Human behavior is associated with conditionally unconditioned reflex activity and is a higher nervous activity, the result of which is a change in the ratio of the organism with the external environment.

In contrast to higher nervous activity, lower nervous activity consists of a set of reactions aimed at unification, integration of functions within the body.

Higher nervous activity manifests itself in the form of complex reflex reactions, carried out with the obligatory participation of the cerebral cortex and the subcortical formations closest to it.

For the first time, the idea of ​​the reflex nature of the activity of the brain was widely and in detail developed by the founder of Russian physiology, I. M. Sechenov, in his book "Reflexes of the Brain". The ideological setting of this classic work is expressed in the original title, changed under the influence of censorship: "An attempt to introduce physiological foundations into mental processes." Before I. M. Sechenov, physiologists and neurologists did not even dare to raise the question of the possibility of an objective, purely physiological analysis of mental processes. The latter remained completely at the mercy of subjective psychology.

The ideas of I. M. Sechenov were brilliantly developed in the remarkable works of I. P. Pavlov, who opened the way for an objective experimental study of the functions of the cerebral cortex and created a coherent theory of higher nervous activity.

I. P. Pavlov showed that while in the underlying parts of the central nervous system - the subcortical nuclei, the brain stem, the spinal cord - reflex reactions are carried out along innate, hereditarily fixed nerve pathways, in the cerebral cortex, nerve connections are developed and created in the process individual life of animals and humans, as a result of a combination of countless stimuli acting on the body.

The discovery of this fact made it possible to divide the entire set of reflex reactions occurring in the body into two main groups: unconditioned and conditioned reflexes.

Conditioned reflexes

• these are reactions acquired by the body in the process of individual development on the basis of "life experience"
• are individual: some representatives of the same species may have them, while others may not
• are unstable and, depending on certain conditions, they can develop, gain a foothold or disappear; this is their property and is reflected in their very name
• can form in response to a wide variety of stimuli applied to various receptive fields
• closed at the level of the cortex. After the removal of the cerebral cortex, the developed conditioned reflexes disappear and only unconditioned reflexes remain.
• carried out through functional temporary connections

Conditioned reflexes are developed on the basis of unconditioned reflexes. For the formation of a conditioned reflex, it is necessary to combine the time of any change in the external environment and the internal state of the organism, perceived by the cerebral cortex, with the implementation of one or another unconditioned reflex. Only under this condition does a change in the external environment or the internal state of the organism become an irritant of the conditioned reflex - a conditioned stimulus, or signal. The stimulus that causes an unconditioned reflex - an unconditioned stimulus - must, during the formation of a conditioned reflex, accompany the conditioned stimulus, reinforce it.

For the formation of conditioned reflexes, it is necessary to create a temporary connection, a circuit between the cortical cells that perceive the conditioned stimulation, and the cortical neurons that make up the arc of the unconditioned reflex.

With the coincidence and combination of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, a connection is established between various neurons in the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres, and a closure process occurs between them.

Unconditioned reflexes

• these are congenital, hereditary reactions of the body
• are specific, i.e. characteristic of all representatives of a given species
• relatively constant, usually persisting throughout life
• carried out in response to adequate stimuli applied to one specific receptive field
• close at the level of the spinal cord and brain stem
• are carried out through a phylogenetically fixed, anatomically expressed reflex arc.

It should be noted, however, that in humans and monkeys, which have a high degree of corticalization of functions, many complex unconditioned reflexes are carried out with the obligatory participation of the cerebral cortex. This is proved by the fact that its lesions in primates lead to pathological disturbances of unconditioned reflexes and the disappearance of some of them.

It should also be emphasized that not all unconditioned reflexes appear immediately at the time of birth. Many unconditioned reflexes, for example, those associated with locomotion, sexual intercourse, occur in humans and animals a long time after birth, but they necessarily appear under the condition of normal development of the nervous system.

The whole set of unconditional and conditioned reflexes formed on their basis is usually divided into a number of groups according to their functional significance.

