Conditioning, sensations, and the ergotropic-trophotropic balance

Abstract

Analysis of Pschonik’s work on conditioning and sensation, in the light of Gellhorn’s studies on the tuning of the central nervous system through changes in the ergotropic-trophotropic balance, leads to the following results. Vasomotor and sensory reactions (VSR) induced by stimulation of cutaneous warmth and pain receptors (US), or by the conditional stimulus (CS) reinforced by the US, show parallel changes in a variety of circumstances: 1) anesthesia of the skin abolishes the effect of the US but not that of the CS; 2) various procedures lead to a reversal of VSR in the conditioned state in response to the US; 3) in a near-neurotic state VSR may be abolished while the plethysmogram gives evidence that ergotropic and trophotropic discharges occur at the same time.

Changes in the ergotropic-trophotropic balance at the hypothalamic level alter VSR quantitatively and qualitatively. In an ergotropicallytuned state not only ergotropically-acting stimuli, but also trophotropically-acting stimuli lead to vasoconstriction and pain. Thus, stimulation of pain receptors, as well as stimulation of warmth receptors, produces vasoconstriction and pain. Similarly, these stimuli effect vasodilatation and warmth in the trophotropically-tuned state. It is concluded that the ergotropic-trophotropic balance has a profound influence on sensations and perceptions. It is of clinical significance that this balance can be altered through a conditional reflex mechanism,i.e., on the basis of individual experience.