[Electrical reactions in the cat brain during differentiation of photic stimuli]

Study of EEG responses to photic conditioned stimuli in cats has shown that the extent of brain activation depends not on the physical strength of the stimulus, but on its biological significance. The longest activation is recorded to a positive signal, even if it is the weakest flash of light. The intensity of EEG responses to negative stimuli is determined by the nearness of their physical parameters to those of the positive signal. Repeated presentation of a non-reinforced flash leads to a gradual extinction of EEG reactions. Brain activation in response to a reinforced positive signal persists unchanged even after a large number of its repetitions. The revealed properties of brain electrical reactions to stimuli of different significance accord with those previously recorded in response to acoustic stimuli. In both cases the data are in agreement with hypothesis of a central system of signal analysis, which performs the estimation of stimuli according to their biological quality.