The most important provisions of the doctrine. IP. Pavlov about the patterns of higher nervous activity were further developed in physiological and physical theories
According to the views of the scientist, the material basis of memory is the plasticity of the cerebral cortex, its ability to form conditioned reflexes. It is the formation, strengthening and extinction of temporary and nervous connections that constitutes the physiological mechanism of memory. The formation of a connection between new and previously fixed content is a conditioned reflex, which is the physiological basis of memorization.
To understand the causation of memory, the concept of reinforcement becomes important. IP. Pavlov reveals it as the achievement of the immediate goal of the individual's action or the stimulus that motivates the action, the coincidence of the connection with the achievement of the goal of the action. The coincidence of the connection with the achievement of the goal leads to the fact that it remains and is fixed. Thus, the physiological understanding of reinforcement correlates with the psychological concept of the purpose of the action. This is precisely the act of merging the physiological and psychological analysis of memory mechanisms, i.e. the main vital function of this mental process is directed not to the past, but to the future. Remembering what "was" would be meaningless if it could not be used to "be" what "will be".
The physical theory of memory joins the physiological theory, it explores the neurophysiological level of its mechanisms. According to this theory, the passage of excitation through a certain group of cells (neurons) leaves a physical trace, which leads to mechanical and electronic changes at the junction of nerve cells (synapses). Changes make it easier to repeat the impulse in a familiar way. These views are called neural model theory.
In particular, during the visual perception of an object, the object is examined by the eye along the contour. This perceptual process is accompanied by the movement of an impulse in the corresponding group of nerve cells, which seem to model the perceived object in the form of a spatio-temporal nervous structure. The creation and activation of neural models is the basis of the processes of memorization, storage and reproduction.
Within the framework of this theory, it was revealed that the axons that depart from the cell body, connect with the dendrites of another cell, return to their own cell. This creates the possibility of circulation of reverberant circles of uplift of varying complexity and self-charging of the cell, and the excitation does not go beyond the limits of a certain system.
Chemical theories of memory
Human memory functions both at the psychological, physiological, and at the molecular, chemical levels. Proponents of the chemical theory of memory believe that the specific chemical changes that occur in nerve cells under the influence of external stimuli are the mechanisms of the processes of fixing, storage and reproduction, namely: rearrangement of nucleic acid protein molecules in neurons. Deoxyribone ukleic acid (DNA) is the carrier of ancestral memory: it mist the genetic codes of the organism, determining the genotype of ribonucleic acid (RNA) - the basis of individual memory. Excitation of neurons increases the intake of them. RNA, and an unlimited number of changes in its molecules, is the basis for the preservation of a large number of traces of excitation. Structure change. Scientists associate RNA with long-term memory "yattu".
Advances in biochemical research have made it possible to formulate an assumption about the two-level nature of the memorization process. At the first level, immediately after exposure to a stimulus, a short time for an electrochemical reaction occurs in the brain, which causes reverse physiological processes in the cell. This level lasts for seconds or minutes and is the short-term memory mechanism. The second level - the actual biochemical reaction - is associated with the formation of proteins and is characterized by the irreversibility of chemical changes in cells and is considered a mechanism for long-term memory.
Biochemical studies provide grounds for optimistic forecasts regarding the possibilities of managing human memory in the future. In 1962. D. McConnell conducted a study with flatworms (planarians), planarians were taught to go through a certain maze by developing conditioned reflexes. After they memorized this path, they were cut in half. They quickly regenerated; the body has been restored from the lost part of the body, do these "drunk" planarians now have the same conditioned reflexes? successfully completed the maze. The scientist concluded: information is stored in molecules. pH in molecules. RNA.
The sensational moment of the experiment was an attempt to transfer memory from one planarian to another. As a result of repeated repetitions, planarians memorized a certain path, after which they were extracted from them. RNA, which was then injected into other planarians. In the group that was administered. RNA from trained planarians formed the expected conditioned reflex to pass a certain maze much faster than in the control group. Experiments on more organized animals were less successful. Many scientists were generally skeptical about this sensation, since the results of the experiment cannot always be repeated. You draw conclusions early, but, of course, the chemical theory cannot explain the whole multifaceted phenomenon of memory, especially in highly developed animals and people. It is possible that in the future it will be possible to single out a material and - biochemical - carrier of memory.
Thus, the individual's memory is realized through multilevel mechanisms - psychological, physiological and chemical. All three levels are necessary for the normal functioning of human memory. The Din people can realize and control only the highest psychological level, which is the determining one for the lower ones. Only at this level does memory become a process mediated by mnemonic actions, a component of cognitive activity.
Basic theories of memory
A person receives different impressions about the world around him. They leave a trace, are preserved, consolidated, and if necessary and possible, these impressions are reproduced. These processes are called memory. S.L. Rubinstein said that without memory, a person would become a creature of the moment with a dead past for the future. The functioning of society and man without memory is impossible.
Experts believed that the most developed section of psychology was memory, but further study of its laws made memory one of the key problems of science. A unified and complete theory of memory does not exist today.
- Psychological theories of memory are represented by a number of different areas:
- Associative direction, the central concept of which is association. Association means connection, connection and acts as a mandatory principle of all mental formations. The essence of the principle is as follows - if certain mental formations arose in the mind simultaneously or one after another, then an associative connection is formed between them. As a result, when any element of this connection reappears, a representation of all elements arises in the mind;
- Gestaltism. The main concept of this direction is the concept of gestalt. This concept refers to the whole structure, which is not reduced to the sum of its constituent parts. The organization of the material according to the principle of isomorphism is recognized as the basis for the formation of connections - similarity in form and can be realized only as a result of the activity of the subject;
- Personal activity. This direction is gaining its recognition and considers activity as a factor that determines the formation of all its mental processes, including the process of memory. The process of memorization, preservation and reproduction is determined by the significance of the material in the activity of the subject;
Foreign theories of memory
Until now, the associative theory of memory, which arose in the 17th century, has not lost its scientific significance. Its active development went on in the 18th and 19th centuries. This theory was most widespread in England and Germany. The connection between individual mental elements was developed by G. Ebbinghaus, G. Müller, A. Pilzeker and others. In line with this theory, memory is understood as a complex system of short-term and long-term stable associations. With the help of this theory, the mechanisms and laws of memory were discovered and described, for example, the law of forgetting G. Ebbinghaus. As a result of research, it was found that 60% of all information received is forgotten within the first hour. After 6 days, less than 20% of the total number of initially learned syllables remains. According to the associative theory, individual elements of information are remembered, stored and reproduced not in isolation, but in certain logical and semantic associations with others.
Later, the theory ran into intractable problems. She could not explain the selectivity of human memory, which selects a certain one from all incoming information.
Associative theory was replaced by Gestalt theory at the end of the 19th century. The main principle and the main concept for it was not the association of primary elements, but their integral organization - gestalt, the laws of formation, which is determined by memory. Supporters of this theory carried out the main idea that during memorization and reproduction, the material appears in the form of an integral structure, and not a random set of elements.
Despite the fact that the representatives of the theory managed to find a psychological explanation for some facts of memory selectivity, they faced another difficult problem. The essence of the problem was connected with the formation and development of human memory in phylogenesis and ontogenesis. The dependence of the development of memory on practical activity was not put and was not decided.
A satisfactory answer about the genesis of memory could not be given by representatives of other areas of psychological research - these are behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Behaviorists were close to associationists, with the only difference being that they paid much attention to the study of memory in learning processes. Representatives of psychoanalysis discovered and described the psychological mechanisms of subconscious forgetting associated with the functioning of motivation.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the semantic theory of memory emerged. Its representatives were A. Binet, K. Buhler. When memorizing and reproducing the material, the theory brought to the fore the semantic content.
Conclusion
Thus, we can say that various Western theories considered the development of memory from different points of view - from the point of view of associations, the structuring of material during memorization, from the point of view of reinforcement, the formation of semantic connections. Z. Freud, in turn, attached importance to the role of emotions, motives, needs for memorization.
The study of memory in domestic psychology
The domestic trend in the study of memory is connected mainly with the general psychological theory of activity, where memory acts as a special type of this activity. In this direction, such scientists as A.N. Leontiev, P.I. Zinchenko, A.A. Smirnov, studied the composition of mnemonic actions and operations, the dependence of memory productivity on the goals and means of memorization, the comparative productivity of voluntary and involuntary memorization, etc.
The study of memory as an activity was laid by the French scientist P. Janet, who was one of the first to interpret memory as a system of actions that are focused on memorizing, processing and storing material.
