Pavlov biology. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, section “Biologist. Main scientific works

Ivan Pavlov a brief biography of the famous scientist, creator of the science of higher nervous activity, the physiological school, is presented in this article.

Ivan Pavlov biography briefly

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born September 26, 1849 in the family of a priest. He began his studies at the Ryazan Theological School, from which he graduated in 1864. Then he entered the Ryazan Theological Seminary.

In 1870, the future scientist decided to enter the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. But 17 days after admission, he moved to the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg State University, specialized in animal physiology under I.F. Tsion and F. V. Ovsyannikova.

Zatei immediately entered the third year of the Medical and Surgical Academy, from which he graduated in 1879 and began working in the Botkin clinic. Here Ivan Petrovich headed the laboratory of physiology.

From 1884 to 1886, he trained in Germany and France, after which he returned to work at the Botkin clinic. Pavlov in 1890 decide to make a professor of pharmacology and sent to the Military Medical Academy. After 6 years, the scientist is already heading the Department of Physiology here. He will leave it only in 1926.

Simultaneously with this work, Ivan Petrovich studies the physiology of blood circulation, digestion, and higher nervous activity. He conducts in 1890 his famous experiment with imaginary feeding. The scientist establishes that the nervous system plays an important role in the processes of digestion. For example, the process of juice separation occurs in 2 phases. The first of them is neuro-reflex, followed by humoral-clinical. After that, he began to carefully study the higher nervous activity.

He achieved significant results in the study of reflexes. In 1903, at the age of 54, he spoke at the International Medical Congress held in Madrid with his report.

Greetings to all readers who are not indifferent to psychology! Today we will talk about an outstanding scientist, physician, who devoted his life to the study of reflexes, made a huge contribution to the knowledge of human nervous system, although he worked with dogs. Pavlov Ivan Petrovich is not in vain considered a representative of the largest modern school of physiology.

Life and scientific activity

Ivan Pavlov is a native of the city of Ryazan. Until the age of 21 he was engaged in theology, planned to continue his father's career (parish priest), but abruptly changed the direction of his activity, went to study at St. Petersburg University, where he began to study physiology and chemistry. If not for this turn in the fate of a remarkable scientist, we would not be able to get acquainted with his theory of unconditioned and conditioned reflexes, and temperaments would continue to be distinguished by the fluid prevailing in the body, as Hippocrates bequeathed.

The interests of the young scientist were formed under the influence of prominent specialists: Karl Ludwig and Rudolf Heidenhain. He took a serious interest in the problems blood pressure, and when he was 41 years old he became a real professor at the Imperial Medical Academy. These walls gave him the opportunity to work on the connection between digestion and salivation, as well as to conduct experiments on dogs. By the way, Pavlov was a wonderful surgeon, which helped him in setting up experiments.

It was in the course of research, where dogs were experimental, that Ivan Petrovich came to the theory of a conditioned reflex, and by 1930 he was able to transfer his knowledge to people suffering from psychosis. It is important to understand what he meant by a conditioned reflex. This is the reaction of the body, which occurs to the stimulus as a result of their repeated coincidence. Why did this discovery become so significant, and the very concept of "conditioned reflex" - the crowning achievement of Pavlov's scientific activity? Yes, because the learning process has become manageable and scientifically substantiated. And later his ideas became the basis for the development of behavioral psychology (or behaviorism).

The scientist lived in difficult times, his relations with the Soviet authorities were very uneven. After visiting America (1923), he intensified his criticism of the communist regime, began to openly oppose violence and arbitrariness of power. When in 1924 all students who had fathers-priests were expelled from his academy, he defiantly left his post as a professor. Pavlov died in Leningrad in 1936.

Conditioned Reflex Theory

The main work of Pavlov was the formation of conditioned reflexes with the help of associations. In fact, everything is ingeniously simple. You can see for yourself. When an unexpected sharp sound is heard, the person involuntarily shudders. This is his unconditioned reflex (automatic, innate) to an unconditioned stimulus. If we repeatedly encounter a situation where such a sharp sound occurs after a strong blow with the fist on the table, then it is quite logical that we will associate the sound (unconditioned stimulus) with the movement of the fist (already a conditioned stimulus), we will begin to shudder even before the fist has dropped on the table. This new reaction of the body will be called a conditioned reflex.

Experience with dogs

Initially, the scientist was engaged in the study of the digestive function of dogs. But observing how the salivary glands of animals work, I discovered an interesting fact. Saliva in dogs is secreted at the sight of an edible product. And this is an unconditioned reflex. But the salivation of Pavlov's dogs began already when an assistant in a white coat entered, carrying food for the experiments. The researcher rightly noted that the cause of the reflex was not the smell of food, but the appearance of a white coat (conditioned stimulus). He also successfully proved this through experiments.

Role for science

Of course, Pavlov became famous for his experiments with dogs, which were appreciated and recognized during his lifetime. It is remarkable that he was awarded the honorary title of "Elder Physiologists of the World", and this is a great honor for a scientist. Specialists also appreciate his great contribution to understanding the functioning of the human nervous system (after all, the concepts of “strong nervous system” and “weak nervous system” are also his achievement). It was the discoveries of the researcher that made it possible to find new ways to treat anxiety disorders (phobias, panic attacks).

We got acquainted with short biography scientist and the basic concepts of his theory. Interestingly, the knowledge that Pavlov gave us does not become obsolete over the years. This makes them even more valuable and meaningful. I hope that the information that I have tried to convey to you was clear enough even to non-specialists in the field of psychology. I will be glad to reposts and comments.

Until we meet again, with respect, Alexander Fadeev.

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Pavlov Ivan Petrovich

(born in 1849 - died in 1936)

Outstanding Russian physiologist, biologist, doctor, teacher. Creator of the doctrine of higher nervous activity, the largest physiological school of our time, new approaches and methods of physiological research. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (since 1907), Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1917), Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1925), honorary member of 130 academies and scientific institutions. Fourth Nobel laureate in the world (1904) and first in the natural sciences. Author of classic works on the physiology of blood circulation and digestion.

“If any person achieves such significant success as Pavlov, and leaves behind a legacy so significant both in terms of the amount of data received and in ideological terms, then we are naturally interested in knowing how and in what way he did this in order to understand what were the psycho-physiological features of this person that provided him with the possibility of such achievements? Of course, he was recognized by everyone as a genius, ”said a contemporary of the great scientist, corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, physiologist Yu. Konorsky.

Pavlov himself, sincerely classifying himself as “small and medium”, repeated more than once: “There is nothing ingenious that is attributed to me, in me. Genius is the highest ability to concentrate attention ... to think about a subject relentlessly, to be able to go to bed with it and get up with it! Just think, just think all the time, and everything difficult will become easy. Anyone in my place, doing the same, would become a genius. But if everything were so simple, the world would consist of only geniuses. And there are still only a few of them born every century.

