Davis, 'PAVLOV'S BELL-LESS STATUS MAY STILL BE INTACT: Commentary on Thomas' "Pavlov Used A Bell"', Psycoloquy 941224
URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/psycoloquy/psycol-941224-davis-pavlovs

psycoloquy.94.5.76.pavlov-bell.8.davis          Sunday 25 December 1994
ISSN 1055-0143                   (4 paragraphs, 3 references, 49 lines)
PSYCOLOQUY is sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA)
                Copyright 1994 Hank Davis

                PAVLOV'S BELL-LESS STATUS MAY STILL BE INTACT
                Commentary on Thomas' "Pavlov Used A Bell"

                Hank Davis
                Department of Psychology
                University of Guelph
                Ontario, Canada
                hdavis@uoguelph.ca

    ABSTRACT: The Pavlov experiment Thomas (1994) cites is operant
    rather than Pavlovian, hence Pavolv still never used a bell as a
    conditioned stimulus (CS)

1. I commend Thomas (1994) for his scholarship in ferreting out the
litany of events surrounding Pavlov's mouse experiment (Pawlow 1923). I
find two ironies in this report concerning the mythology surrounding
Pavlov and his bell.

2. The bell in question does not conform to the popular image of a
hand-held metal object that a school master might ring. This is an
electric bell.

3. Regardless of its nature, the bell seems actually to have been more
of a discriminative stimulus than a conventional conditioned stimulus
(CS). Although there may well have been a salivary controlled response
(CR) conditioned to the bell, it presumably went unmeasured. In its
place, Pavlov reported the operant response of running to a desired
location to receive a food reward. This fits the definition of a
discriminated operant procedure.

4. The point of this procedural hair-splitting is that it allows us to
assert that Pavlov never used a bell as a CS.

REFERENCES

Littman, R. (1994) Bekhterev and Watson Rang Pavlov's Bell: A Reply to
Catania's Query. PSYCOLOQUY 5(49) pavlov-bell.1.littman.

Pawlow, I.P. (1923). New researches on conditioned reflexes. Science,
58, 359-361.

Thomas, R.K. (1994) Pavlov Used a Bell: Commentary on Littman on
Pavlov-Bell. PSYCOLOQUY 5(63) pavlov-bell.2.thomas.