In Russia, this concept was developed in the cultural-historical theory of the origin of higher mental functions, where the stages of phylogenetic and ontogenetic development of memory were identified.
The activity theory of memory explained the formation of links-associations between representations, memorization, storage, reproduction of material based on what a person does with this material in the process of mnemonic processing.
A.A. Smirnov. They found that actions are remembered better than thoughts, and their actions are more firmly remembered by those associated with overcoming obstacles. With the advent of computer technology and the development of programming, with the beginning of the development of cybernetics, the search for optimal ways for the acceptance, processing, and storage of information by a machine began. The process of technical and algorithmic modeling of memory processes has begun. The accumulated rich material is very useful for understanding the laws of memory, especially since the human brain is also the most complex electronic computer.
Results of various theories of memory
Guided by the associative theory of memory, the German scientist G. Ebbinghaus deduced the following patterns of memorization:
- Simple events can make a strong impression on a person and be remembered firmly and for a long time, and, even after many years, are able to appear distinctly and clearly in the mind;
- Less interesting and more complex events a person can experience dozens of times, but they do not stay in memory for a long time;
- A single experience with close attention to an event is enough to then reproduce from memory its main points in the right order;
- Between the accuracy of the reproduction of an event and the confidence in this accuracy, an unambiguous relationship does not always exist;
- With an increase in the number of members of the memorized series, the number of repetitions required to memorize it increases;
- The number of preliminary repetitions when memorizing the material saves time if this number of repetitions is not more than the number necessary for the complete memorization of the material;
- From memory, the beginning and end of any long series are best reproduced;
- For the associative connection of impressions and their reproduction, what is important is how they are scattered or logically connected into a whole;
- Repetition of learned material will be more productive if it takes place over a certain period of time, for example, within a few hours;
- A new repetition contributes to a better memorization of what was learned earlier;
- If you increase attention to the material that needs to be remembered, then the number of repetitions for learning it can be reduced;
- Material of particular interest is remembered without any difficulty;
- Unusual and strange impressions are remembered much better;
- A new impression in a person's memory does not remain isolated, entering into associative connections, it can change other impressions and change under their influence;
- Pathological personality changes cause memory impairments, such as amnesia;
- Human memory is lost and restored according to one law.
The progress of various branches of knowledge and technology largely depends on the state of the theoretical development of the study of memory. The first theories of memory arose in ancient Greece and were associated with the trace, as a mechanical reflection in the human brain. Now in science there are a significant number of different theoretical approaches to the study of memory: physiological, biochemical, information-cybernetic, psychological.
Physiological theory of memory
The physiological theory of memory is based on the classical works of I. Pavlov and P. Anokhin in the field of higher nervous activity. Their doctrine of conditioned reflexes and the functional system is a theory of memorization at the level of physiology. Modern research has shown that the preservation of information is achieved due to the long-term circulation of electrical potentials in closed neural circles.
Traces of these excitations arise as a result of chemical and morphological changes at the points of contact of neurons (synapses). As a result, the perceived object is modeled as a stable spatial-neuronal structure: short-term memory is associated with short-term electrical activity of neurons, and long-term memory is associated with a permanently changed structure of neuron groups. The process of formation of neural models, as well as their subsequent activation, is the mechanism for remembering, preserving and reproducing the perceived.
Biochemical theory of memory
The basis of the biochemical theory of memory (Hiden, McConnell, and others) is the idea that the fixation, preservation and reproduction of information are associated with the modification of ribonucleic acid, and memory can be transmitted by humoral and biochemical means. This theory is based on the hypothesis of a two-stage nature of the memorization process: first, a short-term electrochemical reaction occurs in the brain, which lasts from several seconds to several minutes and causes reverse physiological changes in cells (short-term memory); after it comes the actual biochemical irreversible reaction associated with the formation of proteins (long-term memory).
It has been established that the carriers of generic memory, which determines the human genotype, is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); the basis of individual memory, which is responsible for the acquisition of experience by a person, is ribonucleic acid (RNA). Since the structure of RNA molecules is very variable (the variability of RNA molecules reaches 1015-1020), they can store an incredible amount of information. Therefore, RNA molecules are considered carriers of long-term human memory. The reappearance of the same stimulus causes the altered RNA molecule to "resonate" to the familiar stimulus.
Information-cybernetic theory of memory
With the development of cybernetics and computer technology, as well as programming, scientists began to look for the best ways to receive, process and store information in technical environments. The modeling of human memory processes helped in this.
So in the 50s of the XX century. the information-cybernetic theory of memory arose (D. Hebb, J. Miller, D. Broadbent, etc.), the main task of which was, after studying human memory, to optimize the technology for creating computers. This theory was focused on solving three problems: in what form information is stored in memory, how it is received from there, what changes occur when the material is remembered. These problems were solved by constructing block memory models, in particular, a three-component memory model.
Memory and attention - video
And a complete theory of memory. A wide variety of hypothetical concepts and models is due to the intensification of searches undertaken, especially in recent years, by representatives of various sciences. At the moment of the development of science, there are: psychological, neurophysiological, biochemical levels of studying the mechanisms and patterns of memory. A cybernetic approach to the study of memory is also being formed.
Psychological theories of memory . These theories can be classified and evaluated depending on what role they assigned to the activity of the subject in the formation of memory processes and how they considered the nature of this activity. In most psychological theories of memory, the focus is either on the object (“material”) in itself, or on the subject (“pure” activity of consciousness), regardless of the content side of the interaction between subject and object, i.e. irrespective of the activity of the individual. Hence the inevitable one-sidedness of the concepts under consideration.
Associative direction . The basic principle of these theories boils down to the following: if certain mental formations arose in consciousness simultaneously or immediately after each other, then an associative connection is formed between them and the reappearance of any of the elements of this connection necessarily causes the representation of all its elements in consciousness.
Thus, associationism considers the simultaneity of their appearance in consciousness to be a necessary and sufficient basis for the formation of a connection between two impressions. Therefore, the task of a deeper study of the mechanisms of memorization did not arise before the associationists at all, and they limited themselves to characterizing the external conditions necessary for the emergence of "simultaneous impressions".
Three types of associations were distinguished between the phenomena of the external world - associations by adjacency, by similarity and contrast. These types of associations are based on the three principles of "linking" of representations formulated by Aristotle (384 - 322 BC). Under these three principles, the associationists, not without some violence, summed up the whole variety of connections, including causal relationships. Since cause and effect, they argued, are connected by a certain temporal relationship (“because of this” - always “after this”), they included causal associations in the category of associations by contiguity.
The very concept of association was firmly established in psychology, although its content was subsequently significantly rethought and deepened. Memorization is really the linking of the new with the already existing in experience.
The bind operation becomes quite obvious when we manage to unroll the subsequent memory process element by element, i.e. play any content. How do we remember something, using, for example, the “memory knot” technique? We hit a knot; the knot refers us to the situation in which it was tied; the situation reminds of the interlocutor; from the interlocutor we go to the topic of conversation and, finally, we come to the desired subject.
However, if only spatio-temporal contiguity of phenomena were sufficient for the formation of such chains of associations, then in the same situation different people would have to have the same chains of connections. In fact, connections are formed selectively, and associationism did not give an answer to the question of what determines this process, confining itself to stating facts that received their scientific justification much later.
Based on the critique of associationism in psychology, a number of new theories and concepts of memory have emerged. Their essence is largely determined by what exactly they criticized in associative psychology, what is their attitude to the very concept of association.
The most decisive criticism of the associative theory of memory was carried out from the standpoint of the so-called gestaltism(from German Gestalt - image). The main concept of this new theory - the concept of gestalt - denotes a holistic organization, a structure that is not reducible to the sum of its parts. Thus, Gestaltism puts forward the principle of synthesis of elements, the principle of the primacy of the whole in relation to its parts. In accordance with this, the organization of the material is recognized here as the basis for the formation of connections, which also determines a similar structure of traces in the brain according to the principle of isomorphism, i.e. similarity in form.
A certain organization of material undoubtedly plays a large role in memorization, but its function can only be realized as a result of the activity of the subject. For Gestaltists, the principle of integrity appears as originally given, the laws of Gestalt (as well as the laws of association) operate outside and in addition to the activity of the subject itself. From this point of view, Gestaltism is essentially on a par with the theory of associationism.
In contrast to associationism and other theories in which consciousness acted as something passive, a number of trends in psychology are characterized by an emphasis on the active, active role of consciousness in memory processes. An important role was assigned to attention, intention, comprehension in memorization and reproduction, etc. However, here, too, the processes of memory, in essence, were not associated with the activity of the subject and therefore did not receive a correct explanation. For example, intention acted simply as an effort of will, as a "pure" activity of consciousness that did not lead to a restructuring of the very process of memorization or recall.
