Ivan Pavlov was born on September 26th , 1849 in Ryazan, a small village in Russia. He died on February 27th, 1936 at the age of 87. Pavlov attended and graduated from the Ryazan church school before entering the local theological seminary (Sack, 2014.) . However, in 1870, inspired by progressive ideas , Pavlov left his religious career behind and chose to dedicate his life to the study of science. Pavlov became very involved with physiology. In 1870 he produced his first project on the physiology of pancreatic nerves during his first course in natural science. He continued his studies in the Academy of Medical Surgery where he got a position as a Director of the Physiological Laboratory at a clinic. Pavlov was offered a position to direct …show more content…
He discovered that the nervous system had a major role in regulating the process of digestion. His discovery is the basis of modern physiology of digestion. Pavlov published an article with the results of his work in the field of physiology of digestion. Pavlov's studies led him to study conditioned reflexes. Pavlov started from the thought that it is of the dog’s nature to salivate when they see food, this response is not learned or, in behaviorist terms, it is an unconditioned response. Pavlov's study on conditional reflexes influenced science as well as popular culture. The expression "Pavlov's dog" can be used to describe someone who simply responds to a situation instead of using critical …show more content…
After repeating this several times, the bell alone started to make the dogs salivate. This response was a conditioned response, it had been learned. The bell was the neutral stimulus and it became a conditioned stimulus. Pavlov found that for connections to occur, the time elapsed between the two two stimuli could not be too long. He named this the law of temporal contiguity. (McLeod, 2007.) Pavlov’s studies of classical conditioning have become well known since he started his work . In 1903 Pavlov published and read a paper on The Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology of Animals at the 14th International Medical Congress. According to the website nobelprize.org (Ivan Pavlov - Biographical, n.d ) “Pavlov received world acclaim and recognition even in the early stages of his research. In 1904 he was awarded a Nobel Prize, and in 1907 he was elected Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences; in 1912 he received an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University and in the following years honorary membership of various scientific societies abroad. Finally, he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honour