THE STRUCTURAL BASIS OF THE INTEGRATION OF BEHAVIOR

Abstract

The law of development of behavior has been demonstrated by the author in a relatively simple morphological type of vertebrate (the salamander) in which movement has been observed from its beginning to its culmination in the definitive pattern. This law consists in the expansion of a primarily integrated total pattern of action within which partial patterns arise by individuation through the restriction of both the field of motor action and the field of adequate stimulation. This law has been demonstrated in the origin of unconditioned reflexes, and it appears also to apply to the formation of conditioned reflexes, instincts and the so-called process of trial and error. The structural basis of this law is found in the growth of the nervous system; and in this also there appears to be a natural basis for the interpretation of attitude and motivation. Inhibition, conditioned, unconditioned and chain reflexes, trial and error, instinct, posture, attitude and motivation are discussed. The existence of a specific mechanism of total reactions as opposed to local reflexes is emphasized as fundamental to the interpretation of behavior.