And who could have imagined that the boy Vanya, who was born in the ancient Russian city of Ryazan on September 26, 1849, would reach unprecedented heights in physiology, a science so far from the aspirations of his parents. Father, Pyotr Dmitrievich Pavlov, a native of a peasant family, was at that time a young priest of one of the rundown parishes. Truthful and independent, he often did not get along with his superiors and did not live well. High moral qualities, seminary education, which was considered significant for the inhabitants of the provincial towns of those times, earned him a reputation as a very enlightened person. Mother, Varvara Ivanovna, also came from a spiritual family, but did not receive any education. In her youth, she was healthy, cheerful and cheerful, but frequent childbirth (she gave birth to 10 children) and the experiences associated with the untimely death of some of them undermined her health. Her natural intelligence and diligence made her a skilled educator of her children, and they idolized her, vying with each other trying to help in some way: to chop wood, heat the stove, bring water.

Ivan Petrovich recalled his parents with a feeling of tender love and deep gratitude: higher education". Ivan was the firstborn in the Pavlov family. He enjoyed playing with younger brothers and sisters, from an early age he helped his father in the garden and garden, and when building a house, he learned a little carpentry and turning. For many years, gardening and horticulture were a significant help to the Pavlov family, in which, in addition to their children, nephews were brought up - the children of two father's brothers.

Ivan learned to read and write by the age of eight, but he entered school three years late. The fact is that once, laying out apples to dry on a high platform, he fell on a stone floor and was badly hurt, which had serious consequences for his health. He lost his appetite, began to sleep poorly, lost weight and turned pale. Home treatment did not bring noticeable success. And then the godfather, hegumen of the Trinity Monastery, located near Ryazan, took the boy to him. Clean air, enhanced nutrition, regular gymnastics returned Ivan to health and strength. The boy's guardian turned out to be a kind, intelligent and highly educated person for those times. He read a lot, led a Spartan lifestyle, was demanding of himself and others. Under his guidance, Ivan acquired remarkable strength and endurance, even amused himself with fisticuffs. But most of all he loved the game of towns, which required attentiveness, dexterity, accuracy and taught to remain calm. At home, the father also built gymnastic apparatus for his sons, so that "all the extra power would go in favor, and not for pampering."

Returning to Ryazan in the autumn of 1860, Ivan entered the Ryazan Theological School immediately in the second grade. Four years later, he successfully graduated from it and was admitted to the local theological seminary, where the children of priests received certain benefits. Here Pavlov became one of the best students and even gave private lessons, enjoying the reputation of a good tutor. It was then that Ivan fell in love with teaching and was happy when he could help others in acquiring knowledge.

The years of Pavlov's teachings were marked by the rapid development of advanced social thought in Russia. And Ivan frequented the public library. Once he came across an article by D. Pisarev, where there were the words "The almighty natural science holds in its hands the key to the knowledge of the whole world." In the seminary they talked about the immortality of the soul and the afterlife, and in the literature they called for abandoning blind faith and studying the most important life problems. After the fascinating monograph of the father of Russian physiology I. Sechenov "Reflexes of the brain" and the popular book of the English scientist J. Lewis "Physiology of everyday life" Pavlov "fell ill with reflexes", began to dream of scientific activity.

After graduating from the sixth grade of the seminary in 1869, Pavlov resolutely abandoned his spiritual career and began to prepare for the entrance exams to the university. In 1870, he left for St. Petersburg, dreaming of entering the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. But since the seminary did not provide sufficient knowledge in mathematics and physics, Ivan was forced to choose the Faculty of Law. Nevertheless, he achieved his goal: 17 days after the start of classes, by special permission of the rector, he was transferred to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. True, because of this, he lost his scholarship. In this first year, he had a very hard time, and then his brother Dmitry entered the university, who, with his usual thriftiness, established their simple student life. A year later, the natural department was replenished with another Pavlov - Peter. All the brothers became scientists: Ivan became a physiologist, Dmitry became a chemist, and Peter became a zoologist, but only for the eldest did serious scientific work, continuous and all-consuming, become the meaning of life.

Ivan studied very successfully, attracting the attention of professors. Short, thickset, with a thick chestnut beard, let go for solidity, he was extremely serious, thoughtful, industrious and passionate about his studies. In the second year of study he was given a regular stipend (180 rubles a year), in the third year he already received the so-called imperial stipend (300 rubles a year). At that time, an excellent teaching staff of the faculty was formed at the natural department, where among the professors of the faculty were outstanding chemists D. Mendeleev and A. Butlerov, famous botanists A. Beketov and I. Borodin, famous physiologists F. V. Ovsyannikov and I. Zion. Under the influence of the latter, Pavlov decided to devote himself to the study of animal physiology, as well as chemistry. Ilya Fadeevich not only skillfully presented the most complex questions, truly artistically set up experiments, but also masterfully mastered the surgical technique. He could operate on a dog without even taking off his snow-white gloves and without even staining them with a drop of blood. Following in the footsteps of his teacher, Pavlov, being left-handed, learned to brilliantly operate with both hands. Eyewitnesses said that when he stood at the table, "the operation ended before it could begin."

Pavlov's research activity began early. As a fourth-year student, Ivan, under the guidance of F. Ovsyannikov, examined the nerves in the lungs of a frog. Then, together with a classmate V. Velikiy, under the guidance of Zion, he completed the first scientific work on the effect of the laryngeal nerves on blood circulation. The results of the study were reported at a meeting of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, after which Pavlov began to regularly attend meetings, communicate with Sechenov, Ovsyannikov, Tarkhanov and other physiologists, and participate in the discussion of reports. And his scientific work on the physiology of the nerves of the pancreas was awarded a gold medal by the university council. True, the student, carried away by research, almost forgot that the final exams are on the nose. I had to write a petition to stay "for the second year." In 1875, Pavlov brilliantly graduated from the university, received degree candidate of natural sciences and continued his studies at the Medico-Surgical Academy, enrolling immediately in the third year, but "not with the goal of becoming a doctor, but so that later, having a doctorate in medicine, be entitled to occupy the department of physiology." He was then in his 26th year.

With bright hopes, the young scientist set out on the road of independent life. I. Zion, who took over the post of head of the department of physiology at the Medical-Surgical Academy, left by Sechenov, invited him as his assistant. At first, everything went well for I.P. Pavlov. But soon his teacher was forced to leave the academy, and Pavlov found it necessary to give up the position of assistant offered to him by the new head of the department, Professor I.F. Tarkhanov. Thus, he lost not only a great place for scientific work, but also earnings. Continuing his studies, Ivan became an assistant to Professor K. N. Ustimovich at the Department of Physiology of the Veterinary Department.

During his work in the laboratory (1876–1878), Pavlov independently performed a number of valuable works on the physiology of blood circulation. In these studies, for the first time, the beginnings of his ingenious scientific method of studying the functions of the body in their natural dynamics in an unanesthetized whole organism appeared. As a result of numerous experiments, Pavlov learned to measure blood pressure in dogs without putting them to sleep with anesthesia and without tying them to an experimental table. He developed and implemented his original method of implanting a chronic ureteral fistula into the outer covering of the abdomen. For the work done during his studies, Pavlov received a second gold medal, and after graduating from the Academy in December 1879 - a doctor's diploma with honors. In the summer, on the recommendation of Ustimovich, using the money saved with difficulty, he visited Breslavl, where he got acquainted with the work of the prominent physiologist Professor R. Heidenhain. Pavlov's research on the physiology of blood circulation attracted the attention of physiologists and doctors. The young scientist became famous in scientific circles.