1. According to the receptor
   1. Exteroceptive reflexes
      • visual
      • olfactory
      • taste, etc.
   2. Interoreceptive reflexes- reflexes in which the conditioned stimulus is irritation of the receptors of internal organs by a change in the chemical composition, temperature of internal organs, pressure in hollow organs and vessels
2. According to effector, i.e. by those effectors that respond to stimulation
   1. autonomic reflexes
      • food
      • cardiovascular
      • respiratory, etc.
   2. somato-motor reflexes- manifested in the movements of the whole organism or its individual parts in response to the action of the stimulus
      • defensive
3. By biological significance
   1. food
      • reflex act of swallowing
      • reflex act of chewing
      • reflex act of sucking
      • reflex act of salivation
      • reflex act of secretion of gastric and pancreatic juice, etc.
   2. defensive- elimination reactions from damaging and painful stimuli
   3. Sexual- reflexes associated with the implementation of sexual intercourse; the so-called parental reflexes associated with feeding and rearing offspring can also be included in this group.
   4. Stato-kinetic and locomotor- reflex reactions to maintain a certain position and movement of the body in space.
   5. Reflexes of maintaining homeostasis
      • thermoregulation reflex
      • respiratory reflex
      • cardiac reflex
      • vascular reflexes that contribute to maintaining the constancy of blood pressure, etc.
   6. Orienting reflex- a reflex to novelty. It arises in response to any fairly rapidly occurring fluctuation of the environment and is expressed externally in alertness, listening to a new sound, sniffing, turning the eyes and head, and sometimes the whole body in the direction of the light stimulus that has appeared, etc. The implementation of this reflex provides the best perception of the acting agent and has an important adaptive value.

      IP Pavlov figuratively called the orienting reaction the reflex "what is it?" This reaction is innate and does not disappear with the complete removal of the cerebral cortex in animals; it is also observed in children with underdeveloped cerebral hemispheres - anencephaly.

The difference between the orienting reflex and other unconditional reflex reactions is that it fades relatively quickly with repeated applications of the same stimulus. This feature of the orienting reflex depends on the influence of the cerebral cortex on it.

The above classification of reflex reactions is very close to the classification of various instincts, which are also divided into food, sexual, parental, defensive. This is understandable due to the fact that, according to IP Pavlov, instincts are complex unconditioned reflexes. Their distinguishing features are the chain nature of reactions (the end of one reflex serves as the causative agent of the next) and their dependence on hormonal and metabolic factors. Thus, the emergence of sexual and parental instincts is associated with cyclic changes in the functioning of the gonads, and the food instinct depends on those metabolic changes that develop in the absence of food. One of the features of instinctive reactions is also that they are characterized by many properties of the dominant.

The reflex component is a reaction to irritation (movement, secretion, change in breathing, etc.).

Most unconditioned reflexes are complex reactions, which include several components. So, for example, with an unconditioned defensive reflex caused in a dog by strong electrical stimulation of the limb, along with protective movements, there is also increased and increased respiration, acceleration of cardiac activity, voice reactions appear (screeching, barking), the blood system changes (leukocytosis, platelets and etc.). In the food reflex, its motor (grasping, chewing, swallowing), secretory, respiratory, cardiovascular and other components are also distinguished.

Conditioned reflexes, as a rule, reproduce the structure of the unconditioned reflex, since the conditioned stimulus excites the same nerve centers as the unconditioned one. Therefore, the composition of the components of the conditioned reflex is similar to the composition of the components of the unconditioned reaction.

Among the components of the conditioned reflex, the main reflexes specific to this type and secondary components are distinguished. In the defensive reflex, the motor component is the main one, in the food reflex, the motor and secretory ones.

Changes in respiration, cardiac activity, and vascular tone accompanying the main components are also important for the integral response of the animal to a stimulus, but, as IP Pavlov said, they play a "purely auxiliary role." Thus, increased and increased respiration, increased heart rate, increased vascular tone, caused by a conditioned defensive stimulus, contribute to an increase in metabolic processes in the skeletal muscles and thereby create optimal conditions for the implementation of protective motor reactions.

In the study of conditioned reflexes, the experimenter often chooses any one of its main components as an indicator. Therefore, they speak of conditioned and unconditioned motor or secretory or vasomotor reflexes. However, it must be taken into account that they are only separate components of the integral reaction of the organism.

The biological significance of conditioned reflexes lies in the fact that they make it possible to adapt much better and more accurately to the conditions of existence and survive in these conditions.

As a result of the formation of conditioned reflexes, the body reacts not only directly to unconditioned stimuli, but also to the possibility of their action on it; reactions appear some time before unconditional irritation. This very organism turns out to be prepared in advance for the actions that it has to carry out in a given situation. Conditioned reflexes help to find food, avoid danger in advance, eliminate harmful influences, etc.

The adaptive significance of conditioned reflexes is also manifested in the fact that the precedence of a conditioned stimulus to an unconditioned one strengthens the unconditioned reflex and accelerates its development.

The behavior of animals is different forms of external, mainly motor activity, aimed at establishing vital connections between the organism and the environment. Animal behavior consists of conditioned, unconditioned reflexes and instincts. Instincts include complex unconditioned reactions that, being innate, appear only at certain periods of life (for example, the instinct of nesting or feeding offspring). Instincts play a leading role in the behavior of lower animals. However, the higher an animal is at the evolutionary level, the more complex and diverse its behavior, the more perfect and subtle it adapts to the environment, and the greater the role of conditioned reflexes in its behavior.

