Who is Ivan Pavlov?

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28 Feb 2024

Ivan Pavlov was born on September 14, 1849, in the small village of Ryazan, Russia, the eldest of eleven children. His father was Peter Dmitrievich Pavlov, a Russian orthodox priest, and his mother was Varvara Ivanovna Uspenskaya.

His father was a priest who hoped his son would follow in his footsteps and join the church. In Ivan's early years, it seemed that his father's dream would come true. Because Ivan was educated in a church school and in theology. However, when he read the works of scientists such as Charles Darwin and IM Sechenov, Ivan decided to pursue scientific studies instead.

Thereupon St. He began studying chemistry and physiology at St. Petersburg University. In 1875, he graduated as a medical doctor from the Imperial Medical Academy before studying under Rudolf Heidenhain and Carl Ludwig, two famous physiologists.

Ivan Pavlov married Seraphima Vasilievna Karchevskaya in 1881. They had five children: Wirchik, Vladimir, Victor, Vsevolod and Vera. Pavlov and his wife lived in poverty in their early years. They even stayed with friends during difficult times and rented a bug-infested loft for a while.

Pavlov's fortunes changed in 1890 when he was appointed Professor of Pharmacology at the Military Medical Academy. In the same year, he became head of the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. With these well-funded academic positions, Pavlov had the opportunity to further the scientific work that interested him.

Digestive Physiology Research

Pavlov's early research was primarily on digestive physiology. He used surgical methods to study various processes of the digestive system. By exposing sections of a dog's intestinal tract during surgery, he was able to understand gastric secretions and the role of the body and mind in the digestive process.

In 1897, Pavlov published his findings in a book called “Lessons on the Work of the Digestive Glands.” His work on digestive physiology won him the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1904. Some of Pavlov's other honors include an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge in 1912 and the Legion of Honor awarded to him in 1915.

Discovery of Conditioned Reflexes: Pavlov's Dog Experiment

Although Pavlov had many important achievements, he is best known for explaining the concept of conditioned reflexes.
Conditioned reflex is considered a form of learning that can occur through exposure to stimuli. Pavlov examined this phenomenon by conducting a series of experiments with dogs in the laboratory. Originally, Pavlov was studying the connection between saliva and nutrition. He proved that dogs have an unconditioned response when fed.

On the other hand, Pavlov realized he had made a scientific discovery when he saw dogs salivating when they saw a person wearing a lab coat. Because the dogs learned that a lab coat meant food. In response, they drooled whenever they saw a lab assistant. In other words, dogs were conditioned to respond in a certain way. From this point on, Pavlov decided to devote himself to the study of conditioning.

Ivan Pavlov tested his theories in the laboratory using various neural stimuli. For example, he used a bell that produced specific tones and the ticking of a metronome to get dogs to associate certain sounds with food.

He discovered that when dogs were trained to associate the sound of a bell with food, they would salivate whether food was present or not. This experiment proved that saliva is associated with the sound of a bell, thus proving that the bell is a stimulus for salivation. It was a conditioned reflex that dogs increased salivation when they heard the bell, even if there was no food.

Although Pavlov was not a psychologist, he predicted that his findings could also be applied to humans. He believed that a conditioned response could cause certain behaviors in people with psychological problems and that these responses could not be learned. Some scientists, such as John B. Watson, even proved this theory correct when they managed to replicate Pavlov's research with humans.

Death

Ivan Pavlov worked in the laboratory until his death at the age of 86. He died in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Russia, on February 27, 1936, after contracting pneumonia.

A big funeral ceremony was held upon his death. There was also a monument erected in his honor in his homeland. Pavlov's laboratory has also been turned into a museum.