In 1879, Pavlov took charge of the physiological laboratory at the S. Botkin clinic, where the famous Russian clinician invited him back in December 1878. Then, formally, Ivan Petrovich was offered to take the position of a laboratory assistant, but in reality he was supposed to become the head of the laboratory. Pavlov willingly accepted this offer, because shortly before this the veterinary department of the Medico-Surgical Academy was closed and he lost his job and the opportunity to conduct experiments. Here the young scientist worked until 1890, achieved outstanding results in the study of the physiology of blood circulation and digestion, took part in the development of some topical issues pharmacology, improved his outstanding experimental skills, and also acquired the skills of an organizer and leader of a team of scientists.

Twelve years of work in difficult conditions in an almost impoverished physiological laboratory was inspired, intense, purposeful and extremely fruitful, although it was accompanied by acute material need and deprivation in his personal life. Pavlov became a prominent figure in the field of physiology, not only in his homeland, but also abroad.

His wife helped Ivan Petrovich to endure during this difficult time. With Serafima Vasilievna Karchevskaya, a student of Pedagogical Courses, Pavlov met in the late 1870s. They were united not only by love, but also by the commonality of spiritual interests, the closeness of their views. They were an attractive couple. Serafima Vasilievna admitted that she was attracted by "that hidden spiritual force that supported him in his work all his life and to the charm of which all his employees and friends involuntarily obeyed." At first, love completely swallowed up Ivan Petrovich. According to brother Dmitry, for some time the young scientist was more busy writing letters to his girlfriend than doing laboratory work.

In 1881, the young people got married, despite the fact that Pavlov's parents were against this marriage, as they intended to marry their first child to the daughter of a wealthy St. Petersburg official. After the marriage, Ivan Petrovich's complete helplessness in everyday affairs manifested itself. The wife took upon herself the brunt of family worries and for many years meekly endured all the troubles and failures that accompanied him at that time. With her faithful love, she undoubtedly contributed a lot to Pavlov's amazing success in science. "I was looking for comrades of life only good man, - wrote Pavlov, - and found it in my wife, who patiently endured the hardships of our pre-professorial life, always guarded my scientific aspirations and turned out to be as devoted to our family for life as I am to the laboratory. Material deprivation forced the newlyweds to live for some time with Ivan Petrovich's brother, Dmitry, who worked as an assistant to the famous Russian chemist D. I. Mendeleev and had a state-owned apartment, and with his friend N. Simanovsky. There was grief in the family life of the Pavlovs: the first two sons died in infancy.

Ivan Petrovich was completely devoted to his beloved work. Often he spent his meager earnings on the purchase of experimental animals and other needs of research work in the laboratory. The family experienced a particularly difficult financial situation during the period when Pavlov was preparing a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences. Serafima Vasilievna repeatedly begged him to speed up the defense, rightly reproaching that he was always helping his students in the laboratory and completely abandoned his own scientific affairs. But Pavlov was inexorable; he sought to obtain more and more significant and reliable scientific facts for his doctoral dissertation and did not think about speeding up its defense. Over time, material hardships became a thing of the past, especially after the award of the Warsaw University Prize to the scientist. Adam Chojnacki (1888).

In 1883, Pavlov brilliantly defended his doctoral dissertation on the centrifugal nerves of the heart. He found that there are special nerve fibers that affect the metabolism in the heart and regulate its work. These studies laid the foundation for the theory of the trophic nervous system. In June 1884, Ivan Petrovich was sent to Leipzig, where for two years he worked together with the famous physiologists K. Ludwig and R. Heidenhain. The trip abroad enriched Pavlov with new ideas. He established personal contacts with prominent figures of foreign science.

Returning to his homeland with a solid scientific background, Ivan Petrovich began to lecture on physiology at the Military Medical Academy (as the Military Surgical Academy had been renamed by this time), as well as to the doctors of the clinical military hospital, and enthusiastically continued research in a wretched laboratory at the Botkin clinic . It was housed in a small, dilapidated wooden house, completely unsuitable for scientific work, originally intended either for a janitor or a bathhouse. lacked necessary equipment, there was not enough money to buy experimental animals and for other research needs. But all this did not prevent Pavlov from developing a vigorous activity here.

Over the years of work in the laboratory, the colossal capacity for work, indomitable will and inexhaustible energy of the scientist were fully manifested. He was able to lay a solid foundation for his future research on the physiology of digestion: he discovered the nerves that regulate the secretory activity of the pancreas, and set up his classic experiment with imaginary feeding of dogs. Pavlov believed that animal experiments are necessary in resolving many complex and unclear issues of clinical medicine. In particular, he sought to elucidate the properties and mechanism of therapeutic action of new or already used in medicine. medicines vegetable and other origin.

Pavlov regularly reported on the results of his research on the pages of domestic and foreign scientific journals, at a meeting of the physiological section of the Society of Naturalists of St. Petersburg and at congresses of the same society. For his length of service in 1887, he was promoted to court councilor, and three years later he was appointed professor of pharmacology at Tomsk, and after that at Warsaw University and, finally, at the Military Medical Academy itself. The scientist occupied this position for five years, before moving to the Department of Physiology, which he invariably led for three decades, successfully combining brilliant pedagogical activity with interesting, albeit limited in scope, research work. His lectures and reports enjoyed exceptional success. Ivan Petrovich fascinated the audience with his passionate speech, unexpected gestures, and flaming eyes. The American scientist J. B. Kellogg, having visited one of the reports, said that if Pavlov had not become a famous physiologist, he would have made an excellent dramatic actor. But Pavlov considered the language of facts to be the best eloquence.

In 1890, the Imperial Institute of Experimental Medicine was opened, created on the basis of the Pasteur Station with the financial support of the famous philanthropist - Prince A. Oldenburg. It was he who invited Pavlov to organize the department of physiology, which the scientist then led for 46 years. Basically, Pavlov's classical works on the physiology of the main digestive glands, which brought him worldwide fame, were performed here. The fistula method developed by Pavlov was a major achievement and made it possible to study the functioning of the glands under different conditions and food composition. The operation did not disturb the normal connections of the organism with the environment and at the same time allowed for long-term observations.

Pavlov conducted all his research on dogs. The experimental animal was nursed after the operation no less carefully than a sick person. So, when studying such an important organ as the pancreas, and creating a small stomach for the purity of the experiment, the scientist needed three dozen dogs for six months, none of which died. A clear proof of the correctness of the ideas of the scientist was the dog Druzhok, who became famous throughout the world. This was a real scientific victory for Pavlov, followed by a whole series of brilliant experiments. The scientist spoke about his experiments, observations and methods of work in the book "Lectures on the work of the main digestive glands" (1897). For this work, Ivan Petrovich became the fourth Nobel Prize winner for outstanding achievements in the study of the physiology of digestion (1904). Before him, only doctors were awarded this award. The work of the physiologist was rated as "bringing the greatest benefit to mankind." She immortalized the name of Pavlov and glorified Russian science.

