A possible biological analogue of the reinforcement control device in self-organizing systems

Virtually all self-organizing systems proposed as models for learning require a reinforcement control device. The biological analogue of this device has never been clear. Slow changes in the cortical potential may be correlates of a biological analogue of reinforcement control devices. Frequent pairings of novel stimuli with other stimuli eliciting specific responses produce a slow shift and oscillation in the cortical potential. This D. C. shift and oscillation occurs first in the sensory, and then in the motor cortex involved; it may be associated with the decreases or increases which occur in the threshold of cells in these cortical areas.