Effect of Drive Reduction on Learning

Assuming the locus of change through learning occurs in the central nervous system, there is a distinction between fast and slowly acting drives. The former is induced and reduced in the central nervous system directly via peripheral system, such as pain. The latter is a relatively slow process, induced and reduced by means of the chemical nature of circulated blood acting upon the central nervous system, such as in hunger. In other words, one process occurs in the same system with faster conduction rate, whereas the other involves conduction between different systems with slower propagation rate. The fact that the reduction of the slowly acting drive produces the strengthening of habit despite its slow conduction points out that there must be some representative neural event concurrent with the presentation of a rewarding stimulus, and consequently the representative neural event undergoes an abrupt change following a sequence of goal behavior.