On the initiative of Ivan Petrovich, a monument to a dog was erected in front of the institute building - a tribute to a true friend, assistant and full-fledged colleague at work. The inscription at its foot reads: “Let the dog, the helper and friend of man from prehistoric times, be sacrificed to science, but our dignity obliges us that this should happen without fail and always without unnecessary torment. Ivan Pavlov.

It is impossible not to note one feature of Pavlov's life path: almost all of his achievements in science received official recognition from state institutions in Russia much later than abroad. Ivan Petrovich became a professor only at the age of 46, and an academician only three years after he was awarded the Nobel Prize, although before that he had been elected a member of the academies of several countries and an honorary doctor of many universities. The scientist never received any government assistance and always acutely felt the need for permanent employees. So, in the department of physiology of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, he had only two full-time researchers, in the laboratory of the Academy of Sciences - only one, and even that Pavlov paid from personal funds. Influential tsarist officials were annoyed by his democratism. All sorts of intrigues were woven around the scientist: noble ladies-princes were constantly set on him, crying out about the sinfulness of scientific experiments on animals; dissertations of Ivan Petrovich's employees often failed; his students were hardly approved in ranks and positions; when re-elected to the post of chairman of the Society of Russian Doctors, his candidacy was voted down, despite the fact that Pavlov did a great job in this post.

But with his authority, outstanding scientific achievements, and amazing temperament, Pavlov attracted young science enthusiasts like a magnet. Many Russian and foreign specialists worked under the guidance of a talented physiologist without monetary compensation. Ivan Petrovich was the soul of the laboratory. They were introduced new form scientific work - "collective thinking", which is now called "brainstorming or storming." At the Wednesday collective tea parties introduced by the scientist, it was required to “dissolve the fantasy” - creative process took place in front of everyone. This is how the Pavlovian scientific school was formed, which soon became the most numerous in the world. Pavlovtsy completed almost half a thousand works, writing only about a hundred dissertations. A passionate gardener, Ivan Petrovich called his pets “jigs” for a reason. His students E. Asratyan, L. Orbeli, K. Bykov, P. Anokhin eventually became academicians, led entire areas of physiology, and created independent scientific schools.

Pavlov did not at all look like a learned cracker. He was enthusiastic about science. His wife recalled: “He loved all kinds of work. From the side it seemed that this work was the most pleasant for him, so much she pleased and amused him. That was the happiness of his life." Serafima Ivanovna called it "the boiling of the heart." Pavlov was like a small child, constantly coming up with various competitions, funny fines and rewards for employees. And Ivan Petrovich indulged in rest with the same rapture. Starting to collect butterflies, he turned into an excellent entomologist; growing vegetables, became a breeder. Pavlov preferred to be the first in everything. And God forbid, if during the “quiet hunt” someone collected one mushroom more than him, the competition would start all over again. And even the young could not keep up with him in sports. Until old age, Pavlov preferred walking “jogging” and cycling to a personal car, on a horizontal bar and in his favorite game - towns - he knew no equal.

When it seemed to everyone that the scientist had already reached the very top, he suddenly made a sharp turn from the study of digestion to the psyche. He was exhorted: is it not too late to take on a new problem at fifty-three, but Pavlov was adamant and switched all his employees to the study of the nervous system. He "reached into the dog's soul" because "mental" salivation interfered with the purity of the experiments. The scientist understood that the psyche is not limited to the lower unconditioned reflexes. Stranger in Neurology did a revolutionary (now classic) experiment with a hungry dog ​​that was supposed to respond to the sound of a bell associated with food. If a dog sees food (an unconditioned stimulus) and at the same time hears the ringing of a bell (conditioned stimulus), then with repeated repetition of the “food + bell” combination, a new reflex arc is established in the dog’s cerebral cortex. After that, saliva is released, as soon as the dog hears the bell ring. So Ivan Petrovich discovered conditioned reflexes (the term was introduced by Pavlov himself). Unconditioned reflexes are the same in all animals of the species, while conditioned reflexes are different.

Such a system of signals, which is formed in the cerebral cortex of the cerebral hemispheres - the first signal system - exists in both animals and humans. But man has another signaling system, more complex and more perfect. It developed in him in the course of a thousand-year historical development, and it is precisely with it that the fundamental differences between the higher nervous activity of man and any animal are connected. Pavlov called it the second signal system. It arose among people in connection with social work and is associated with speech.

For the purity of the experiments on the development of conditioned reflexes in 1913, thanks to a subsidy from the Moscow philanthropist K. Ledentsov, a special building was built with two towers, called "towers of silence". They were originally equipped with three experimental chambers, and in 1917 five more were put into operation. With the help of the developed method for studying conditioned reflexes, Pavlov established that the basis of mental activity is the physiological processes occurring in the cerebral cortex. His studies of the physiology of higher nervous activity (the 1st and 2nd signal systems, types of the nervous system, localization of functions, systemic work of the cerebral hemispheres, etc.) had a great influence on the development of physiology, medicine, psychology and pedagogy.

Only in 1923, Pavlov decided to publish a work, which he called "Twenty years of experience in the objective study of the higher nervous activity (behavior) of animals." The Pavlovian doctrine of higher nervous activity is not just a brilliant page inscribed in the history of science, it is an entire era.

Pavlov accepted the February Revolution with enthusiasm, believing that "the elective principle should underlie both the entire state system and individual institutions." He reacted sharply negatively to the October Revolution, antagonizing towards the new authorities, he even put on royal orders, which he never wore under the old regime, as well as a uniform, and in his office hung an oil-painted portrait of Prince Oldenburg in a military frock coat with a general - adjutant aiguillette and imperial crown on top.

In 1922, due to a desperate financial situation that called into question further research, Pavlov turned to Lenin with a request to move his laboratory abroad. But he refused, citing the fact that Soviet Russia needs scientists like Pavlov. A special decree was issued, which noted "the exceptional scientific merits of Academician I.P. Pavlov, which are of great importance for the working people of the whole world"; a special commission headed by M. Gorky was instructed “to create the most favorable conditions to ensure the scientific work of Academician Pavlov and his staff”; the relevant state organizations were asked to "print the scientific work prepared by Academician Pavlov in a luxurious edition" and "provide Pavlov and his wife with a special ration." Ivan Petrovich refused the last point: "I will not accept all these privileges until they are granted to all laboratory workers."

In 1923, Pavlov visited the United States and, upon his return, spoke openly about the perniciousness of communism: social experiment which the communists are holding in the country, I would not donate even a frog's leg. When, in 1924, those who had “non-proletarian origins” began to be fired from the Military Medical Academy in Leningrad, Pavlov refused his place of honor at the Academy, declaring: “I am also the son of a priest, and if you expel others, then I I'll leave!" In 1927, he was the only one who voted against the appointment of party functionaries to the Academy. The professor wrote a letter to I. V. Stalin, in which there were such lines: “In the light of what you are doing to the Russian intelligentsia, demoralizing it and depriving it of all rights, I am ashamed to call myself Russian.”