Since the activity, consciousness and meaningfulness of memorization were associated only with the highest stages in the development of memory, then in relation to its lower stages, the same concept of association by contiguity was used. This is how the concept of two types of connections was born: associative and semantic. The theory of two types of memory turned out to be connected with it: mechanical (“memory of matter”) and logical (“memory of the spirit”, “absolutely independent of matter”).
In modern science, the theory is gaining more and more recognition, which considers activity personality as a factor determining the formation of all its mental processes, including memory processes. According to this concept, the course of the processes of memorization, preservation and reproduction is determined by the place this material occupies in the activity of the subject.
It has been experimentally established and proven that the most productive connections are formed and updated in the case when the relevant material acts as the goal of the action. The characteristics of these connections, for example, their strength and lability (mobility, efficiency), are determined by the degree of participation of the corresponding material in the subject's further activity, what is the significance of these connections for achieving future goals.
Thus, the main thesis of this concept (as opposed to those considered above) can be formulated as follows: the formation of connections between different representations is determined not by what the material being remembered is in itself, but, first of all, by what the subject does with it.
Physiological theories of memory. Physiological theories of memory mechanisms are closely related to the most important provisions of the teachings of I.P. Pavlov about the patterns of higher nervous activity. The doctrine of the formation of conditional temporary connections is a theory of the mechanisms for the formation of the individual experience of the subject, i.e. the theory of “memory at the physiological level” itself. In fact, the conditioned reflex, as an act of forming a connection between new and previously fixed content, constitutes the physiological basis of the act of memorization.
To understand the causality of this act, the concept of reinforcement is of paramount importance. Reinforcement (in its most common form) is nothing more than achieving the immediate goal of an individual's action. In other cases, it is a stimulus that motivates the action or corrects it (for example, in the case of negative reinforcement). Reinforcement, thus, marks the coincidence of the newly formed connection with the achievement of the goal of the action, and "as soon as the connection coincided with the achievement of the goal, it remained and strengthened" (IP Pavlov). All the characteristics of this connection, and above all the degree of its strength, are determined precisely by the nature of the reinforcement as a measure of the vital (biological) expediency of this action. The corrective function of reinforcement in the implementation of an action is especially fully revealed in the works of the PC. Anokhin, who showed the role of reinforcement in the regulation of the activity of the subject, in the closure of the reflex ring.
Thus, the physiological concept of reinforcement, correlated with the psychological concept of the purpose of the action, is a point of confluence of the physiological and psychological plane of analysis of the mechanisms of the memorization process. This synthesis of concepts, enriching each of them, allows us to assert that, in its main vital function, memory is directed not to the past, but to the future: remembering what “was” would make no sense if it could not be used to What will happen". Consolidation of the results of successful actions is a probabilistic forecasting of their usefulness for achieving future goals.
More or less directly adjacent to physiological theories is the so-called physical theory of memory. It received the name physical because, according to the ideas of its authors, the passage of any nerve impulse through a certain group of neurons leaves behind a physical trace in the proper sense of the word. The physical materialization of the trace is expressed in electrical and mechanical changes in synapses (points of contact between nerve cells). These changes make it easier for the impulse to re-travel the familiar path.
Scientists believe that the reflection of an object, for example, “feeling” an object with the eye along the contour in the process of its visual perception, is accompanied by such an impulse movement along the corresponding group of nerve cells, which, as it were, models the perceived object in the form of a stable spatio-temporal neural structure. Therefore, the theory under consideration is also called the theory of neural models. The process of formation and subsequent activation of neural models constitutes, according to the views of the supporters of this theory, the mechanism for remembering, preserving and reproducing the perceived.
Modern neurophysiological research is characterized by ever deeper penetration into the mechanisms of fixation and preservation of traces at the neuronal and molecular level. It has been established, for example, that axons leaving nerve cells either contact the dendrites of other cells or return back to the body of their own cell. Thanks to this structure of nerve contacts, it becomes possible to circulate reverberant circles of excitation of varying complexity. As a result, the cell self-charges, since the discharge that has arisen in it returns either directly to this cell, strengthening the excitation, or through a chain of neurons. These persistent circles of reverberant excitation, which do not go beyond the limits of this system, are considered by some researchers to be the physiological substratum of the process of preserving traces. Here there is a transition of traces from the so-called short-term memory to long-term memory. Some researchers believe that these types of memory are based on a single mechanism, while others believe that there are two mechanisms with different characteristics. The final solution of this problem will apparently be facilitated by biochemical research.
Biochemical theories of memory . The neurophysiological level of studying the mechanisms of memory at the present stage is increasingly approaching and often directly merges with the biochemical one. This is confirmed by numerous studies conducted at the intersection of these levels. Based on these studies, in particular, a hypothesis arose about the two-stage nature of the memorization process. Its essence is as follows. At the first stage (immediately after exposure to the stimulus), a short-term electrochemical reaction occurs in the brain, causing reversible physiological changes in cells. The second stage, arising on the basis of the first, is the actual biochemical reaction associated with the formation of new protein substances (proteins). The first stage lasts for seconds or minutes and is considered the physiological mechanism of short-term memory. The second stage, which leads to irreversible chemical changes in cells, is considered the mechanism of long-term memory.
If an experimental animal is taught something new, and then immediately interrupted by a short-term electrochemical reaction before it begins to turn into a biochemical one, then the animal will not be able to remember what it was taught.
In one experiment, a rat was placed on a platform located at a small height from the floor. The animal immediately jumped to the floor. However, having once experienced pain from an electric discharge when jumping off, the rat, placed on the platform even 24 hours after the experiment, did not jump off it anymore and waited until it was removed. In another rat, the short-term memory reaction was interrupted immediately after receiving a pain sensation. The next day the rat acted as if nothing had happened to her.
It is known that temporary loss of consciousness in people also leads to forgetting what happened in the period immediately preceding this event.
It can be thought that those traces of influence that did not have time to consolidate due to the cessation of short-term electrochemical reactions even before the start of the corresponding biochemical changes are subject to erasure.
Proponents of chemical theories of memory believe that the specific chemical changes that occur in nerve cells under the influence of external stimuli underlie the mechanisms of the processes of fixing, preserving and reproducing traces. This refers to various rearrangements of the protein molecules of neurons, primarily molecules of the so-called nucleic acids. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is considered the carrier of genetic, hereditary, memory, ribonucleic acid (RNA) is the basis of ontogenetic, individual memory. In the experiments of the Swedish biochemist Hiden, it was found that stimulation of a nerve cell increases the content of RNA in it and leaves long-term biochemical traces that tell it the ability to resonate to the repeated action of familiar stimuli.
RNA is highly variable; the number of its possible specific changes is measured by the number 10 to the 15th degree - 10 to the 20th degree; the contour of its components changes, their location in space, the decay rate, etc. This means that RNA can hold an incredible amount of information codes. It is possible that the ability of RNA to resonate to specific structures of familiar stimuli without responding to other influences constitutes the intimate biochemical mechanism of memory.
The successes of the latest, in particular, biochemical, research provide a lot of grounds for optimistic forecasts regarding the possibilities of managing human memory in the future. But along with these predictions, some unfounded, sometimes fantastic ideas were circulating, for example, about the possibility of teaching people by direct chemical action on their nervous system, about transferring knowledge with the help of special memory tablets, etc.
In this regard, it is important to emphasize that, although the processes of human memory are characterized by a very complex interaction at all levels, their determination comes from above, from human activity. Here the principle applies: from the whole to its parts. In accordance with this, the materialization of traces of external influences is carried out in the direction: organism - organ - cell, and not vice versa. The use of pharmacological memory catalysts cannot change the essence of the matter.
This is confirmed by the data of special studies in which the influence of various living conditions of an animal on changes in the morphological and chemical structure of its brain was studied. It has been established, for example, that in rats that were in an environment rich in impressions that activated their various actions, the cerebral cortex becomes larger, thicker and heavier than in animals that lived in psychologically depleted conditions. There are specific changes in the chemical composition of the brain of a developed rat: for example, the amount of acetylcholine, an enzyme involved in the transmission of nerve impulses, increases. Thus, the psychological level, the level of activity of the individual, turns out to be decisive in relation to the functioning of the underlying levels.