The environment in which animals exist is very variable. Adaptation to the conditions of this environment through conditioned reflexes will be subtle and precise only if these reflexes are also changeable, i.e., conditioned reflexes that are unnecessary in new environmental conditions disappear, and new ones are formed instead. The disappearance of conditioned reflexes occurs due to the processes of inhibition.

Distinguish between external (unconditioned) inhibition of conditioned reflexes and internal (conditioned) inhibition.

External inhibition of conditioned reflexes arises under the influence of extraneous stimuli that cause a new reflex reaction. This inhibition is called external because it develops as a result of processes occurring in areas of the cortex that are not involved in the implementation of this conditioned reflex.

Superstrong or long-acting extraneous stimuli can cause prohibitive inhibition of reflexes.

Internal inhibition of conditioned reflexes occurs in the absence of reinforcement by an unconditioned stimulus of the received signal.

In this case, internal inhibition does not appear immediately. As a rule, repeated application of an unreinforced signal is required.

The fact that this is inhibition of the conditioned reflex, and not its destruction, is evidenced by the restoration of the reflex the next day, when the inhibition has passed. Various diseases, overwork, overstrain causes a weakening of internal inhibition.

If the conditioned reflex is extinguished (not reinforced with food) for several days in a row, then it may disappear altogether.

There are several types of internal inhibition. The form of inhibition considered above is called extinctive inhibition. This inhibition underlies the disappearance of unnecessary conditioned reflexes.

Another variety is differentiated (distinctive) inhibition.

An unreinforced conditioned stimulus causes inhibition in the cortex and is called an inhibitory stimulus. With the help of the described technique, it was possible to determine the distinctive ability of different sense organs in animals.

The phenomenon of disinhibition. It is known that extraneous stimuli cause inhibition of conditioned reflexes. If an extraneous stimulus occurs during the action of an inhibitory stimulus, for example, when a metronome is used at a frequency of 100 times per minute, as in the previous case, then this will cause the opposite reaction - saliva will flow. IP Pavlov called this phenomenon disinhibition and explained it by the fact that an extraneous stimulus, causing an orienting reflex, inhibits any other process that is currently taking place in the centers of the conditioned reflex. If the inhibition process is inhibited, then all this leads to the excitation and implementation of a conditioned reflex.

The phenomenon of disinhibition also indicates the inhibitory nature of the processes of discrimination and extinction of conditioned reflexes.

The value of conditional inhibition very large. Thanks to inhibition, a much better correspondence of the reaction of the organism to external conditions is achieved, and its adaptation to the environment is more perfect. The combination of two forms of a single nervous process - excitation and inhibition - and their interaction enable the body to orient itself in various complex situations, are the conditions for the analysis and synthesis of stimuli.

Pull your hand away from a hot kettle, close your eyes at a flash of light... We perform such actions automatically, without having time to think about what exactly we are doing and why. These are the unconditioned human reflexes - innate reactions that are characteristic of all people without exception.

History of discovery, types, differences

Before considering unconditioned reflexes in detail, we will have to make a short digression into biology and talk about reflex processes in general.

So what is a reflex? In psychology, this is the response of the body to a change in the external or internal environment, which is carried out with the help of the central nervous system. Thanks to this ability, the body quickly adapts to changes in the surrounding world or in its internal state. For its implementation, a reflex arc is necessary, that is, the path along which the signal of irritation passes from the receptor to the corresponding organ.

For the first time, reflex reactions were described by Rene Descartes in the 17th century. But the French scientist considered that this is not a psychological phenomenon. He considered reflexes as part of objective natural science knowledge, while psychology at that time was considered, as it were, not a science, because it dealt only with subjective reality, was not subject to objective experiment.

The very concept of "reflex" in the second half of the 19th century was introduced by the Russian physiologist I. M. Sechenov. He proved that reflex activity is a single principle of operation of the entire central nervous system. The scientist demonstrated that the initial cause of a mental phenomenon or human action is given by the influence of the external environment or irritation of the nervous system inside the body.

And if the sense organs do not experience irritation, and sensitivity is lost, mental life freezes. Recall the well-known expression: "tired until you lose your senses." Indeed, when we are very tired, as a rule, we do not see dreams and become almost insensitive to external stimuli: noise, light, even pain.

Sechenov's research was continued by IP Pavlov. He came to the conclusion that there are innate reflexes, for the occurrence of which no special conditions are needed, and acquired, arising during the adaptation of the organism to the external environment.

Surely many will now remember the famous Pavlov's dog. And not in vain: when studying digestion in animals, the scientist noticed that in experimental dogs, salivation did not begin when food was served, but already at the sight of the assistant researcher, who usually brought food.