And yet Pavlov did not leave his homeland, refusing the flattering offers of the Swedish and London Royal Societies. In the last years of his life, he became more loyal to the authorities and even declared that clear changes for the better were taking place in the country. This turning point occurred, apparently, as a result of an increase in state appropriations for science. The construction of the "tower of silence" was completed at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. By the 75th anniversary of the scientist, the physiological laboratory of the Academy of Sciences was reorganized into the Physiological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now named after Pavlov), and by the time of his 80th birthday, a special scientific institute-city began to operate in Koltushi (near Leningrad) (the only scientific institution in the world of such genus), nicknamed the "capital of conditioned reflexes." Pavlov's long-standing dream of an organic connection between theory and practice was also realized: clinics for nervous and mental diseases were formed at the institutes. All scientific institutions headed by him were equipped with the latest equipment. The number of permanent scientific and scientific and technical employees has increased tenfold. In addition to the usual, large budget funds, the scientist was given significant amounts every month to spend at his own discretion. The regular publication of scientific works of Pavlov's laboratory began.

G. Wells in 1934 noted that "Pavlov's reputation contributes to the prestige of the Soviet Union." Elected a member of numerous scientific societies, academies, universities, Ivan Petrovich in 1936 was recognized by the World Congress of Physiologists as a foreman of physiologists of the whole world (princeps physiologorum mundi).

The brilliant scientist was in his 87th year when he himself diagnosed himself with swelling of the cerebral cortex (this was confirmed at autopsy). But Ivan Pavlovich died on February 27, 1936 from pneumonia. The scientist's death came as a complete surprise to everyone. Despite his advanced age, he was physically very strong, burned with seething energy, worked tirelessly, and enthusiastically made plans for further work. On the eve of Pavlov visited England, where he led the organization and conduct of the XV International Congress of Physiologists, visited his native Ryazan. However, the years made themselves felt, Ivan Petrovich was no longer the same as before: he looked unhealthy, quickly got tired and did not feel well. A heavy blow for Pavlov was the illness and quick death of his youngest son Vsevolod. But Ivan Petrovich stubbornly refused treatment, carefully recording all the symptoms of the disease. After another cold that developed into pneumonia, the best medical forces of the country could not save the life of the great scientist.

Pavlov told his colleagues that he would live for at least a hundred years, and only in the last years of his life would he leave laboratories to write memoirs about what he had seen on his long life path. Perhaps this is the only thing that he did not succeed ...

The famous American physiologist W. Kennon wrote: “In the teachings of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, I was always struck by two phenomena. The extraordinary primitivism of the experiment and the opportunity, precisely with the help of this primitivism, to see through the whole abyss of the human psyche and establish the basic principles of its work. On the one hand, such and such a number of drops of saliva for such and such a number of minutes, and on the other, the cornerstones of the physiology of higher nervous activity. Pavlov's analogue in physical chemistry is Faraday, who substantiated electrodynamics with the help of a piece of iron, a wire and a magnet. Both, of course, are geniuses without any qualifications, having penetrated the nature of things with the help of childishly naive ways. This is their greatness and immortality. The banners of physiology of all countries bowed at his feet. On all continents of the globe, the name of Pavlov is known, even children know, they know his portrait - a man with a white beard, a cunning and smartest Russian peasant.

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Chapter fifteen. Ivan Pavlov and his team 1. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov and Nikolai Evgenievich Vvedensky belonged to the same generation, and life paths they were similar in many ways. Both came from families of provincial priests, both graduated from the seminary, both

Not a single physiologist of the world was as famous as Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, the creator of the materialistic doctrine of the higher nervous activity of animals and humans. This doctrine is of great practical importance in medicine and pedagogy, in philosophy and psychology, in sports, work, in any human activity - everywhere it serves as the basis and starting point.

The main directions of Pavlov's scientific activity are the study of the physiology of blood circulation, digestion and higher nervous activity. The scientist developed methods of surgical operations to create an "isolated ventricle" and the imposition of fistulas of the digestive glands, applied a new approach for his time - a "chronic experiment", which allows observations to be made on practically healthy animals in conditions as close as possible to natural ones. This method made it possible to minimize the distorting effect of "acute" experiments requiring serious surgical intervention, separation of parts of the body and anesthesia of the animal. Using the "isolated ventricle" method, Pavlov established the presence of two phases of juice secretion: neuro-reflex and humoral-clinical.

The next stage in the scientific activity of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov is the study of higher nervous activity. The transition from work in the field of digestion was due to his ideas about the adaptive nature of the activity of the digestive glands. Pavlov believed that adaptive phenomena are determined not just by reflexes from the oral cavity: the cause should be sought in mental excitation. As new data on the functioning of the external parts of the brain were obtained, a new scientific discipline was formed - the science of higher nervous activity. It was based on the idea of ​​dividing reflexes (mental factors) into conditional and unconditional.

Pavlov and his collaborators discovered the laws of formation and extinction of conditioned reflexes; proved that conditioned reflex activity is carried out with the participation of the cerebral cortex. In the cerebral cortex, the center of inhibition was discovered - the antipode of the center of excitation; explored different types and types of braking (external, internal); the laws of distribution and narrowing of the sphere of action of excitation and inhibition - the main nervous processes - were discovered; the problems of sleep are studied and its phases are established; the protective role of inhibition was studied; the role of the collision of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the emergence of neuroses has been studied.

Pavlov became widely known for his theory of the types of the nervous system, which is also based on ideas about the relationship between the processes of excitation and inhibition.

Finally, another merit of Pavlov is the doctrine of signal systems. In humans, in addition to the first signaling system, which is also inherent in animals, there is also a second signaling system - special form higher nervous activity associated with speech function and abstract thinking.

Pavlov formulated ideas about the analytical and synthetic activity of the brain and created the doctrine of analyzers, the localization of functions in the cerebral cortex and the systemic nature of the work of the cerebral hemispheres.

The scientific work of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov had a huge impact on the development of related fields - medicine and biology, left a noticeable mark in psychiatry and psychology. Under the influence of his ideas, major scientific schools were formed in therapy, surgery, psychiatry, and neuropathology. psychology nervous pavlov

In 1904 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize for research into the mechanisms of digestion.

In 1907 Pavlov was elected a member Russian Academy Sciences; foreign member of the Royal Society of London.

In 1915 He was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London.

In 1928 became an honorary member of the Royal Society of Physicians of London.

In 1935 at the age of 86 (!) Pavlov chaired the sessions of the 15th International Physiological Congress, held in Moscow and Leningrad.