Of course, the noted structural and chemical changes in brain cells, being the product of previous activity, then become a necessary condition for subsequent, more complex actions, being included in the mechanism for their implementation. The question, therefore, is not about the secondary nature of chemical mechanisms, but about the fact that they cannot be formed from below, for example, by directly introducing the appropriate chemicals into the brain in finished form. In this sense, one should understand the position on the determining role of the higher levels of the functioning of memory processes in relation to the underlying ones.
Studies of the mechanisms of memory at various levels, of course, mutually enrich each other.
Literature:
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Gippenreiter, Yu.B. Introduction to general psychology: a course of lectures / Yu.B. Gippenreiter. - M.: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1988. - 318 p.
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Maklakov, A.G. General psychology: textbook for universities / A.G. Maklakov. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001. - 563 p.
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From the point of view of this theory, the process of memorization is divided into two phases. In the first phase, a short-term electrochemical reaction occurs in nerve cells, causing reversible changes in them. It is believed that this step underlies short-term memory.
The second phase occurs immediately after the first. During the second phase, irreversible changes occur in the cells, which serve as the basis for long-term memory.
Chemical theory.
According to the supporters of this theory, any stimulus causes a rearrangement of the protein molecules of neurons - DNA and RNA, increasing their content of RNA, which, as is known, serves as the basis of ontogenetic memory. Upon repeated stimulus, the RNA resonates to a familiar signal and this serves as the basis for memory.
Apparently, the most correct with such a variety of explanations of the mechanism
The ideas of memory will be an eclectic approach that combines the most experimentally confirmed data on the functioning of the brain and mental processes that form the basis of memory.
Types of memory.
The classification of various types of memory is accepted on three grounds: according to the duration of storage, according to the nature of mental activity, according to the degree of volitional regulation, according to the nature of memorization and storage.
According to the duration of information storage, it stands out:
· sensory memory- this is a primitive process carried out at the level of receptors and stores information for 1/4 of a second; during this time, the reticular formation evaluates the degree of novelty of the stimulus and decides whether it is necessary to activate the cerebral cortex to carry out a reaction to this stimulus. If this does not happen, the impulse is lost and the sensory department is occupied with new signals.
· short term memory, the duration of information storage in which, according to data from different research groups, is from 20 seconds to several minutes. According to most researchers, if information is not repeated, it is erased; it is impossible to reproduce it. The capacity of short-term memory is 5-7 units of information (i.e. we are able to remember a series of 5-7 words after a single reading), but, interestingly, the brain is able to group large amounts of information so that as a result it fits into this number (for example , a series of ten words - elephant, table, window, apple, moon, sea, car, father, gun, dragon-
is remembered if the brain groups this information in the following way:
an elephant that climbed onto the table and looks out the window (1 unit of information),
the moon over the sea (second), the car in which the father rides with a gun,
chasing the dragon (third unit).
· long-term memory, in which information, depending on the significance and frequency of use, is stored for minutes or years. The capacity of long-term memory is virtually limitless.
According to the nature of mental activity, there are:
n motor(or motor) memory - memory for movements ever learned: writing, playing musical instruments, etc .;
n emotional- memory for the emotions that we experienced in a given situation;
n figurative memory- memory for various images (representations), which is usually well developed in people of artistic professions. Sometimes there are people with eidetic memory. Their memory differs in that it is practically indistinguishable from perceptions, as if each time they see the object again in the smallest details and are even able to turn it in their representation and consider it from the other side.
n mechanical memory- based on repeated repetition of the material without its comprehension;
n verbal-logical memory is a type of memory based on the establishment of semantic connections in the memorized material. This type of memory is 20 times more efficient than mechanical memory.
According to the degree of volitional regulation, memory can be:
n involuntary when we do not set ourselves the goal of remembering something;
material is remembered because of its novelty or significance, or emotional
rational influence on a person. This type of memory is the only
venous in the first years of life. Involuntary child in the first three years
life records such an amount of information that is commensurate with
the amount of information remembered for the rest of your life
(let's say 72 years old).
n arbitrary when we make a special effort to memorize the material.
According to the nature of memorization and storage, memory is divided into:
n episodic, which stores information about all the events of our life, about every moment of it, starting at the moment of completion of embryogenesis, i.e. intrauterine formation of the fetus;
n semantic, which stores information related to culture, language,
memory processes.
Memorization.
Memorization is the process of recording information in memory structures during which it is encoded, i.e. it is highlighted what exactly will be stored and in what form.
Memorization is arbitrary and involuntary, and arbitrary is divided into mechanical and meaningful.
At involuntary memorization information is recorded by itself, no effort is required from us to remember it. This process of memorization prevails in the first years of life and this is apparently due to the fact that for a child any information is new and necessary for better adaptation in the environment. At a later age, the percentage of involuntarily memorized information decreases significantly, giving way to arbitrary memorization. In adults, information is involuntarily remembered that somehow affects unconscious attitudes related to the orientation of the personality, its characterological features.
So, some remember information well, for example, of a medical nature (which suggests the presence of hypochondriacal traits), while others perfectly remember anecdotes, but are not able to reproduce just read medical advice.
At arbitrary rote memorization consolidation of the material occurs through repeated repetition, memorization.
At meaningful memorization we make volitional efforts to write down the material, but we do not memorize it, but try to understand and connect with what is already known.
Memorization depends on a number of factors:
n from the meaningfulness of the material: what we understood, comprehended, will be remembered better than what we just memorized;
n from the emotional response of the individual: what excites is remembered better than indifferent material;
n from the organization of the material - poetry is remembered better than prose; schemes are better than text, etc. ;
n on the setting for memorization: memorization directly depends on how much we need this material, how long we want to keep it in memory, how soon we need it again - all this is unconsciously or more or less consciously reflected in our setting for memorization, from on which the mobilization of information encoding processes depends. If, while preparing for the exam, we "tune" ourselves to the fact that we need to remember the material only in order to pass the exam and it will not be useful to us again in life, then, most likely, soon after passing the exam, extract the information recorded with such an attitude will no longer be possible.
You can improve your memory by:
n training memory as often as possible;
n presenting the material in the form of a visual visual image;
n clearly formulating the goals of memorization, determining the time period during which this material will be stored;
n making a preliminary plan for the material to be remembered;
n establishing semantic connections with known information;
n using special mnemonic techniques: so, remembering the location of the colors of the rainbow spectrum, it is enough to learn the phrase: "Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting," and remember the number "pi"
up to the tenth character, the phrase will help: "Whoever jokingly and soon wishes to know
know the number already";
n using reminiscence- delayed memory. The phenomenon of reminis-
value lies in the fact that if the reproduction of the material occurs
dit not immediately after memorization, but after a few days, then
The reproduction quality in this case is much higher. This is apparently related
with the fact that the material placed in storage continues unconsciously
be processed, included in the structure of past experience, as well as
Numerous analogous connections with other material are infused.
Storage
Storage (archiving) is the process of accumulating material in memory.
Storage depends on the type of memorization. With mechanical memorization, the material is stored unchanged. (passive storage), and with meaningful memorization, numerous connections are established with the previously studied and the material is subjected to further unconscious processing (active storage).
There are three types of material organization during storage:
· spatial organization, at which we associate a certain material with some external reference points. This organization of the material allows us, for example, to find the right word in the dictionary or to name all the days of the week;
· association organization, under which the material is associated with the conditions under which memorization occurred (spatio-temporal associations), with related concepts (table-chair, skirt-trousers) and contrasting concepts (black-white);
· hierarchical organization, in which hierarchical conceptual structures are being built, for example:
adults, children and old people inside bones, organs, blood
Boys and girls heart na
brain spinal cord
cerebellum stem forebrain
When new information is written, it is sent immediately to a certain
"tree" that stores information on a given subject (for example, about a person). For each new area of knowledge, a new hierarchical "tree" is formed; between the "trees" during storage, various connections can arise, which are realized only when the stored information is reproduced.
Hierarchical organization provides the opportunity for rational action. It can be assumed that one or another type of organization of material storage depends on the dominance of the hemispheres: in left-hemispheric people, hierarchical organization (scientific type) will prevail, in right-hemispheric people - associative (artistic type).
Playback.
Playback- the process of retrieving information stored in memory. Reproduction efficiency depends on how well the material is organized and, above all, organized hierarchically. The fact is that information is always reproduced in the context of the structure in which it is "embedded". It is practically impossible to extract information consciously, arbitrarily on the basis of associations, and the spatial organization only helps to navigate in the surrounding world. If you need to remember the meaning of the concept "thing in itself", then you will have to remember everything
what is connected with the name of Immanuel Kant, and in most detail - his epistemology, because the desired concept is a separate branch of the "tree" under the code name "Immanuel Kant", and this tree itself, in turn, is a branch of a more powerful tree under the code name "German classical philosophy", etc.