If the release of saliva when serving food is a typical unconditioned reflex, and it is characteristic of all dogs, then saliva already at the sight of an assistant is a typical conditioned reflex developed in individual animals. Hence the main difference between the two types: genetic congestion or occurrence under the influence of the environment. In addition, unconditioned and conditioned reflexes differ in a number of other indicators.

• Unconditioned are present in all individuals of the species, regardless of their living conditions; conditional, on the contrary, arise under the influence of the individual conditions of the organism's life (this difference is clear from the name of each species).
• Unconditioned responses are the foundation on which conditioned responses can be built, but they need constant reinforcement.
• Reflex arcs of unconditioned reflexes are closed in the lower parts of the brain, as well as in the spinal cord. Conditional arcs are formed in the cerebral cortex.
• Unconditioned reflex processes are unchanged throughout a person's life, although they can be somewhat transformed in the event of a serious illness. Conditional - appear and disappear. In other words, in one case the reflex arcs are permanent, in the other they are temporary.

From these differences, a general characteristic of unconditioned reflexes is easily formed: they are hereditary, invariable, inherent in all representatives of the species and support the life of the organism in constant environmental conditions.

Where do

As already mentioned, both conditioned and unconditioned reflexes are possible due to the work of the central nervous system. Its most important components are the brain and spinal cord. As an example of an unconditioned reflex, for which the spinal cord is responsible, one can cite the well-known knee reflex.

The doctor gently hits the hammer in a certain place, which causes involuntary extension of the lower leg. Normally, this reflex should be of medium severity, but if it is too weak or too strong, this is most likely evidence of pathology.

Unconditioned reflexes of the brain are numerous. In the lower parts of this organ there are various reflex centers. So, if you move up from the spinal cord, the first will be the medulla oblongata. Sneezing, coughing, swallowing, salivation - these reflex processes are possible precisely due to the work of the medulla oblongata.

Under the control of the midbrain - reactions that occur in response to visual or auditory impulses. This includes constriction or expansion of the pupil, depending on the amount of light falling on it, a reflex turn towards the source of sound or light. The action of such reflexes extends only to unfamiliar stimuli.

That is, for example, with numerous sharp sounds, a person will each time turn to a new place of the noise, and not continue to listen, trying to understand where the first sound came from. Through the intermediate section of the brain, the so-called unconditioned reflex of posture straightening closes. These are the muscle contractions with which our body responds to a change in posture; they allow the body to be held in a new position.

Classification

Classification of unconditioned reflexes is carried out according to different criteria. For example, there is a division that is understandable even to a non-specialist into simple, complex and complex.

The example given at the beginning of the text about pulling the hand away from the teapot is a simple unconditioned reflex. Difficult ones include, for example, sweating. And if we are dealing with a whole chain of simple actions, then we are already talking about a group of the most complex ones: for example, self-preservation reflexes, care for offspring. Such a set of behavioral programs is usually called instinct.

The classification is quite simple in relation to the organism to the stimulus. Based on it, unconditioned reflex reactions are divided into positive (search for food by smell) and negative (desire to escape from the source of noise).

According to the biological significance, the following types of unconditioned reflexes are distinguished:

• Food (swallowing, sucking, salivation).
• Sexual (sexual arousal).
• Defensive or protective (the same withdrawal of hands or the desire to cover the head with hands, if it seems to a person that a blow will follow now).
• Approximate (the desire to identify unfamiliar stimuli: turn your head to a sharp sound or touch). They have already been discussed when we talked about the reflex centers of the midbrain.
• Locomotive, that is, employees for movement (support the body in a certain position in space).

Very often in the scientific literature there is a classification proposed by the Russian scientist P. V. Simonov. He divided all unconditioned reflexes into three groups: vital, role and self-development reflexes.

Vital (from the Latin vitalis - "life") are directly related to the preservation of the life of the individual. This is a food, defensive, reflex of saving efforts (if the result of actions is the same, one chooses what takes less effort), regulation of sleep and wakefulness.

If the corresponding need is not satisfied, the physical existence of the organism ceases, another representative of the species is not needed to realize the reflex - these are the signs that unite all the reactions of this group.

Role-playing can be done, on the contrary, only in contact with another individual. These primarily include parental and sexual reflexes. The last group includes such reflexes as play, research, imitation reflex of another individual.

Of course, there are other variants of classification, as well as other views on the methods of division given here. And this is not surprising: unanimity is rarely found among scientists.

Features and meaning

As we have already said, the reflex arcs of unconditioned reflexes are constant, but they themselves can be active at different periods of a person's life. So, for example, sexual reflexes appear when the body reaches a certain age. Other reflex processes, on the contrary, fade away after a certain period of time. Suffice it to recall the infant's unconscious grabbing of an adult's finger when pressing on his palm, which disappears with age.

