EN Sokolov, and the Conditioned Reflex (orienting response)

AN Sokolov Perception and the Conditioned Reflex (1958).

The orienting response was described by Pavlov but elaborated by Sokolov. It is a reaction to a new or unexpected stimulus or to change in parameters (intensity, duration, frequency, etc.). It correlates with a generalized physiologic reaction. A basic property is habituation, it disappears with repeated presentation. It can be seen in EEG, EMG, GSR, psychogalvanic response etc. Sokolov showed that the orienting response is not analysis of a stimulus, but confrontation of it. If a representation of the stimulus is formed, and subsequent presentations "match" the response habituates. If there is discordance, the response reappears. Thus the nervous system has to have an imprint of the external world (that is subject to continuous revision). OS Vinogradov, did further experiments and found that neurons in the hippocampus and other subcortical nuclei would compare stimuli to past traces.


Sokolov also noed that tongue and lip activities were active during "inner speech" and wa a physiological index for indicating mental planning.

Correlation of psychological with physiologic variables is absent in contemporary Soviet research.