Reproduction is also divided into arbitrary and involuntary.
At involuntary reproduction we do not set ourselves the special task of recalling what we know. The impetus for involuntary reproduction is some association of the newly perceived material with what is stored in memory.
At random play we restore the material purposefully, making strong-willed efforts.
Recognition.
Recognition- comparison of information stored in memory with the newly perceived. Recognition allows us to use experience in the perception of objects, in fact, conditions apperception.
Recognition differs in the degree of certainty, completeness, clarity and arbitrariness.
· Arbitrary recognition happens when we use this process to test the effectiveness of memorization or memorization.
· Involuntary recognition arises spontaneously and is often incomplete, indefinite.
Recognition also happens false ( so-called paramnesia), when a feeling of familiarity is experienced in relation to that person or situation that we have never encountered.
Forgetting.
Forgetting- the process of erasing information stored in memory. In the proper sense of the word, forgetting as a complete loss of information occurs only in the destruction of brain structures during injuries, degenerative processes of brain tissue. Much more often this term is used in cases where they want to emphasize the impossibility of reusing information in experience.
Factors that make it impossible to reproduce information:
age features.
The events of the first years of life are almost impossible to reproduce in the normal state of consciousness, which is why psychologists call this period "the prehistoric era in human life." But, as the experiments of Stanislav Groff testify, the impossibility of reproduction does not mean the absence of information. According to this author, under the influence of hypnosis (trance), a special breathing technique, and some pharmacological preparations, a person is able to remember every moment lived, including the intrauterine period of life.
In old age, the reproduction of newly memorized information is disrupted with the successful reproduction of previously recorded information.
The causes of inefficient reproduction in old age are also associated with a violation of the organization of the material, and, perhaps, in part with degenerative processes in the brain tissues, as a result of which new information is simply not recorded.
· Failure to use information.
Indeed, it is practically impossible to reproduce information that we have not used for many years; it turns out to be buried under a layer of new impressions and new knowledge. But this pattern does not apply to motor skills, skills in playing musical instruments, playing chess or checkers. The ability to understand a seemingly completely forgotten foreign language is also very quickly restored, especially if the study of this language belongs to early childhood.
· Interference.
interference called the deterioration of the preservation of material under the influence of the imposition of other information that a person encounters before or
directly after memorization.
If the interference is associated with events that occurred before memorization, they speak of proactive interference. Proactive interference can be caused by the study of similar material (for example, the Latin language, and immediately after it - the English language; in this case, there may be poor learning of English due to the imposition of the previous material), the transfer of a negative emotional background to the memorized material (for example, a negative attitude towards the teacher causes proactive interference in relation to the subject being studied).
If the interference is caused by events occurring immediately after memorization, then we are dealing with retroactive interference.
· Crowding out.
Deteriorate or even eliminate the possibility of reproducing the material can crowding out- one of the types of "psychological protection", which is a process as a result of which unacceptable for an individual or extremely traumatic thoughts, memories, experiences are "expelled" from consciousness and transferred to the unconscious, continuing to have an indirect influence on the individual's behavior and being experienced by him in the form anxiety, fear, etc.
So, fearing failure, we can “oversleep” for a responsible exam,
forgetting to set an alarm; we cannot remember the name of a person who is somehow unpleasant to us, etc.
6. Attention.
Attention- the direction of human mental activity on some object. Thanks to this process, we are clearly aware of the perceived, which, standing out from the general mass, for some time is at the center of our perception. Another important function of attention is that this process allows us to navigate in the environment, as well as respond to significant changes in the body.
Physiological bases of attention.
The physiological basis of attention is the orienting reflex
"What?". Any significant change in the environment or
in its own body, the reticular formation, in response to a new stimulus, activates the work of the brain to understand its nature and ensure an adequate response. So, having heard the sound of a heavy object falling, we instantly react with the tension of all muscles, preparing, if necessary, to act quickly in order to save our own life. At each moment of time, our attention is diverted to a new object - a sound, a visual image, sensations of cold, a smell. Whatever we are doing, no matter how passionate we are about our activities, the orienting reflex will ensure our reaction to a new unusual signal and, ultimately, survival.
types of attention.
involuntary attention is passive in nature, i.e. does not depend on our desire and will. The object itself imposes itself on us, distracting us from other activities.
Involuntary attention depends on two types of causes: external and internal.
early. External causes are due to strength, novelty, intensity
irritant. A strong sound attracts attention, an unusual smell, bright
cue color. A particularly strong irritant is everything moving,
pulsating and, interestingly, that we cannot immediately clearly
to identify. So, if a sound source located far enough from us is not strong enough to hear it clearly, we will not be able to continue doing something, but we will constantly listen to what is coming, trying to understand the nature of the stimulus, to identify it.
Internal causes - the attitude of the individual to certain phenomena, fact
there. For example, a shy person, being alone in a room, will be constantly distracted by all sorts of creaking, crackling, rustling, while another person, finding himself in the same conditions, will enjoy silence or enthusiastically, without being distracted, go about his business.
Arbitrary attention- an active process, depending on our volitional efforts. We force ourselves to focus on some activity or on a certain subject, we follow a consciously set goal.
Maintaining voluntary attention at a high level requires considerable effort, and therefore it is very difficult to consciously focus attention on anything for a long time. A clear understanding of the motives of the activity helps in this - why do I need this, what will be the result of the activity. But even in this case, extraneous stimuli, and very soon fatigue will affect our ability to concentrate.
Post-voluntary attention arises in the case when we, having forced ourselves to do something, get carried away, drawn into work. Further activities no longer require strong-willed efforts - we work because we are interested. In this case, our attention will be stable, and our work will be productive. We can be distracted only when we exhaust our interest or when, as a result of fatigue, exhaustion, the protective mechanisms of the psyche work - attention begins to dissipate, i.e. be distracted by stimuli that have not been noticeable until now.
properties of attention.
1. Volume - the number of simultaneously clearly perceived objects
(usually 5-7) with their simultaneous single presentation.
2. Distribution of attention - the ability to simultaneously engage in two
or several things at once. In this case, the amount of attention, as it were, de-
is divided into sectors, each of which provides more or less
valuable activity.
3. Switching attention - the ability to quickly transfer voluntary attention from one type of activity to another.
4. Stability of attention - the depth, duration and intensity of attention
5. Selectivity of attention - the ability to successfully adjust attention
on the perception of information or on activities related to consciousness
well-defined goal.
features of attention.
One of the main features of attention is the so-called fluctuations of attention - short-term involuntary changes in its intensity or disturbances in tuning to an object. So, when trying to count the number of heartbeats per minute, we will at some point find that we have lost it. The same thing will happen if we listen to the ticking of a mechanical watch for, say, a minute. It is also easy to observe fluctuations in attention when we consider a truncated pyramid, which seems to be either convex or concave.
Attention disorders.
Everyone knows this type of attention disorder as distraction- violation of the stability of attention, easy distractibility to extraneous stimuli - the so-called "fluttering attention". The focus of excitation arising from such a variant of attention is weak and unstable, easily destroyed. In children of the first years of life, absent-mindedness is due to the functional weakness of the nervous system, rapid fatigue, as well as the novelty of stimuli. Absent-mindedness in adults is explained by many reasons: from weakness of volitional processes, fatigue, depression and stress to a violation of the physiological mechanisms of higher nervous activity.
There is also absent-mindedness as a one-sided over-concentration of consciousness on an internal object - the so-called "professor absent-mindedness", in which an ultra-resistant focus appears in the cerebral cortex
excitation, "drawing off" a significant part of conscious activity and not allowing distraction to extraneous stimuli.
7. Thinking.
Thinking- the process of processing information in search of a solution to a problem.
Types of thinking.
The simplest forms of thinking are characteristic of highly organized animals that are at the intellectual stage of development of the psyche. Such animals, for example, great apes and dolphins, not only perceive the world around them in their entirety, but are also able to process information in a certain way in various ways: analyze and synthesize, compare and generalize. But the thinking of such animals is carried out for the most part in a visual-effective, partly in a visual-figurative plan.
Visual Action Thinking is characterized by the fact that the solution of the problem is carried out with the help of a physical transformation of the situation, i.e. actively. For example, a chimpanzee, in order to get a high-hanging apple, puts several boxes one on top of the other, or a small child, building a pyramid, tries to put on rings of different diameters in turn, solving this problem with the help of actions, i.e. in a visually effective way. Although it is possible that the chimpanzee, before actually putting the boxes together, performs the same actions in his imagination -
in this case it's already visual-figurative thinking, in which the solution of the problem is carried out by representing or imagining situations and changes in them. Both the animal and the child pass to this way of thinking only after having accumulated certain experience after repeatedly solving problems in a visual-active plan.