The value of unconditioned reflexes is enormous. It is they who help to survive not only an individual organism, but the whole species. They are most significant in the early stages of a person's life, when knowledge about the world has not yet been accumulated and it is the reflex processes that guide the child's activities.

Unconditioned reflexes begin to work from the very moment of birth. Thanks to them, the body does not die during an abrupt transition to new conditions of existence: adaptation to a new type of breathing and nutrition occurs instantly, and the mechanism of thermoregulation is gradually being established.

Moreover, according to recent research, certain unconditioned reflexes are carried out even in the womb (for example, sucking). With age, more and more conditioned reflexes are added to the unconditioned, which allow a person to better adapt to a changing environment. Author: Evgeniya Bessonova

Each person, as well as all living organisms, has a number of vital needs: food, water, comfortable conditions. Everyone has the instincts of self-preservation and continuation of their kind. All mechanisms aimed at satisfying these needs are laid down at the genetic level and appear simultaneously with the birth of the organism. These are innate reflexes that help to survive.

The concept of an unconditioned reflex

The very word reflex for each of us is not something new and unfamiliar. Everyone has heard it in their life, and enough times. This term was introduced into biology by IP Pavlov, who devoted much time to the study of the nervous system.

According to the scientist, unconditioned reflexes arise under the influence of irritating factors on the receptors (for example, pulling the hand away from a hot object). They contribute to the adaptation of the organism to those conditions that remain practically unchanged.

This is the so-called product of the historical experience of previous generations, which is why it is also called the species reflex.

We live in a changing environment, it requires constant adaptations that cannot be foreseen by genetic experience. The unconditioned reflexes of a person are constantly inhibited, then modified or reappeared, under the influence of those stimuli that surround us everywhere.

Thus, already familiar stimuli acquire the qualities of biologically significant signals, and the formation of conditioned reflexes occurs, which form the basis of our individual experience. This is what Pavlov called higher nervous activity.

Properties of unconditioned reflexes

The characteristic of unconditioned reflexes includes several mandatory points:

1. Congenital reflexes are inherited.
2. They are the same in all individuals of this species.
3. For a response to occur, the influence of a certain factor is necessary, for example, for a sucking reflex, this is irritation of the lips of a newborn.
4. The zone of perception of the stimulus always remains constant.
5. Unconditioned reflexes have a constant reflex arc.
6. They persist throughout life, with some exceptions in newborns.

The meaning of reflexes

All our interaction with the environment is built on the level of reflex responses. Unconditioned and conditioned reflexes play an important role in the existence of the organism.

In the process of evolution, there was a division between those that are aimed at the survival of the species, and those responsible for adaptability to constantly changing conditions.

Congenital reflexes begin to appear already in utero, and their role is as follows:

• Maintaining the indicators of the internal environment at a constant level.
• Maintaining the integrity of the body.
• Preservation of the species through reproduction.

The role of innate reactions immediately after birth is great; it is they that ensure the survival of the infant in completely new conditions for him.

The body lives in an environment of external factors that are constantly changing, and it is necessary to adapt to them. This is where higher nervous activity comes to the fore in the form of conditioned reflexes.

For the body, they have the following meaning:

• Improve the mechanisms of its interaction with the environment.
• They clarify and complicate the processes of contacting the body with the external environment.
• Conditioned reflexes are an indispensable basis for the processes of learning, education and behavior.

Thus, unconditioned and conditioned reflexes are aimed at maintaining the integrity of a living organism and the constancy of the internal environment, as well as effective interaction with the outside world. Between themselves, they can be combined into complex reflex acts that have a certain biological orientation.

Classification of unconditioned reflexes

The hereditary reactions of the body, despite their innate nature, can be very different from each other. It is not at all surprising that the classification can be different, depending on the approach.

Pavlov also divided all unconditioned reflexes into:

• Simple (the scientist attributed the sucking reflex to them).
• Difficult (sweating).
• The most complex unconditioned reflexes. Examples can be given in a variety of ways: food reactions, defensive, sexual.

Currently, many adhere to a classification based on the meaning of reflexes. Depending on this, they are divided into several groups:

The first group of reactions has two features:

1. If they are not satisfied, then this will lead to the death of the body.
2. For satisfaction, there is no need for the presence of another individual of the same species.

The third group also has its own characteristic features:

1. Reflexes of self-development are in no way connected with the adaptation of the organism to a given situation. They are directed towards the future.
2. They are completely independent and do not follow from other needs.

You can also divide by the level of their complexity, then the following groups will appear before us:

1. simple reflexes. These are the body's normal responses to external stimuli. For example, pulling your hand away from a hot object or blinking when a mote gets into your eye.
2. reflex acts.
3. behavioral reactions.
4. instincts.
5. Imprinting.

