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Signalization and Stimulus-Substitution in Pavlov's Theory of Conditioning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Víctor García-Hoz
Víctor García-Hoz*
Affiliation:
Complutense University of Madrid
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Víctor García-Hoz, Departamento de Psicología Básica I, Facultad de Psicología, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 – Madrid (Spain). E-mail: vghoz@psi.ucm.es
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Abstract

The concept of conditioning as signalization proposed by Ivan P. Pavlov (1927, 1928) is studied in relation to the theory of stimulus-substitution, which is also attributed to him. In the so-called theory of stimulus-substitution a distinction must be made between an empirical principle of substitution and an actual theory of substitution, which can adopt different forms. The Pavlovian theory of substitution—which conceives substitution as a substitution of the unconditioned stimulus (US) by the conditioned stimulus (CS) in the activation of the representation of the former—can be understood as an explanation or model of signalization. Signalization and substitution are answers to different questions, and the level of analysis to which signalization corresponds, is that which concerns the nature of conditioning as an operation of the animal in the environment.

El concepto del condicionamiento como señalización propuesto por Ivan P. Pavlov (1927, 1828) es estudiado en relación a la teoría de la sustitución del estímulo, también atribuída al fisiólogo ruso. En la así llamada teoría de la sustitución del estímulo debe hacerse una distinción entre un principio empírico de sustitución y una auténtica teoría de la sustitución, que puede adoptar formas diversas. La teoría pavloviana de la sustitución –que la concibe como una sustitución del estímulo incondicionado por el estímulo condicionado en la activación de la representación del primero– puede entenderse como una explicación o modelo de señalización. Señalización y sustitución son respuestas a diferentes preguntas y el nivel de análisis al que corresponde la señalización es el que concierne a la naturaleza del condicionamiento como una operación del animal en su medio ambiente.

Keywords

Pavlovian conditioningsignalizationsubstitutioncondicionamiento pavlovianoseñalizaciónsustitución
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 6 , Issue 2: Special Issue: A Century of Pavlovian Theory: The Madrid Lecture (Pavlov, 1903) , November 2003 , pp. 168 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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