Problems of Internal Inhibition

The published data convincingly show that the inhibitory conditioned reflex is directly related in its origin to the positive conditioned reflex, since the appearance of inhibitory behavior requires cancellation of the reinforcement, which was previously regularly applied during elaboration of a certain adaptive reaction. This means that physiological mechanisms of internal inhibition must be closely associated with pre-existing mechanisms of associative learning.

According to the concept developed in this paper, any form of learning, including internal inhibition, has in its neurophysiological basis a gnostic neuronal network, specific in function and local in organization. During internal inhibition the gnostic network appears as if in pure form, whereas, during positive reflexes, it is complicated by additional relations branched in space. In both cases the gnostic network is the central link in conditioning and contains memory traces.