Random Search & Steady State Shape Behavior

…It is a central contention of this model that the internal Random Search for Steady State is the basic shaper of behavior, not the external conditions of reinforcement.

Putnam-Fuller NS Model 1964 pg 21

HOWEVER:

Thought is a property of the class of the correlates fed into the brain from the environment. The order manifested by the nervous system originates as the internalization of an external order. Lect Notes Sci & Phil #5 1966 pg 16

Without external stimulus constantly fed in, the brain would rapidly ceace to function. Still, once fed in it is RS and SS that shape behavior not the external source.

BJS: The external provision of food to a dog will cause the dog to salivate.

But only if the dog is hungry - It is the internal stimulus (hunger) that shapes the behavior. The external stimulus is not the cause of the salivation - but only prompts the internal.