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Pavlov: Trainer or Trainee?

When Rover sits and wags his tail upon hearing the rustling of your grocery bags, he's anxiously awaiting a treat that he's "sure" is inside. He has learned that sometimes food comes inside those noisy bags.

    This expectation is called classical conditioning and was theorized and proved by Ivan Pavlov, a Nobel award-winning scientist whose studies with animals actually gave much insight into human behavior.

    Pavlov originally went to seminary school, but soon found that his passion was for science. He attended the University of St. Petersburg to study natural sciences and received his doctorate in 1879. During his career, Pavlov contributed to many areas of physiology and neurology.

    Pavlov's experiments on the digestive systems of dogs provided the first true, detailed observations of how the digestive system worked. It is also important to note that his surgical technique allowed the dogs to live healthy lives while observations could be made over a lifetime. This gave true understanding into the functioning of a healthy digestive system. His research helped future scientists find cures for various diseases and disorders.

    During his studies, Pavlov noticed something else. The dogs recognized the lab assistants that fed them and would salivate before actually getting their food. Pavlov thought this was intriguing and set out to investigate what he called "psychic secretion."

    He predicted that if something in a dog's surroundings was always present when the dog was given food, then this stimulus would become associated with food and cause salivation on its own. In his initial experiment Pavlov used bells to call the dogs to their food and, after a few repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to just the bell. The bell became a stimulus because it was always paired with the food. Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a conditional reflex, now called Conditioned Response.

    These experiments were carried out in the 1890's and 1900's. As Pavlov's work became known around the world, the idea of "conditioning" as an automatic form of learning became a key concept in developing specialties within psychology and behaviorism. Pavlov inspired scientists and philosophers alike, including psychiatrist Carl Jung and philosopher Bertrand Russell.

    Pavlov and other great minds have increased our knowledge of the world by simply paying attention to details and asking the ultimate question -- "why?"

    He said of the importance of these habits,
"While you are experimenting, do not remain content with the surface of things. Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin."

    Pavlov also taught us that while humans are able to teach animals many things, animals can teach us many things as well.

Quick-Thinking Challenge:
Brainstorm things you think dogs would train humans to do.