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What did Ivan Pavlov argue about the role of language in human behavior?
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Ivan Pavlov argued that the language function in human beings is fundamentally based on long chains of conditioned reflexes involving words.1
He posited that language serves a unique role in human cognition by facilitating the elaboration of generalizations that are not possible in animals lower than humans. By extending his laws of the conditioned reflex to human behavior, Pavlov viewed language as a complex system that allows for these higher-level mental processes, distinguishing human nervous activity from that of other species.1