Analysis of the biographical creative path of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

As I read various biographies of Ivan Petrovich, an image of an icebreaker, a tank, which makes its way through the jungle, ice, through, leading people like a tug of a caravan of ships, was created in my imagination. Feeling the inexhaustible energy that bubbles up from this great human being, the feeling of unshakable power, closely intertwined with a passion for science. A man with self-respect, a brilliant thinker, at the same time he was a very modest patriot of his Motherland who did not tolerate admiration for himself.

One gets the impression that it was not the circumstances, not the people around him that formed him as a scientist, but he himself! Exclusively due to his diligence, perseverance in achieving the goal, his ardent love for physiology. Moreover, by his example, assistance, Ivan Petrovich helped the formation of many other scientists.

Prof. H. S. Koshtoyants

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov for a long way of his scientific work left the deepest imprint in many areas of theory and practice. He recreated a series of chapters modern physiology, a new direction of experimental therapy, he passionately fought for objective methods of research in one of the most difficult areas of knowledge - psychology. He is credited with the greatest merit of creating the world's largest physiological school, which has no equal in terms of creative charge and magnitude. An analysis of Pavlov's scientific creativity and image as a citizen of the Soviet Union, proud of the consciousness of belonging to the great family of peoples of the USSR, should be the task of many researchers. In this article we will try to outline the main line of Pavlov's scientific activity.

I. P. Pavlov.

At the "monument to the dog", opened in the courtyard of the Institute of Experimental Medicine.

Experimental animals of the physiological laboratory.

Dogs with gastric fistula: I - operated according to the method of Acad. I. P. Pavlova (“empty stomach”), a - the place of transection of the esophagus, b - fistula tube through which juice flows; I I - operated according to the Heidenhain method ("small stomach"), c - separated part of the stomach with a fistula tube.

Experimental animal in the machine.

Physiological laboratory.

Pavlov is a bright representative of experimental natural science. The physiological experiment, "observation and observation", the facts are the air that Pavlov, the researcher of nature, breathed. He was organically alien to reasoning about the phenomena of nature, not based on reliable experience.

Pavlov clearly showed that the newly created ways and methods of experimental study of nature reveal new aspects of phenomena that could not be shown with previous methods of research. Pavlov's work in this respect can be a classic example of how the creation of new approaches to the study of phenomena puts our knowledge on a new, higher level. Pavlov assessed the methods of studying digestion that existed before him and developed by him (in lectures on the work of the main digestive glands in 1897).

“An obstacle to early research was the lack of methodology. It is often said, and not without reason, that science moves in shocks, depending on the progress made by the methodology. With each step of the methodology forward, we seem to rise a step higher, from which a wider horizon opens up to us, with previously invisible objects. Therefore, our first task was to develop a methodology.”

Having correctly solved the problem of new methodological approaches, having created research methods closest to the conditions of the whole organism, Pavlov and his colleagues quickly made a number of major scientific discoveries. A group of works by Pavlov and his students in the field of physiology of the main digestive glands brought order to the "chaos" of ideas that was in the doctrine of digestion before Pavlov.

To eliminate the absolute insufficiency of all previous studies, which was evidenced by the centuries-old history of the study of digestion from experiments on the digestion of birds by the Italian Academia del Cimento to the development of an artificial gastric fistula in a dog (Basov, 1842), Pavlov demanded that a number of conditions be met for obtaining gastric juice at any time , in a completely pure form, the exact determination of its quantity, the proper functioning of the digestive canal and monitoring the preservation of the animal in a healthy state. The fulfillment of all these conditions was devoted to the development of the method of an isolated (solitary) ventricle, which was carried out by Pavlov (1879) and independently by the German scientist Heidenhain (1880).

Later, methods of chronic pancreatic fistula, the method of imaginary feeding, etc. were developed. All this taken together allowed Pavlov and his students to make a number of major discoveries: they proved the basic patterns of quantitative and qualitative reaction glandular cells to one or another type of food irritation, which found their expression in the classic Pavlovian contraction curves; they showed harmony and consistency in the work of various parts of the digestive tract; they discovered the role of the nervous system in regulating the work of the digestive glands, which was the beginning of great work in the field of conditioned reflexes; they made a number of major observations and discoveries that formed the basis of modern views on the nature of enzymatic processes (discovery of enterokinase); Finally, these works showed the great importance of the operative-surgical method. Pavlov's book "Lectures on the work of the main digestive glands" became a classic work that won worldwide fame, and Pavlov received the Nobel Prize (1904) for this group of works.

The results achieved by Pavlov in the development of methods for studying the digestive glands and firmly established in the everyday life of modern physiological institutions are important in the sense of asserting the enormous importance of a holistic study of the animal organism. This is the great advantage of Pavlov over his predecessors (Gelm, Bomoi, Basov, Blondlot, Heidenhain), who were involved in the development of the so-called fistula technique. The greatness of Pavlov is not that he improved the already existing methods of fistula technique, but that he saw in this the basis for a holistic study of physiological processes. This exceptionally important biological trend in the holistic study of the organism characterizes not only the period of work on the digestive glands, but also the entire vast period of work of the Pavlovian school on the most complex problem of conditioned reflexes.

The long-term development of the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres in the doctrine of conditioned reflexes was the development and completion of the doctrine of the integrity of the organism. The cerebral hemispheres were presented to Pavlov as organs that regulate the relationship of an animal with the outside world in the interests of preserving the integrity of this animal. In experiments with conditioned reflexes, Pavlov paid most attention to the integrity of the organism. Analyzing the complex issue of the inhibitory influences of the external environment on the development of conditioned reflexes in an animal, Pavlov especially emphasized the importance of the integrity of the system.

For Pavlov, the development of an operative-surgical method of research was, in his words, "a method of physiological thinking." It was thanks to this method of physiological thinking that Pavlov managed at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century to become one of the few representatives of the holistic study of physiological processes in the era of the heyday of the analytical method of physiology. And it is no coincidence, therefore, that he connected the fate of synthetic physiology with the development of methods for the integral study of physiological processes.

So, Pavlov presented in his work a vivid example of the application of experimental research of life phenomena, created new paths in this direction and put into the hands of physiologists a method for the integral study of physiological processes. But this does not exhaust the characterization of Pavlov as an experimenter. Its most important feature is that it linked the paths of theoretical analysis of the issue with direct practice; he linked questions of physiology with questions of medicine.

Convinced of the great importance of the experiment for the study of processes in a normal organism, Pavlov became a true preacher of the experimental method in the field of medicine. “Only after passing through the fire of experiment, all medicine will become what it should be, i.e., conscious, and therefore always and fully expediently acting ... And therefore I dare to predict that the progress of medicine in one country or another, in one or another another scientific or educational medical institution will be measured by the attention, the care with which the experimental department of medicine is surrounded there. And it is no coincidence that Pavlov's laboratory became a true Mecca for the most advanced representatives of medical science who went to this laboratory to do their dissertations. From the number of Pavlov's students grew leading workers not only in the field of theoretical physiology, but also in the field of the clinic. And his dream of creating an experimental base for medicine in order to provide better conditions for “people’s passionate desire for health and life” (Pavlov) has become a reality in our days with the creation of a gigantic All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine, one of the active figures of which was until his death Pavlov.