Each group has its own characteristics and differences.

Reflex acts

Almost all reflex acts are aimed at ensuring the vital activity of the organism, therefore they are always reliable in their manifestation and cannot be corrected.

These include:

• Breath.
• swallowing.
• Vomit.

In order to stop the reflex act, you just need to remove the stimulus that causes it. This can be practiced in animal training. If you want natural needs not to distract from training, then before that you need to walk the dog, this will eliminate the irritant that can provoke a reflex act.

Behavior reactions

This variety of unconditioned reflexes can be well demonstrated in animals. Behavioral responses include:

• The desire of the dog to carry and pick up objects. Aportation reaction.
• The manifestation of aggression at the sight of a stranger. Active defensive reaction.
• Search for items by smell. Olfactory-search reaction.

It is worth noting that the reaction of behavior does not yet mean that the animal will certainly behave this way. What is meant? For example, a dog that has a strong active-defensive reaction from birth, but is physically weak, most likely will not show such aggression.

These reflexes can determine the actions of the animal, but it is quite possible to control them. They should also be taken into account when training: if an animal has no olfactory-search reaction at all, then it is unlikely that it will be possible to raise a search dog out of it.

instincts

There are also more complex forms in which unconditioned reflexes appear. Instincts are just here. This is a whole chain of reflex acts that follow each other and are inextricably linked.

All instincts are connected with changing inner needs.

When a baby is just born, his lungs practically do not function. The connection between him and his mother is interrupted by cutting the umbilical cord, and carbon dioxide accumulates in the blood. It begins its humoral action on the respiratory center, and an instinctive inhalation takes place. The child begins to breathe independently, and the first cry of the baby is a sign of this.

Instincts are a powerful stimulant in human life. They may well motivate for success in a certain field of activity. When we cease to control ourselves, then instincts begin to lead us. As you can imagine, there are several of them.

Most scientists are of the opinion that there are three basic instincts:

1. Self-preservation and survival.
2. Procreation.
3. Leader instinct.

All of them can give rise to new needs:

• In safety.
• In material abundance.
• Looking for a sexual partner.
• In caring for children.
• Influencing others.

You can still list the varieties of human instincts for a long time, but, unlike animals, we can control them. To do this, nature has endowed us with intelligence. Animals survive only due to instincts, but we are also given knowledge for this.

Don't let your instincts get the best of you, learn to control them and become the master of your life.

imprinting

This form of unconditioned reflex is also called imprinting. In the life of every individual there are periods when the whole environment is imprinted in the brain. For each species, this time period can be different: for some it lasts several hours, and for some it can take several years.

Remember how easy it is for young children to master the skills of foreign speech. While students put a lot of effort into this.

It is thanks to imprinting that all babies recognize their parents, distinguish individuals of their own species. For example, a zebra, after the birth of a cub, is alone with him for several hours in a secluded place. This is just the time it takes for the cub to learn to recognize its mother and not confuse her with other females in the herd.

This phenomenon was discovered by Konrad Lorenz. He conducted an experiment with newborn ducklings. Immediately after the hatching of the latter, he presented them with various objects, which they followed like a mother. Even they perceived him as a mother, and pursued him on his heels.

Everyone knows the example of hatchery chickens. Compared to their relatives, they are practically tame and are not afraid of a person, because from birth they see him in front of them.

Congenital reflexes of an infant

After his birth, the baby goes through a complex path of development, which consists of several stages. The degree and speed of mastering various skills will directly depend on the state of the nervous system. The main indicator of its maturity are the unconditioned reflexes of the newborn.

Their presence in the baby is checked immediately after birth, and the doctor makes a conclusion about the degree of development of the nervous system.

Of the huge number of hereditary reactions, the following can be distinguished:

1. Kussmaul's search reflex. When the area around the mouth is irritated, the child turns the head towards the irritant. Usually the reflex fades by 3 months.
2. Sucking. If you put your finger in the baby's mouth, then he begins to perform sucking movements. Immediately after feeding, this reflex fades away and is activated after a while.
3. Palmar-oral. If the child presses on the palm, then he opens his mouth.
4. Grasping reflex. If you put your finger in the palm of the baby and lightly press it, then there is a reflex squeezing and holding it.
5. The lower grasp reflex is elicited by light pressure on the front of the sole. There is flexion of the toes.
6. crawling reflex. In the prone position, pressure on the soles of the feet causes a forward crawling motion.
7. Protective. If you put the newborn on his stomach, he tries to raise his head and turns it to the side.
8. Support reflex. If you take the baby under the armpits and put it on something, then it reflexively unbends the legs and rests on the whole foot.

