost’ (n.) regularity, lawfulness, correctness; pravil’nyi (masc. adj.), pravil’nye (pl. adj.) regular, lawful, correct
sluchainost’ (n.) chance, accidents, randomness, unforeseeability; sluchainosti (pl.); sluchainyi (masc. adj.), sluchainye (pl. adj.)
tselesoobraznost’ (n.) purposefulness, purposiveness
analysis The cortex’s ability to break down stimuli into their component parts; the scientist’s method of understanding a complex whole by doing the same. The “analytic” approach to higher nervous activity, for example, was to study the dynamics of individual reflexes, just as the psychologist began with individual associations.
analyzer The unit formed by a receptor, sensory nerve, and its end point in the cerebral cortex through which the animal receives sensory information about its environment.
concentration For Pavlov, the second stage of the cortical response to stimulation. In the first stage, irradiation, the excitatory or inhibitory wave spread throughout the cortex; in this second stage, it contracted back to its point of origin.
conditional inhibitor (CI) A stimulus that suppresses excitatory responses by virtue of its connection with an unconditional inhibitor, for which it has become a signal. For example, a metronome beating at sixty beats per minute that has repeatedly been paired with the absence of feeding.
conditional reflex (CR) A temporary yet determined reflexive response that exists only under certain conditions. It results from the correspondence in time of an initially neutral stimulus and an unconditional stimulus, which renders the former a signal for the latter. Colloquially, “When two cells fire together, they wire together.” For Pavlov, the conditional reflex was created by the formation of a nervous path between a point in the subcortex (the source of unconditional reflexes) and a point in the cortex (the “signaling center” of the brain). For example, a metronome is sounded, which does not excite salivation. When, however, the metronome is repeatedly sounded for thirty seconds, and during the last seconds the dog is exposed to an unconditional stimulus (food or acid in the mouth), the metronome will then elicit salivation. When a dog salivates upon seeing meat, is this an unconditional or conditional reflex? Experiments on dogs who were fed only milk from birth and then exposed to the sight of meat demonstrated that salivation to the sight of meat is a conditional reflex—that is, only after the dog had eaten meat did it salivate to the sight of meat.
conditional stimulus (CS) A stimulus that excites an excitatory response by virtue of its connection with an unconditional stimulus, for which it has become a signal.
delayed reflex A conditional reflexive response thought to require a good balance of excitation and inhibition. A dog is repeatedly exposed to the sound of a buzzer and fed, say, twenty seconds after the buzzer has sounded. If a delayed reflex has been formed, the animal will salivate only after that same interval.
destructive exciter ( or destructive irritator) The objectivist term for a “painful stimulus” such as electrical shock, which is an unconditional signal that the organism is suffering damage.
differentiation For Pavlov, the process by which excitation and inhibition interact to distinguish between different stimuli—for example, between a metronome beating at 100 and 50 beats per minute. For him, in such cases the metronome excited cortical points for all speeds of the metronome, but inhibition suppressed responses for all but 100 and 50 beats. An animal’s ability to differentiate, therefore, rested upon its balance of excitatory and inhibitory processes. For Pavlov, differentiation was the physiological dimension and basis of the psychologist’s “discrimination.”
dynamic stereotype See Systematicity.
excitation The nervous process elicited by a stimulus (or exciter) and leading to a motor response. For Pavlov, excitation and inhibition were the two basic nervous processes, each proceeding in waves from its point of origin throughout the cerebral cortex. He acknowledged that the essential nature of each basic process was unknown.
fistula A long thin tube that, when surgically implanted in a gland, brings the secretion of that gland to the surface of the body for collection and analysis.
inhibition (internal, external, transmarginal) The nervous process elicited by a stimulus (or exciter) and leading to the suppression of a motor response. For Pavlov, inhibition and excitation were the two basic nervous processes, each proceeding in waves from its point of origin throughout the cerebral cortex. For him, inhibition was not simply the absence of a response but was, rather, an active nervous process (of equal status with excitation). Thus, if a conditional stimulus that normally elicited six drops of saliva was combined with a conditional inhibitor that normally elicited zero, this combination would yield less than six drops. For Pavlov, there were different types of inhibition, most notably internal inhibition, which resulted from the internal dynamics of a single reflex, and external inhibition, which resulted from the “interference” of a second stimulus. For example, if an animal normally responded to a buzzer with six drops of saliva, but when that buzzer was sounded a street noise generated a second stimulus, the resulting salivation was less than six drops. Transmarginal inhibition was a defensive response of the organism to overstimulation and the resultant danger to its stock of excitatory substances. It lessened salivary responses and often resulted in a hypnotic state (see Paradoxical and Ultra-Paradoxical stages).
investigatory reflex See Orientational reflex.
irradiation (of excitation and inhibition) For Pavlov, the initial stage of the cortical response to stimulation, during which the excitatory or inhibitory wave radiated throughout the cortex from its point of origin. Thus, when a metronome at forty beats per second initially becomes a CS, it elicits salivation also at other speeds.
kololka An apparatus for stimulating a precise point on a dog’s body with a needle. It consisted of a hard rubber balloon plugged at its open end with a retractable cork. Through the cork protruded sharp needles. This mechanism was attached to the dog’s thigh with the needles pointed at its body; when the experimenter inflated the balloon, the needle-laden cork was thrust at the dog.
lability The adaptability or changeability of a nervous process.
law of strength One of the earliest identified regularities governing CRs, though it later came under question. Some exciters, such as the buzzer, were judged “stronger” than others, such as a flashing light. A dog with a well-functioning nervous system, then, should salivate more to a buzzer as CS than to a light as CS.
law of summation One of the earliest identified regularities governing CRs, though it became complicated by discordant results presumed to be explicable by external inhibition. According to this law, if one CS elicited six drops of saliva and another CS four drops, simultaneous exposure to both should elicit ten drops.
