Pavlov

   , PAVLOVIAN

   Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) was a Russian physiologist who is eponymously remembered because of his attempts to prove that an automatic conditioned reflex can be artificially induced. Pavlov was born the son of a priest in Ryazan, near Moscow. Although he had planned to follow in his father's footsteps and enter the priesthood, he enrolled instead at St. Petersburg University to study science and physiology, his courses consisting chiefly of chemistry and animal psychology. He also received an M.D. degree from the MedicoChirurgical Academy, where he continued to work for virtually the rest of his life.

   From 1902 until his death, Pavlov devoted much of his time to research on conditioned reflex. His work had a great impact on 'behavioural theory. His experiments, which became internationally famous, endeavored to show that the secretion of gastric juices can be stimulated in dogs without food reaching their stomachs. If every time a dog is given food, Pavlov postulated, a bell is rung, eventually the dog's digestive enzymes, controlled by the vagus nerve, will be produced at the sound of the bell. For this work on the physiology of digestion, Pavlov was named a Nobel Prize winner in 1904.

   A predictable, conditioned reaction like the reaction of the dog to the sound of the bell is known as a Pavlovian reaction. Scientists have come to disagree with Pavlov's basic theory, saying it is an oversimplification of how the brain functions.