But the highest and, apparently, purely human form of thinking is the so-called verbal-logical thinking, the ability to which is actualized in children as they master speech and is associated with operating logical forms of thinking - concepts, judgments and conclusions.
Concepts - a symbolic generalized representation of objects or phenomena by highlighting the main features inherent in all objects of a given class, regardless of the specific situation. For example, the concept of "man" represents a set of traits and qualities that are necessarily inherent in any person -
man and woman, child, adult and old man, etc.
Judgments are a reflection of the connections between various objects or phenomena. For example, the proposition "All people are mortal" reflects the essential connection between people and such a phenomenon as death.
Inference - obtaining a conclusion through analysis and synthesis based on the original two or more judgments. For example, on the basis of the following two propositions "All men are mortal" and "Socrates is a man" we can get a new proposition "Socrates is also mortal" (Aristotle's "Logic").
mental operations.
Explaining the essence of thinking above, we have repeatedly used the concepts of "analysis", "synthesis", "comparison", "generalization".
· Analysis - it is a method of decomposing the whole into parts.
When solving a mathematical problem or a complex life problem, we first of all analyze them, i.e. identify the simple components of a problem or problem. A small child, aimlessly, as it seems to us, breaking a newly presented toy, in fact, "analyzes" it in the only way available to him so far, i.e. literally tearing it apart. Moreover, a child can proceed to a conceptual, verbal analysis only by repeatedly carrying out such a literal activity analysis.
· Synthesis - the union of simple elements into a new complex, into a new whole.
Making a pyramid of rings of different diameters or assembling a new one
model with the help of a constructor, the child carries out a synthetic
synthetic activity necessary for the transition to the conceptual
· Comparison - the allocation of similar and different features as a result of the analysis of objects or phenomena. To make a comparison, you must first decompose the compared objects into simple components, i.e. analyze them, and then it is necessary to highlight the similarities and differences between them.
Generalization - combining a number of objects into a group according to the presence of a number of common random or essential features. In the first case, grass, a scarf, a car, a cucumber can fall into one group as having one common random feature - green. In the second case -
when generalizing on an essential basis, there is nothing in common between these
items cannot be found.
· Abstraction - symbolic simplification by abstraction from specific details. Mental abstraction allows us, for example, to single out the essential key points in the logical development of a historical event, for example, the revolution in France, without getting bogged down in specific details.
· Concretization - the transition, on the contrary, to the details, the complication of the content.
The concrete is always richer in content than the abstract; specific
a person has incomparably greater characteristics than an ab-
the abstract concept of "man". Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, in addition to features,
inherent in all people (as simply belonging to the human race
mu), also the great Russian writer, philosopher, count, husband of Sophia Andre-
evny, father, landowner, a man of a certain temperament, character,
personal experience and life problems - immensely complex
personality, all the diversity of which can be expressed only with the help of
successful term of ancient Greek philosophy - microcosm, i.e. just as
as complex as the infinite cosmos - the macrocosm.
Stages of solving mental problems.
According to the Soviet psychologist Luria, when solving problems, a person goes through a number of stages:
the first is the study of the conditions of the problem;
the second is the development of a strategy for solving the problem (general approaches);
the third is the choice of tactics for the solution, i.e. specific methods;
the fourth - the found solution is compared with the initial data and
the correctness of the solution is verified.
But long-term research (Wallace) in the field of solving creative problems suggests a slightly different mechanism of mental activity, leading to a significantly new solution. This mechanism also includes four steps:
The first stage is preparation; at this stage, information relevant to the problem is selected.
The second stage is incubation; at this stage, the researcher postpones work on the problem for a while, switching to other things. At the same time, unconscious processing of information continues: it is included in the structure of past experience, links are established between new information and already known information.
The third stage is insight, insight. It seems that the solution appears by itself, without any intervention of the researcher, and is often perceived as something mystical. Blaise Pascal even once turned to the ministers of the church with a request for help, considering his discovery, which later received the name "Pascal's snail", "demonic obsession." There are many examples when the solution to a problem came in a dream or during a sleepy state or slumber, and the solution comes already in finished form, and the intermediate stages are absolutely inaccessible to the researcher.
The fourth stage is a logical evaluation of the found solution, verification by
comparisons with the original facts.
Do these two approaches contradict each other? Apparently not. Luria's theory of mental activity is a description of a logical, conscious mechanism for solving all the numerous everyday tasks, while Wallace's discovery reveals the significance of the unconscious in the creative process, aimed at obtaining fundamentally new solutions to problems or fundamentally new explanations of certain phenomena of reality.
Theories of intelligence.
Intelligence is a relatively stable set of mental abilities of an individual. In domestic psychology, the point of view prevails
in which intelligence is identical to thinking (L.S. Tsvetkova "The Brain and Intellect, 1995). In Western psychology, intelligence is associated with successful adaptation in the environment, i.e. the more intelligent is the one who adapts best, i.e. thanks to his sound sense and initiative can adapt to the circumstances of life.According to Veksler, "intelligence is a global ability to act intelligently, think rationally and cope well with life circumstances, i.e. successfully compete with the outside world."
Intelligence assessment.
Various psychologists have proposed various methods for assessing intelligence according to various parameters. So the Thurstones identify seven factors by which intelligence can be judged:
1. The ability to perform counting operations.
2. Verbal flexibility, i.e. the ability to easily find words to adequately express thoughts.
3. Verbal perception, i.e. ability to adequately understand spoken and written language.
4. Spatial orientation, the ability to represent various objects in space.
5. Memory.
6. The ability to reason, i.e. problem solving using past experience.
7. Readiness for perception, i.e. the speed of perception of similarities or differences between objects or images.
Various authors have proposed a number of tests to assess the level of intelligence. The first intelligence test was created by the psychologist Binet and revealed the "mental" (mental) age of the child, in contrast to his chronological age. Later, Wexler, Cattell, Eysenck proposed their own tests for assessing the intelligence of adults and children. Now the most commonly used tests are the Stanford-Binet and Wexler tests.
Types and levels of intelligence.
Guilford was the first to propose to evaluate intelligence in terms of convergence - divergence. convergent intelligence involves the search for the only correct solution and is the result of learning,
good understanding of problem solving algorithms . Divergent intelligence
characterized by a simultaneous multifaceted search for the right solutions, which results in original creative ideas.
It is also accepted to divide intelligence into specific level, aimed at solving everyday problems and often called ingenuity and abstract a level that allows you to successfully operate with concepts.
Cattell suggested that each of us from birth has a potential "liquid"intelligence, which is the general ability to think, abstract and reason, on the basis of which, as experience is gained in solving problems of adaptation to the environment, "crystal"intelligence, which is the various specific skills and knowledge of a given individual.
Factors influencing the formation of intelligence.
The intrauterine life of the child leaves a significant imprint on
the formation of intellectual potentialities. Mental retardation is possible:
n with some chromosomal abnormalities (Down's disease);
n in case of violations of the supply of the brain of the developing fetus with oxygen;
n with malnutrition of the fetus;
n certain maternal illnesses during pregnancy (eg rubella and diabetes);
n if the mother has taken many drugs, especially antibiotics and tranquilizers;
n when the mother uses drugs, alcohol, or smokes during pregnancy.
After the birth of a child, it affects the development of his intellectual abilities:
n nutrition, care and safety in the first months of life;
n irritant-rich environment, i.e. communication with various people, a large number of toys, devices for the development of physical activity (balls, rings);
n the number of children in the family - the more children in the family, the lower the level of development of their intellect, although there is another interesting relationship: the older children in such a family are more intellectually developed than the younger ones;
n the social status of the family - affects the formation of a practical or abstract level of intelligence, as well as the general orientation of the individual.
Speech is a specifically human way of exchanging information that ensures the progress of human civilization as a result of the accumulation of collective experience.
Speech is one of the essential factors that distinguish the human psyche from the psyche of animals. All types of social animals (i.e. living in groups - flocks, herds, etc.) have signals that they exchange
in one situation or another. Each signal triggers a specific behavioral response - flight or the desire to hide when a signal of danger, the search for food in the presence of a signal that one of the members of the group has found it. The reaction to signals in most animal species is innate; in some species of monkeys, signals developed in the process of living together and including a conditioned reflex reaction are added to innate signals. A person also has a number of unconditioned reflex sound signals - a cry of pain, an involuntary exclamation as a reaction to a dangerous situation. But along with this so-called first signaling system, a person has a second signaling system - human speech, with the help of which we not only convey information about the existing situation, but we can talk about the past or the future, or about what does not exist.