M+, M−, M100 : M+ stands for a rapidity of the beating of the metronome that has been established as a CS, M− for a speed that has been established as a CI. The conversion of M+ to M− and vice versa was a task that tested the relative strength of excitation and inhibition, and also the lability of the nervous system. For example, the inability to accomplish this might attest to “pathological inertia.” M100 is the beating of the metronome 100 times per minute.
mutual induction The view of the relationship between excitation and inhibition that replaced the notion of “balance and struggle” between them. In this view, excitation elicits inhibition in its wake (negative induction) and inhibition elicits excitation (positive induction). Thus, if a CS normally elicits six drops of saliva and the dog is exposed to that same CS after being exposed to a CI, this same CS will elicit somewhat more salivation (say, eight drops).
nervous type The inborn nervous constitution of a dog, which differs from animal to animal and so results in differing responses to the same experiment. For example, a dog with strong excitatory processes will respond to a CS with, say, six drops of saliva, while a dog with weak excitatory processes will respond to that same CS with less than six drops. A dog with a pronounced imbalance toward either excitation or inhibition will differentiate between stimuli slowly, incompletely, or not at all (since these require a balance between these processes). The concept of nervous type, then, introduced a flexible variable into the interpretation of experimental data. Pavlov’s schema of nervous types developed over time, becoming increasingly complex.
orientational reflex ( or investigatory reflex) The animal’s initial response to a stimulus, also termed the “What is that?” reflex. For Pavlov, this was a more mature and healthy response to an unexpected stimulus than the “passive-defensive reflex” that characterized newborns. It reflected the replacement of necessary caution with curiosity and represented the reflexive basis of science.
paradoxical phase A state of higher nervous activity in which the animal responds identically to strong and weak stimuli, thus violating the Law of Strength. Pavlov believed that this reflected a hypnotic state that was caused by either an overly powerful stimulus or an unbearable clash of excitatory and inhibitory waves, which resulted in transmarginal (protective) inhibition. This, in turn, was expressed in various hypnotic phases symptomatic of mental illness, one of which was the paradoxical phase.
passive-defensive reflex The cautionary response developed through natural selection of a newborn or still-helpless animal to an unexpected stimulus. In some animals, it causes immobility. In a healthy organism, it is exchanged over time for the more outward and adventurous “orientational reflex.” An excessive passive-defensive reflex in an adult dog reflects a sometimes pathological preponderance of inhibition over excitation.
pathological inertia An illness of the higher nervous system in which lability becomes minimal or is lost. The animal, then, cannot, for example, convert a CS into a CI even after numerous trials in which the CS is not reinforced.
reflex A determined nervous connection between stimulus and response, governed by the animal’s analyzers. These are both unconditional (inborn) and conditional (acquired through life experience).
synthesis See Systematicity.
systematicity The cortex’s ability to respond to a set of stimuli as a whole (“synthesis”). For example, if a series of CSs was established, any variation in the order of those stimuli changed the response to each. Also, once this series was established, the first CS alone elicited the same series of salivary responses as did exposure to the entire set. The animal, then, responded, not just to each single exciter but to the system of exciters as a whole, within which all reflexes constantly interact and influence one another. This was the principle behind the “dynamic stereotype”—the system of interacting reflexes. This system exhibited both a certain “dynamism” (that is, it changed with changing circumstances, allowing the organism to adapt) and a certain stability (resisting change because of the cohesion of the whole). For Pavlov, the difficulty of changing this dynamic stereotype was reflected in people’s tendency toward inertia and established routines, and even in their “missing” a departed loved one.
ultra-paradoxical phase A state of higher nervous activity in which the animal responds with greater salivation to a weak stimulus than to a strong one, in violation of the Law of Strength. Pavlov believed that this was caused by either an overly powerful stimulus or an unbearable clash of excitatory and inhibitory waves, which resulted in transmarginal (protective) inhibition. This, in turn, was expressed in various hypnotic phases symptomatic of mental illness, one of which was the ultra-paradoxical phase. So, for example, a dog might refuse food when it was offered but lunge for it when it was withdrawn, and the schizophrenic often ignored a normal utterance but responded to a whisper.
unconditional reflex (UR) An inborn, unvarying, reflexive response to an inherent quality of an object. For example, when placed in a dog’s mouth, food and acid elicit salivation. For Pavlov (following Spencer), instincts were inborn unconditional reflexes.
unconditional stimulus (US) The food or acid that elicits salivation, and therefore can become the basis of a conditional reflex.
materialism The philosophical view that all natural phenomena, including those of the psyche and the spiritual realm, are explicable as the results of matter and its dynamics.
peredvizhniki A movement of artists originating in the 1860s that combined realism with a nostalgic attitude toward Russian nature and the Russian folk; they took their name, “the Travelers,” from their practice of staging exhibits throughout the city and country beyond traditional elite venues.
positivism The philosophical view that positive knowledge develops by the accumulation of facts and is limited to phenomena rather than essences or ultimate causes, and that science should limit itself to such knowledge.
raznochintsy (pl.), raznochinets (sing.) People from various middling social strata below the landed gentry—children of priests, petty bureaucrats, and declining gentry—who had abandoned their family’s traditional calling.
scientism The view that the development of science is the fundamental force for human progress, the resolution of human problems, and rational control over human society.
shestidesiatniki The “people of the sixties,” a movement of intellectuals from the late 1850s through the mid-1860s that viewed science, materialism, and modernization as the most important forces to discredit tsarism and religion, and so to secure a brighter future for Russia.
zemstva (pl.), zemstvo (sing.) The local administrative units established by the reforms of Tsar Alexander II; these granted local authorities some measure of control over various functions, such as medicine and the courts.