The unconditioned reflexes of a newborn can be listed for a long time. Each of them symbolizes the degree of development of certain parts of the nervous system. Already after examination by a neurologist in the maternity hospital, it is possible to make a preliminary diagnosis of some diseases.

From the point of view of their significance for the baby, the mentioned reflexes can be divided into two groups:

1. Segmental motor automatisms. They are provided by segments of the brain stem and spinal cord.
2. Posotonic automatisms. Provides regulation of muscle tone. The centers are located in the middle and medulla oblongata.

Oral segmental reflexes

These types of reflexes include:

• Sucking. It appears during the first year of life.
• Search. Fading occurs at 3-4 months.
• Proboscis reflex. If you hit the baby with a finger on the lips, then he pulls them into the proboscis. After 3 months, fading occurs.
• The palmar-mouth reflex well shows the development of the nervous system. If it does not manifest itself or is very weak, then we can talk about the defeat of the central nervous system.

Spinal motor automatisms

Many unconditioned reflexes belong to this group. Examples include the following:

• Moro reflex. When a reaction is evoked, for example, by hitting the table not far from the baby's head, the latter's arms are spread to the sides. Appears up to 4-5 months.
• Automatic gait reflex. With support and a slight tilt forward, the baby makes stepping movements. After 1.5 months it starts to fade.
• Reflex Galant. If you run your finger along the paravertebral line from the shoulder to the buttocks, then the torso flexes towards the stimulus.

Unconditioned reflexes are evaluated on a scale: satisfactory, increased, decreased, absent.

Differences between conditioned and unconditioned reflexes

Sechenov also argued that under the conditions in which the body lives, it is completely insufficient for the survival of innate reactions, the development of new reflexes is required. They will contribute to the adaptation of the body to changing conditions.

How do unconditioned reflexes differ from conditioned ones? The table shows this well.

Despite the obvious difference between conditioned reflexes and unconditioned ones, together these reactions ensure the survival and preservation of the species in nature.

In the body of an animal there is a continuous metabolism, as a result of which there is a need for food, water, etc. The need that has arisen causes purposeful behavior to satisfy it.

Feelings of fear, cold, or other causes also cause the animal to react in a certain way to environmental stimuli. All of these reactions are innate. They are inherited and appear in every animal. Such persistently inherited innate responses of the organism to stimuli of the internal and external environment are called unconditioned reflexes.

Congenital unconditioned reflexes can be simple (constriction or dilation of the pupils under the influence of light, withdrawal of the paw when pricked, blinking reflex) and more complex. More complex reflexes are called instincts.

All instincts are divided into two main groups:

1) self-preservation instincts: food, defensive, orienting, imitation, herd, cleanliness, reflex struggle with restrictions (freedom reflex), goal reflex, game instinct, etc .;

2) instincts aimed at preserving the race; sexual, parental.

Let's take a closer look at some of these instincts.

The goal reflex is expressed in the fact that if a motor act has begun, then its completion is required. The dog tries to master the irritating object. This reflex is based on the development of the dog's grip. Or some other phenomenon. Dog lovers know how a dog resists the first time they try to muzzle it. This is the fight against restrictions - a manifestation of the reflex of freedom. The orienting reflex, which occurs to any change in the environment, to each new stimulus (sound, olfactory, etc.), is expressed in the movement of the eyes, the turn of the ears, the head, and sometimes the entire body in the direction of the stimulus, as well as in listening, in sniffing, examining this stimulus. Depending on the nature of the stimulus, the orienting reflex can then be replaced by a defensive, food, play or other one, and also, unlike other unconditioned reflexes, it can die out with repeated action of a stimulus that is not important for the body.

Unlike simple unconditioned reflexes, complex unconditioned reflexes consist of a whole chain of simple ones. In a complex unconditioned reflex, the action of one reflex is a stimulus for another. For example, a bitch's concern for puppies manifests itself in a number of actions: she gnaws the umbilical cord at birth, licks the puppies, feeds them, warms them and protects them.

Thanks to instincts , formed by thousands of previous generations, newborn animals, already from the very birth, are able to respond to certain environmental influences with the same expedient behavior as their parents. But not all instincts are manifested in animals in the very first minutes of their life and do not remain for life. A dog suffering from helminths (worms) begins to eat Chernobyl, which he usually does not touch - here the expedient inherited reaction makes itself felt only under specific conditions, regardless of the age of the animal. It may not appear if it is not needed. With age, the sexual instinct manifests itself in dogs; with the aging of the body, it disappears.
The degree and forms of manifestation of instincts depend not only on the physiological state of the organism, but also on the influence of the environment. As a result, the manifestation of instincts in an adult dog is always complicated by acquired experience. It suffices to compare the behavior of a newborn, aimed at finding food, and an adult animal. The search for the newborn is not certain, and the adult animal immediately rushes to the place where it has repeatedly satisfied this need.

