Word: reflexively
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Normally dogs snatch at food; elephants reach out their trunks for it. A man will pull his hand away from a hot plate. These are examples of unconditioned reflexes, fully developed in infancy. They constitute the equipment with which the animal faces life, according to the behaviorists.* By modifying the conditions, the simple reflexes may be changed, becoming more complicated, or conditioned. The process of changing an unconditioned reflex into a conditioned reflex was clearly demonstrated to an audience of psychiatrists at the Academy of Medicine last week, in a cinema entitled "The Mechanics of the Brain...
...unconditioned reflex is the simplest nervous reaction. A dog will smell food and turn in its direction. Nature believes in preparedness and the dog will secrete saliva as he goes for the food. Only the lower parts of the brain are concerned in this reaction. But, if a bell is rung every time the food appears, there will come a time when the dog will secrete saliva at the sound of the bell when there is no food in sight...
...simple reflex has been conditioned by the bell; the dog has associated the food with the sound; the power house of the upper brain has gone into action, and the intelligent animal now reacts to an idea. This is the learning mechanism in its elementary form. If the upper brain is now removed, the learned reaction will be lost...
...Reflex has been published this summer. It is a monthly, not unlike the American Mercury. It is "essentially interested in a new busy, creative Jewish life...
...Just as surely as a chorine poises her little finger by pure reflex action when she holds a tea cup. Which reminds me that one of them lost her poise the other night at the Lair on Lansdowne street when a gentleman stroked her head with a ginger ale bottle. Now Emily Poste aside, I cannot believe that a real gentleman would do a thing like that. Of course there are times when it would be intriguing. Haven't you wished you could place just a small bottle. Now Emily Poste aside, I cannot believe that a real gentleman would...