Advances in Understanding Brain Behavior in Animals
Overview
Understanding the behavior of animals is essential to the work of scientists today. Animal models are used in many areas to study anatomy as well as behavior. Knowing the workings of animal brains led to the founding of psychology and neurology as distinct disciplines. Several scientists devoted their efforts to the study of brain behavior in animals. Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1839-1936) is known for his development of the concept of conditioned reflex. German-born American biologist Jacques Loeb (1859-1924) studied animal responses that he coined "tropisms." And American psychologist B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) experimented with scientific measurement of animal behavior that led to the development of a major branch called behaviorism. Behaviorism is not only a philosophy of the past but of the future. For example, computer-assisted instruction is based on the work of the behaviorists.
Background
The scientific study of brain behavior in animals has philosophical roots in the observations of French philosopher René Descartes (1594-1650). As a soldier in Amsterdam, Descartes lived next to a butcher's quarters and became fascinated with animal dissection. His dissections led him to develop an early mechanistic account of the nervous system that included a model of reflex concepts.
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