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Ivan Pavlov: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Ivan Pavlov, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• A dog salivating at a bell revealed how the brain learns to associate

  While studying digestion, Ivan Pavlov noticed his dogs began salivating before food even arrived, just at the sound of an assistant's footsteps. He showed the brain could link an u…

  — Ivan Pavlov, Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex

• Pavlov trained dogs to salivate at a sound alone, no food involved

  Ivan Pavlov noticed his lab dogs drooled at the mere footsteps of the assistant who fed them, not just at the food itself. By repeatedly pairing a neutral sound with feeding, he sh…

  — Ivan Pavlov, Conditioned Reflexes

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