ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Jerzy Konorski's general notions about how conditioning might be constrained. It reviews three detail constraints on instrumental conditioning that Konorski analyzed. The chapter explains Konorski's analysis of some examples differed in important ways from the approach to similar problems taken in more recent literature. In contrast, Konorski's analysis of the constraints on conditioning discussed in the chapter shows that two tasks that are parallel from the experimenter's point of view can be seen as involving different kinds of learning by the subject. In the case of the special properties of specific tactile stimuli, the conditioned stimulus (CS) paw-movement associations pre-exist for the STS, and they block acquisition of other associations that are acquired when a buzzer is used. One of the examples in the chapter explores the peculiarities of certain instrumentalized reflexes, such as like grooming, Konorski's special approach is most apparent. It emphasizes that a diversity of mechanisms could be responsible for constraints on conditioning.
