Pavlov's Experiments on Salivation Reflex

Initial Aim

• Investigate what caused saliva to flow.
• Redirected saliva ducts to dog's cheek for measurement.

Early Hypothesis

• Thought saliva production might be a fixed nervous reflex (like a knee jerk).

Initial Observations

• Dogs drooled automatically when tongues touched food.
• Named this the salivation reflex.

Problems Encountered

• Dogs started filling cheek tubes before tongues were stimulated.
• Dogs learned to anticipate food.

New Technique

• Erected screens to block dogs' view.
• Introduced a new, unrelated stimulus: a metronome.

Experimental Process

• Initially, dogs drooled only when food appeared.
• After several trials, dogs associated the ticking with meat arrival.
• Eventually, the sound alone made dogs drool as much as the food initially did.

Conclusion

• Called the new response the conditioned reflex.
• Demonstrated that dogs (and possibly other animals) could be conditioned to produce saliva.
• Believed this showed how animals learn in the wild.