Reinforcement in Functional Systems - Systems Research in Physiology

This series summarizes and extends the principles of interacting systems in the realms of physiology, psychophysiology, psychiatry and psychology.;The fourth and final volume examines reinforcement in the light of Anokhin's general theory of functional systems. The mechanisms (behavioural, cellular and possibly molecular) reinforcing dominant motivations and specific environmental factors to ensure that the presentation of an external cue evokes all the responses designed to meet a particular biological or social need, the relation between reinforcing stimuli and motivational arousal, the information conveyed by the reinforcement to the functional system and the possible difference in the neurotransmitter and neuropeptide arrangements of "positive" and "negative" reinforcing factors are studied. Various techniques, including classical conditioning and stimulus differentiation, single-cell bio-feedback and self-administration of bioactive substances, are employed and the authors draw on both animal experiments and clinical and pathological findings.