Chapter IV Some Emergent Problems of the Regulation of Motor Acts

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses some emergent problems of the regulation of motor acts. The motor activity of organisms is of enormous biological significance—it is practically the only way in which the organism not only interacts with the surrounding environment, but also actively operates on this environment, altering it with respect to particular results. The theoretical lag observed in this area in comparison with the physiology of receptors or of internal processes is therefore very puzzling. So is the neglect which is obvious from the sections on movement in physiological textbooks that vary up to now from zero to some few pages. The reflex system will operate adequately if to each answering effectors there is attached its own (a) constant, and (b) correctly recognized releaser signal-code. The composition of this code may be entirely arbitrary, without introducing interference into the functional system if these two conditions alone are observed.