The ability to speak is innate, but this ability can be actualized only if the child develops among people who talk to him and to each other. Cases of the so-called children-Mowgli, i.e. children raised by monkeys are convinced by wolves that this ability must be actualized within a strictly defined time frame. If a child does not speak for one reason or another at the age close to two years, then with each year that separates him from this age, the possibility of actualizing speech functions will decrease. Those. the older we try to teach a child to talk (if this did not happen naturally), the less success we will achieve.
The ability to speak includes several inextricably linked processes: the ability to pronounce (speech motility and phonetics), the ability to understand oral speech (i.e. understanding the meaning of words - semantics), the ability to understand written speech (i.e. to read ), the ability to correctly construct speech (syntax), the ability to write.
Physiologists have discovered a number of speech centers, which in the vast majority of cases are located in the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex.
and are responsible for various verbal processes.
With violations in the activity of the brain, violations of the corresponding speech functions occur:
Articulation disorders (Broca's aphasia) - significant impairments in the ability to speak, i.e. patients cannot pronounce a word well known to them;
writing disorders (agraphia) - the inability to write due to the fact that the brain cannot "remember" hand movements when writing and reproduce them;
Disorders of understanding of oral speech (Wernicke's aphasia) - patients do not understand the meaning of words, perceive someone else's speech as noise that does not make any sense;
Reading disorders (alexia) - the impossibility of understanding the meaning of words, transmitted in a symbolic form, by letters.
Types of speech.
The following types of speech are distinguished:
n external speech - the speech that we use to communicate with other people; in ontogenesis it appears at first as an incomprehensible imitation of someone else's speech at the level of the first signal system, later there is an understanding of the meaning of spoken words;
n inner speech - speech that provides mental activity, as well as communication with oneself;
n intermediate speech - partially internalized (transferred inward) external speech, in which part of the speech activity is carried out outside, and part inside the consciousness. Outwardly, it looks like a meaningless fragmentary speech. In ontogeny is a normal stage
transition of external speech into internal. In adults, a return to
intermediate speech indicates asthenization (exhaustion) of mental
ki, fatigue, neurosis.
In turn, external speech can be divided into oral and written, and oral - into monologue and dialogic. Each type of speech has its own characteristics. So, for example, written speech requires greater concretization of thought, and in oral dialogic speech, the addition of non-verbal channels of information transmission (intonation, facial expressions, gestures, body postures) allows you to adequately express your thoughts with more meager speech means.
According to the degree of activity of the process, there are:
n active speech, in which each phrase is independently constructed by a person;
n passive speech, in which a person uses ready-made speech stamps.
Section 5: EMOTIONAL AND WILL PROCESSES.
1. Emotions.
Emotions- this is a direct biased experience of the vital meaning of phenomena and situations. Emotions arose in phylogeny as a signal about the biological state of the body after certain influences on it.
and now represent a form of species experience that allows individual individuals to perform, focusing on them, the necessary actions, the expediency of which is unclear to him. But these actions ensure the satisfaction of vital needs. Thus, the negative emotions that accompany the feeling of hunger make us look for ways to satisfy this need, which, in turn, is aimed at maintaining the normal functioning of the body.
Theories of emotions.
n The James-Lange theory suggests that at first there is a reaction of the organism to some situation, which is then experienced by us as a certain emotion. Those. when we meet an angry dog, we first feel how our knees trembled and it got cold inside, and then we understand that we were frightened. According to James, "we are sad because we cry, we are angry because we strike, we are afraid because we tremble."
n The Cannon-Bard theory casts doubt on this theory, because, according to Cannon, the same physiological states correspond to many different emotions, and it depends only on the individual how he interprets this state and what sign - positive or negative - he will attribute to him.
n The information theory of P. Simonov establishes a relationship between the emergence of emotions of a certain color and severity and the degree of awareness of the individual about the possibility of satisfying any need.
Emotion = required information - available information.
It is clear that if the individual has all the necessary information
about the possibility of satisfying the need, then there is a positive
emotion; if the available information is not enough, then there is an emotional
tion is negative.
Classification of emotions.
1. The simplest existing classification of emotions proposes to divide them into two types: experienced by the individual as negative and experienced by the individual as positive.
2. There is also a classification that proposes to divide emotions into sthenic (activating a person, increasing his readiness for activity) and asthenic (relaxing, tiring a person, causing lethargy).
3. The classification proposed by W. Wundt suggests characterizing emotions in three areas:
Pleasure-displeasure;
Voltage-discharge;
Excitation-inhibition.
4. American psychologist K. Izard identifies the following fundamental emotions:
n interest-excitement;
n joy;
n surprise;
n grief-suffering;
n disgust;
n contempt;
All other emotional reactions of individuals, according to Izard, are derivative and complex, i.e. arise on the basis of several fundamental.
5. Domestic psychologist B. Dodonov offers an even more complex classification of emotions:
n altruistic emotions (desire to help other people);
n communicative emotions (arising during communication);
n gloric emotions (associated with the need for self-affirmation);
n praxic emotions (associated with the success of the activity);
n fearful emotions (associated with situations of danger, with the need to take risks);
n romantic emotions (desire for the extraordinary, new);
n gnostic emotions (arising in cognition);
n aesthetic emotions (associated with the perception of works of art);
n hedonistic emotions (associated with the need for pleasure, convenience);
n acquisitive emotions (associated with interest in accumulation, collecting).
emotional states.
The simplest and oldest form of emotional experience is emotional tone of sensations. Any signal perceived by our analyzers causes a certain emotional reaction - positive or negative. At every moment of time, we are affected by a huge number of stimuli, and each of them is emotionally experienced by us.
If the total number of stimuli that cause a positive emotional reaction is greater, then we feel at the moment
well - calmly, relaxed, satisfied. If, on the contrary, there are more negatively affecting stimuli, then we feel "out of our element", "uncomfortable", tense, restless. Especially important for the formation of the general emotional tone of sensations are odor stimuli. The sense of smell is the oldest of analyzers. Through the autonomic nervous system, it is closely connected with the activity of the endocrine glands and significantly affects the general condition of the body - including the general emotional tone.
Mood- an emotional state that for a long time colors the entire mental life of a person. There are two types of moods:
n undivided emotional background (elevated or depressed);
n a clearly identifiable state (boredom, sadness, joy)
The factors that cause a certain mood can be very different: from physiological to highly spiritual. So, for example, indigestion, a feeling of guilt for an unseemly act or thought, a conflict situation in the family, dissatisfaction with the level of work done contribute to the formation of a bad mood, and, say, a feeling of well-being of the body after a ski trip or good sleep, a job well done, a meeting with a dear man, a good book evoke a good mood. The specificity of this emotional state is that a person, being in a certain mood, perceives all signals from the environment colored in the same emotional tones, even if rationally he is able to adequately evaluate them.
frustration- a state of acute experience of an unsatisfied need, the realization of the impossibility of achieving any significant goal.
The factors that cause this state are called frustrators, and the situations in which this state occurs are called frustration situations. Frustrators can be a wide range of factors: physiological (deprivation of sleep, food, cold, thirst, unmet sexual needs, etc.), psychological (lack of communication, lack of information, ethical internal conflicts, etc.)
A person in a state of frustration experiences a whole range of negative emotional experiences: irritation, guilt, disappointment, despair. The frustration situation is usually resolved either when the frustrator is eliminated (i.e., satisfaction of the need), or when the existing set of needs is reorganized and one's attitude towards some of them changes (i.e., rejection of something).
Different people are unequally susceptible to the effects of frustrators, the degree of their stability in this respect is usually called frustration tolerance, which depends on the functional characteristics of the nervous system, the worldview system of the given individual, and his self-esteem.
Stress- a reaction to a change in living conditions, the process of adaptation to a new situation, "a non-specific response of the body to any requirement presented to it" (Selye).
Depending on the type of stressors, they are divided into:
Physiological stress (change of work schedule, severe physical
labor, excessive cold or heat, lack of oxygen, pain stimuli
Psychological stress (significant change in living conditions,
loss of loved ones, information overload, resentment, etc.).