Pavlov's understanding of the relationship between physiological theory and clinical practice is characterized by the organic connection of these two scientific lines as mutually fertilizing lines. Not only the physiological experiment and the conclusions from it are the basis for understanding the pathological process and the impact on it, but the pathological process, for its part, is the basis for understanding the physiological processes. The coming to the experimental theory from the physiological experiment in Pavlov is a natural act.

For Pavlov, the pathological process and the normal process are not broken phenomena, but phenomena of the same order.

Throughout Pavlov's entire scientific activity, observations not only on normal animals, but also on sick animals and humans served as an inexhaustible source for his strictly scientific constructions in the field of physiology. First, over random patients, then systematically in hospitals, Pavlov conducted observations as consistently and stubbornly as he did in the physiological laboratory. Clinical cases served him as an indication and impetus for the development of such methods for studying physiological processes in a normal organism, which later became classical. We have in mind the fact that Pavlov discovered the method of imaginary feeding, which he was prompted by clinical cases of patients with an overgrown esophagus.

Pavlov, together with his colleague Shumova-Simonovskaya, gave a method of imaginary feeding, which made it possible to show the fact of the separation activity of the gastric glands under the influence of the nervous system without contact with food, a method that has become a classic. It grew out of the experience accumulated by the clinic.

Having received at the beginning of the XX century. Nobel Prize for classical work in the field of digestion, I. P. Pavlov launched a new cycle of research, organically connected with the first cycle and brought him even greater fame as a great researcher and world scientist. We mean his brilliant work in the field of conditioned reflexes.

The theory of conditioned reflexes as a biological theory was first formulated by Pavlov and, as such, was completed in Pavlov's latest research in the field of genetic analysis of conditioned reflex activity. For Pavlov, the development of a conditioned reflex is, first of all, a biological act that creates the prerequisites for the correct exchange of substances and energy between the organism and the external environment. He came to this on the basis of his classical studies on the physiology of the digestive process, the process of perception and processing of nutrients from the outside, as well as on the basis of his, also classical, works in elucidating the trophic role of the nervous system.

Numerous experimental data showed Pavlov the enormous role played by the nervous system in the main biological process - the process of metabolism. He and his students more convincingly than anyone else were able to show that in the acts of perception and processing of food, in the acts of obtaining it, as well as in the subtlest acts of chemical transformations of these nutrients in the cells of a multicellular organism, the nervous system plays a leading role. . The doctrine formulated by Pavlov about the trophic role of the nervous system is now being developed into an extremely important branch of physiology.

Pavlov's ingenious discovery lies in the fact that this process of continuous exchange of matter and energy between the organism and the external environment is not only carried out by a complex of innate neuro-reflex acts, but that in the individual development of the animal in each specific case, in each specific situation, new, acquired , environmentally conditioned neural connections (conditioned reflexes), which make the most optimal relationship between animals and the external environment under given conditions. In his speech “Natural Science and the Brain,” Pavlov very clearly defines this biological significance of the conditioned reflexes he discovered:

“The most essential connection of an animal organism with the surrounding nature is a connection through known chemical substances, which must constantly enter the composition of a given organism, that is, a connection through food. On the lower levels of the animal world, only the direct contact of food with the animal organism or, conversely, the organism with food most importantly leads to food metabolism. At higher levels, these relationships become more numerous and more distant. Now smells, sounds and pictures direct animals, already in wide areas of the surrounding world, to the food substance. And at the highest level, the sounds of speech and signs of writing to the press scatter the human mass over the entire surface of the globe in search of daily bread. Thus, countless, diverse and distant external agents are, as it were, signals of the food substance, direct higher animals to capture it, move them to establish a food connection with the outside world.

More than thirty years of work by Pavlov and his students clearly showed that, in addition to innate reflexes based on the anatomical connection of the central nervous system and its conductors with peripheral organs (muscles, glands), there are additional reflexes that can arise during the individual life of an animal in as a result of the coincidence of the action of various, previously indifferent, stimuli of the external world with such stimuli that are unconditional causative agents of one or another reaction (secretory, motor, etc.). This is also the main theoretical prerequisite for the development of methodological techniques, which underlies the Pavlovian technique of conditioned reflexes, in which such indifferent stimuli of the food reaction as light, sound, tingling, etc., become conditioned stimuli of the digestive glands if they coincide with the action unconditioned food irritant - the food itself. From a general biological point of view, experiments with newborn animals carried out in Pavlov's laboratory are especially valuable, in which it was possible to show that if newborn puppies are raised on food devoid of meat (milk-bread regimen), then the look and smell of meat are not causative agents of the digestive glands named puppies. But already after a single giving of meat to puppies, in the future, the look and smell of meat become powerful pathogens, for example, the salivary gland. All this led Pavlov to the conclusion that the animal organism has two types of reflexes: permanent, or innate, and temporary, or acquired.

The sum of the facts obtained in relation to the characterization of the functions of the cells of the cerebral cortex by the method of conditioned reflexes can rightfully be considered the basis for the real physiology of the cerebral hemispheres. These facts provided exceptionally valuable material for understanding the complex problems of the sense organs and their localization; they revealed the physiological nature of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the central nervous system. The very method of salivary conditioned reflexes, in addition to its enormous general biological significance, is essential for the analysis of the question of the nature of the nervous process, especially for the processes of origin and conduction of natural nerve impulses. It can be said without exaggeration that the technique of conditioned reflexes will still provide a great deal for the analysis of complex problems of the reaction of peripheral cells in response to natural stimulation.

The fundamental work of the Pavlovian school on conditioned reflexes is one of the leading chapters in the physiology of the nervous system. It is not superfluous to mention here how this question worried Pavlov. Until recently, he wrote about his indignation at the fact that one of the German physiologists said to prof. Folbort in Kharkov: conditioned reflexes are "not physiology". Deeply affected by this, Pavlov, showing his experiments to our guest Prof. Jordan (Holland), excitedly asked him: "But isn't this physiology?" What prof. Jordanes replied: "Well, of course, this is the true physiology." This is how one of the most prominent representatives of the modern biological direction in the field of physiology answered Pavlov, who sets as his goal the study of the whole organism.

Pavlov tried to comprehend the huge natural-historical experience and observations on the development of conditioned reflexes in the individual life of an animal. As a naturalist, he assessed the importance of conditioned reflexes from a general biological point of view. He said that innate reflexes are species reflexes, while acquired reflexes are individual ones. And further he reported: “We called, so to speak, from a purely practical point of view, the first reflex unconditional, and the second conditional. IN the highest degree it is probable (and there are already separate factual indications of this) that new emerging reflexes, while maintaining the same conditions of life in a number of successive generations, continuously pass into permanent ones. This would thus be one of the permanent mechanisms for the development of the animal world. And Pavlov returned to this question in his last summary article, written for the Great Medical Encyclopedia in 1935, when he wrote that conditioned reflexes provide everything that is necessary both for the well-being of the organism and for the well-being of the species. In a speech at the International Congress of Physiologists in 1913, Pavlov decisively stated on this occasion: "It can be accepted that some of the newly formed conditioned reflexes later hereditarily turn into unconditioned ones."