Parents play an important role in the acquisition of skills by young animals. Parents teach their offspring to distinguish stimuli in a huge variety of environments that contribute to or, conversely, hinder the satisfaction of basic, vital needs. In the future, each animal replenishes its experience independently. Depending on the conditions of life, it develops many conditioned reflexes that help it more successfully satisfy its needs.
In dog training, the so-called complex unconditioned position reflexes are of great importance. These reflexes are usually understood as the actions of the dog, through which it assumes a certain position, for example, sits down, lies down, jumps.

Instinct- this is the adaptation of animals to strictly defined environmental conditions. Therefore, if conditions change, the animal, in order to adapt to them, needs to supplement instincts, make adjustments to behavior. In this regard, animals have developed the ability to learn, to use "personal" experience in behavior. This ability is based on a conditioned reflex, thanks to which training is possible.

These are various natural reflex reactions to the influences of the external world or to changes in the internal environment of the body. There is no difference between unconditioned reflexes and instincts; This is the same. Unconditioned reflexes can be relatively simple, such as closing the eyelids with a close object, and complex chain reflexes, in which the end of one reflex is the beginning of another, such as statokinetic reflexes. Consequently, they can be reflexes of one organ or reflex reactions of the whole organism of animals, changes in their behavior.

There is a functional unity of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes. Conditioned and unconditioned reflexes have a single material substrate - the nervous process in the cerebral hemispheres and the nearest subcortical nodes. Consequently, the leading role in the implementation of unconditioned reflexes also belongs to this higher department of the nervous system.

Some unconditioned reflexes are associated with conditioned reflexes even before birth and immediately after birth. Already in the newborn, they begin to be altered, changed under the influence of newly formed conditioned reflexes. Thus, shortly after birth, unconditioned reflexes are synthesized with conditioned reflexes.

Unconditioned reflexes also change as a result of age-related development of the structure and functions of the body, and some of them, such as the sexual reflex, are formed only during puberty. Therefore, those unconditioned reflexes, on the basis of which conditioned reflexes are formed during life, differ from congenital ones. Unconditioned reflexes differ from conditioned ones in that they are evoked immediately, without prior development, along existing nerve pathways, with the participation of hormones, mediators and metabolites.

It has been established that conditioned reflexes can suppress, inhibit unconditioned reflexes. For example, the skin of a dog was irritated by a strong electric current before cauterization. In response to this damaging stimulus, an unconditioned defensive reflex set in. But when the dog was fed with current during skin irritation, that is, they formed a conditioned food reflex, then the violent response to irritation weakened more and more and, finally, completely disappeared (M; N. Erofeeva, 1912).

The conditioned food reflex also inhibits the action of the conditioned defensive reflex when both conditioned stimuli are applied simultaneously. When a conditioned defensive stimulus is accompanied by food instead of an electric current, it turns into a conditioned food stimulus and, instead of a defensive conditioned reflex, causes a food conditioned reflex (Yu. M. Konorsky, 1956, 1967).

In these experiments, the alimentary reflex took over and the nervous process "switched" from the defensive pathway to the alimentary one. This switching mechanism is developed during the individual life of an animal, even in such neural pathways, which, as can be seen from the examples given, have developed and become fixed over many hundreds and thousands of years and have become pathways of strong unconditioned reflexes.

Unconditioned reflexes are divided into the following groups:

Food reflexes. Reflex activity of the digestive canal: salivation, separation of gastric and pancreatic juices, bile, sucking, chewing, swallowing, motor work of the gastrointestinal canal, etc.

defensive, or protective reflexes. A variety of complex reflex muscle contractions in response to damaging receptor stimuli, for example, withdrawing an arm or leg in response to a destructive skin stimulus, deviating the body in the direction opposite to the stimulus, sneezing, coughing, covering irritated places, such as closing the eyes, constriction of the pupil, lacrimation, etc. . P.

Sexual reflexes. Reflexes associated with the performance of sexual intercourse.

indicative, research reflexes or reflexes « what? (I.P. Pavlov). These reflexes, caused by the occurrence of sudden and rather intense changes in the environment and within the organism itself, are the beginning of acts of behavior. They are expressed in the reflex movement of the head and ears, as well as the torso to the side, in turning the head and eyes to light stimuli, sniffing, grasping and testing objects in the mouth, etc.

But if the stimulus that caused the orienting reflex is repeated, then it will very quickly lose its orienting value and can be used to form a conditioned reflex. This is the difference between the unconditioned orienting reflex and other unconditioned ones.

The listed groups of unconditioned reflexes are present in all animals. However, in each species of animal they are implemented differently and, in addition, there are other unconditioned reflexes, or instincts, characteristic of this species.