Hans Selye, the largest specialist in the field of stress studies, identifies the following phases in the development of the general adaptation syndrome:
n alarm reaction - at this stage, the sympathetic nervous system is excited
system and adrenal glands release "stress hormones" into the blood - adre -
naline and norepinephrine;
n resistance phase - at this stage, the entire organ is mobilized
nism to overcome a stressful situation;
n phase of exhaustion - this phase occurs if stressful situations occur too often and the body does not have time to restore its strength between stresses.
A certain amount of stressful situations is necessary for a person, because. stress (at least two of its phases) has a mobilizing effect, tempers the body, increases its resistance to various stressors. But if the changes that require adaptation go in a continuous series (and in the conditions of a modern large city a person is exposed to stressors almost every minute), then the body does not have time to recover and enter a normal mode of operation - stress becomes chronic.
There are the following main signs of chronic stress in the stage of exhaustion:
n insomnia;
n chest pain;
n constant coughing;
n sexual dissatisfaction;
n emotional imbalance (mood swings);
n persistent fatigue;
n muscle pain.
The adverse effects of chronic stress are often referred to as distress. Distress causes a wide variety of disorders in the life of an individual: it reduces resistance to infections due to weakened immunity, contributes to the emergence of various psychosomatic (i.e., of a mental nature) diseases - gastritis, stomach ulcers, cardiovascular diseases, allergies, bronchial asthma, diseases of the spine, and many others, forms various disturbances in the sphere of motivational activity of the individual, neurotic reactions and even reactive psychoses.
Affect- a strong and relatively short-term emotional state associated with a sharp change in life conditions that are important for the individual. The reason for the emergence of affect is the experience by a person of an internal conflict between his inclinations, aspirations and desires, or a contradiction between the requirements imposed on him by others (or by himself) and the ability to fulfill these requirements. Affect develops in critical, unexpected, often dangerous situations when a person cannot find a way out of them.
Signs of affect:
n narrowing of consciousness, its focus on the irritant and the inability to adequately assess the situation and one's actions;
n pronounced motor activity associated with the need to throw out the strongest mental stress generated by the situation;
n partial or complete loss of memory about the events that preceded the affect and their actions during it;
n severe mental exhaustion, physical weakness after an affective reaction;
n the presence of "post-affective traces or complexes", which, in the event of a subsequent similar situation, impose the same method of resolving it, which was undertaken by the subject for the first time.
Depression- an emotional state characterized by a negative emotional background, a general decrease in vital activity, weakness of volitional processes, weakening of memory, thought processes, inability to concentrate. A person in a state of depression experiences painful experiences, despair, longing. Characteristic are thoughts about one's own worthlessness, about the impossibility of preventing the onset of some terrible events, fear of the future, feelings of guilt for past events. Prolonged severe depression can lead to suicide attempts. Depression in healthy people may result from
chronic stress, prolonged overstrain, mental trauma.
The senses- one of the main forms of a person's experience of his attitude to objects, events and other people. In ontogeny, feelings appear later than situational emotions; they represent a personal level.
experiences by a person of his attitude to the world and depend on the culture of the society in which the person was brought up, the degree of his development. In other words, the stimuli that cause negative or positive emotions have the same effect on a person of primitive culture and on a modern highly educated Englishman, but the factors that cause a feeling of shame or indignation will be completely different. An important difference between feelings and emotions is that feelings are relatively stable and constant, while emotions are situational in nature, i.e. are a response to a particular situation. At the same time, feelings and emotions are closely related, because every feeling is experienced and found precisely in concrete emotions. Moreover, if in the first years of life it is emotions that are the basis for the formation of feelings, then as the personality develops, feelings begin to determine the content of situational emotions.
Passion- a strong, persistent, all-encompassing feeling that dominates other human motives and leads to a focus on the subject of passion of all his aspirations and forces. The reasons for the formation of passions are almost exclusively associated with unconscious complexes that require realization in the sphere of consciousness. Like any unconscious drives, these complexes cannot be realized in their present form and therefore are subject to change, sublimation in order to overcome the censorship of the ego. the greatest tension and concentration of forces, which would be impossible under other conditions of personality formation.
2. Volitional processes.
Will - the ability of a person to independently regulate his activity, subordinating it to conscious decisions.
Willpower is enabled under the following conditions:
· if necessary, consciously regulate their activities, i.e. in all situations when we do not follow external incentives for activity, but form them ourselves;
· with insufficient motivation for activity, i.е. in situations where external stimuli do not provide the necessary level of activity; in this case, we must ourselves create additional motives;
· if it is necessary to choose motives, goals, means in case of their conflict, i.e. in situations where we are faced with two mutually exclusive motives and must choose between them.
Volitional effort consists not only in the conscious motivation of activity, but also in the ability to slow down activity, to refuse something.
The ability for volitional actions is socially conditioned, i.e. is the result of upbringing and self-education. The behavior of young children is reactive - they respond to internal ("I want!") And external ("Do this and you'll get candy!") motivations for activity. As personal qualities are formed, the child becomes capable of volitional actions, forms an active attitude towards his actions, and acts as their regulator himself. Volitional effort is overcoming oneself, the highest expression of consciousness, power over oneself.
The defect in the development of volitional qualities is called weak will. A weak-willed person is unable to give up what he wants, to make a choice between two equivalent motives. The severity of weak will varies: from small concessions to oneself in certain situations to the impossibility of making an elementary choice (the situation of "Buridan's donkey"). The pathology of the development of the will is called abulia. With abulia, a person understands that something needs to be done, but is unable to force himself. Another pronounced characteristic of abulia is following external stimuli for action. So, a person with a similar pathology enters the door only because it was in his way.
Section 6: PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY.
1. The concept of personality in psychology.
Personality- a systemic quality, characterized by a set of stable features (temperament, character, abilities, attitudes), which determines the way of a given person's relationship with the world and other people. The traits that characterize the personality are partly genetically determined, i.e. congenital, partly dependent on the influence of the environment, formed in the process of communication. But despite the innate nature of some components, this systemic quality itself can arise only under the condition of public education, i.e. only if the child grows up in the company of other people. One of the most important characteristics of a person is self-reflection - self-awareness, expressed in the concept of "I".
Theories of personality.
psychoanalytic theory.
According to Z. Freud, personality development corresponds to the psychosexual development of a person, and at each stage, libido (sexual energy that determines human activity) manifests itself through various erogenous zones.
Freud distinguishes the following phases of psychosexual development:
· at the oral stage (0-1 year) the removal of libido tension is associated with sucking - the mother's breast, pacifier or bottle of milk, one's own finger or any object; if for some reason the need for sucking is not satisfied, then the person lingers at this stage and subsequently, in adulthood, such vices as a passion for alcohol ("for a bottle"), for smoking
(“cigarette sucking”), overeating or foul language;
· at the anal stage (1-2 years) the tension of the libido is removed during the act of defecation; with inconsistent behavior of parents, too harsh upbringing, a delay in personal development can occur at this stage as well - in this case, such character traits as punctuality and pedantry develop ("the main thing is to be on time"), stinginess (unwillingness to part with anything that belongs to me), excessive cleanliness (the desire to remove everything dirty) and stubbornness (refusal to obey the demands of others);
· at the phallic stage (2-5 years) the child discovers the difference between the sexes; at this age, the Oedipus complex (in boys) and Electra (in girls) manifests itself, expressed in a subconscious desire to eliminate the parent of the same sex in order to stay with the beloved parent of the opposite sex; the resolution of this conflict leads to identification with the parent of the same sex and the emergence of conscience, guilt, moral attitudes; a delay at this stage leads to homosexual orientation (when identifying oneself with a parent of the same sex) or to a future search for a replacement for the parent (search for a wife-mother, husband-father);
· the latent period (5-11 years) is characterized by a decrease in interest in the problems of sexual differences;
The genital stage (12th and beyond) is characterized by a sexual orientation towards a partner of the opposite sex, and this stage ends with the development of an "adult" attitude to life, characterized by the desire to find self-expression in activity, in the ability to love another person for his own sake, and not for the sake of satisfying his own sexual desires. interests ("work and love").
Individual psychology of Alfred Adler.
Adler attaches primary importance in the development of the personality to the "will to power", which is initially, from birth, present in every person. It is the will to power or the universal desire to prove one's superiority that has the main influence on the formation of a certain style of human interaction with the world and other people, as well as on the formation of an "inferiority complex" or "superiority complex" ("Napoleon complex") in the case of a child's physical inferiority, short stature, overprotectiveness, or suppression of autonomy in childhood.
Analytical psychology according to K.G. Jung.
Jung, being at first a student of Freud, later created his own theory of personality, in which, in addition to the personal unconscious, he introduces the concept of the "collective" unconscious, which is innate and has a universal character. FROM
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