Later, under the guidance of Pavlov, Studentsov undertook special studies to test this idea, and Pavlov's speech based on these experiments met with great interest from biologists, because it dealt with such an important issue as the question of the inheritance of acquired traits. This was the subject of special discussion and criticism from geneticists. The prominent American geneticist Morgan spoke out against these experiments and their interpretation, and Pavlov had to agree with the main arguments of the above discussion. But Pavlov not only did not leave the development of the question in this particular biological direction, but developed it further. Here opens a new huge strip of Pavlov's activity in the study of the genetics of higher nervous activity. This new area of ​​research, which formed the basis of the work of the newly created biological station in Koltushi, was to crown the building of Pavlov's thoughts on the biological significance of conditioned reflexes. The very formulation of the question of the genetics of higher nervous activity, the concrete development of the doctrine of the various types of the nervous system in various animals, removed Pavlov's statements cited above about the inheritance of acquired traits as statements not justified by reliable experience.

Pavlov and his students worked out in great detail the typology of the behavior of various dogs, making this the biological basis for setting up experiments on various animals and possible conclusions in each individual case. In a summary article on conditioned reflexes written in 1935, Pavlov points out that “the study of conditioned reflexes in a mass of dogs gradually raised the question of the different nervous systems of individual animals and that, finally, there were grounds for systematizing the nervous systems according to some of their main features. ".

As for the types of the nervous system, on this occasion Pavlov gives an exhaustive description of them, which completely coincides with modern general biological ideas. These thoughts of Pavlov were a truly grandiose plan for a new field of study of the higher nervous activity of animals by the methods of genetics and physiology, which open up completely new way study of the issue. This time, death placed Pavlov to exhaust the question in the way that he did when creating three new chapters of physiology - digestion, conditioned reflexes, and the trophic role of the nervous system. This work will be the subject of research by a new generation of physiologists.

In the last period of his scientific work, Pavlov exclusively consistently promoted the need for physiologists to study genetics, the application of genetics to the analysis of the types of functioning of the nervous system in animals. This found a symbolic expression in the artistic design that, according to Pavlov's idea, was given to the Koltushi biological station: three sculptures were erected in front of the Pavlovian laboratory in Koltushi - the creator of the concept of the reflex Rene Descartes, the founder of the strictly scientific physiology of the central nervous system Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov and, finally Gregor Mendel, the founder of modern genetics.

As a deep naturalist, Pavlov showed great interest in the problems of the behavior of animals close to humans, and in recent years research has been carried out on monkeys in his laboratory. Constantly interested in the transfer of data obtained in experiments with laboratory animals to humans and specifically raising the question of the features of human physiology, Pavlov was able to come to one of the most profound conclusions regarding human physiology. We have in mind Pavlov's formulation of the question of a special second signal system of reality in the form of a word, peculiar only to man. On this occasion, let us cite an exceptionally bright and concise formulation, which Pavlov gave in his summary article in 1935: “In the developing animal world, an extraordinary increase in the mechanisms of nervous activity took place in the human phase. For an animal, reality is signaled almost exclusively only by stimuli and traces of them in the cerebral hemispheres, which lead directly to special cells of the visual, auditory, and other receptors of the organism. This is what we also have in ourselves as an impression, sensation and representation from the external environment, both general natural and from our social, excluding the word, audible and visible. It is the nervous signaling system of reality that we have in common with animals. But the word constituted our second, special, signal system of reality, being the signal of the first signals.

Special work on questions about the features of human higher nervous activity led Pavlov to the study of human psychopathology, to a psychiatric clinic, where he remained an experimenter who tried to approach the analysis of human mental disorders and treat them on the basis of experimental physiology data.

The new chapter of human physiology discovered by Pavlov about the word as a signaling system began to receive experimental confirmation in the works of Pavlov's school and will be one of the fruitful ways of research, along with the genetics of higher nervous activity, which remained undeveloped in Pavlov's scientific legacy.

Pavlov's doctrine of conditioned reflexes is increasingly gaining citizenship rights outside the Soviet Union and, contrary to the remark of the eminent English physiologist Sherrington that it will not spread abroad, is making its way into a number of countries in Europe and America. This was especially clearly shown by the last International Physiological Congress, at which prof. Sorbonne Luis Lapic declared that the main problems of the physiology of the central nervous system will be solved by applying the method "created by the genius of Pavlov." The doctrine of conditioned reflexes begins to acquire great importance in the analysis of many biological processes, both simple and complex organisms, and this confirms Pavlov's confident view that conditioned reflexes are a process universal for a living system.

The reaction that existed against conditioned reflexes in bourgeois countries, and still partly exists there, rests on deeply fundamental foundations and therefore reveals the tremendous fundamental significance of Pavlov's teaching. Pavlov told how, more than 10 years ago, at the anniversary of the Royal Society of London, the famous English physiologist-neurologist Sherington told him: “You know, your conditioned reflexes in England will hardly be successful, because they smell of materialism.” It was to materialism that Pavlov's life as a naturalist was devoted to the end. Observing nature on a "large scale and in in general terms”, constantly relying on the “staff of experience”, Pavlov saw in front of him “a grandiose fact of the development of nature from the initial state in the form of nebulae in infinite space to a human being on our planet” (Pavlov) and, as a naturalist, did not need to interpret the phenomena of the surrounding nature in the forces that lie outside this nature. All the classical heritage of this great researcher and world scientist will be used in building the edifice of strictly scientific, the only correct materialistic knowledge of the world.

The brilliant researcher of nature, Pavlov, with his deep mind, was able to understand that specific historical reality, which he witnessed in his declining years. IP Pavlov was deeply worried about the fate of the culture of mankind, the fate of his homeland. In this sense, he is superior to many of those classics of natural science who, in matters of natural politics, did not rise above the philistine level of their era.

The indisputable merit of the brilliant physiologist Pavlov before mankind will always be that he raised his voice of protest against war and fascism from the rostrum of the world congress. This protest met with a wide response among the outstanding scientists of the whole world, the delegates of the XV International Congress of Physiologists in Leningrad. In the face of militant fascism, Pavlov unconditionally stood up for the defense of his great socialist homeland, leaving behind the memory of a citizen of the USSR, proud of the consciousness of belonging to the great family of peoples of the USSR building a new society. He, an outstanding representative of mental labor, understood and appreciated the historical significance of the Stakhanov movement as a step towards overcoming the contradictions between physical and mental labor. He is an honorary member of many academies and universities of the world, officially recognized at world congresses as "the head of the physiologists of the world" - with great excitement he received the notice of his election by the assembly of Donetsk miners as an "honorary miner".

Dying in the true sense of the word at a scientific post, Pavlov, despite his age (86 years), was constantly worried about the fate of the Soviet homeland and shortly before his death he wrote his famous message to the youth of the USSR, among whom the image of the great citizen of the USSR Ivan Petrovich Pavlov will always live. .