10. Feelings. general characteristics

Reader in general psychology: the subject of cognition, Reader. Psychology of sensations and perceptions, S.L. Rubinstein Fundamentals of General Psychology

The mental processes with the help of which the images of the environment are formed, as well as the images of the organism itself and its internal environment, are calledcognitive mental processes... It is cognitive mental processes that ensure that a person gains knowledge about the world around him and about himself.

Sensation - this is the simplest cognitive mental process, consisting in the reflection of individual properties of objects and phenomena material world, and internal states the body under the direct influence of stimuli on the corresponding receptors.

Physiological basis of sensation. Feeling arises as a reaction nervous system to this or that stimulus and has a reflex character.The physiological basis of sensation is the nervous process that occurs when a stimulus acts on an analyzer adequate to it.Receptor (periphery) -> afferent and efferent nerves -> subcortex and cortex (processing of nerve impulses).The analyzer is the original and most important part of the entire path. nervous processes, or reflex arc(opened by Sechenov). The reflex ring consists of a receptor, pathways, a central part and an effector. The interrelation of the elements of the reflex ring provides the basis for the orientation of a complex organism in the surrounding world, the activity of the organism, depending on the conditions of its existence.The sense organ is both a receptor and an effector.

Classification of sensations.

Currently, there are two main types of classification of sensations: genetic and systematic.

Systematic classification of sensations (Sherrington) - according to the classification of receptors:

1. Distant (sight, hearing, smell) and contact (tactile, touch, gustatory)exteroreceptorslocated on the surface of the body and reacting to influences from the external environment; Available environmental conditions

2. interoreceptorsresponding to changes in internal organs. Knowledge about the state of the internal environment

3. proprioceptorsembedded in muscles and ligaments. - signaling movements (kinesthetic sensations), a sense of balance (static sensations). knowledge of mutual disposition parts of the body.

Limitation: not all sensations can be strictly attributed to a particular modality. There are sensations that are intermediate between traditional modalities. These are intermodal sensations (vibration).

Genetic classification of sensations.

Proposed by the English neurologist H. Head. He distinguishesepicritical and protopathic sensitivity.Epicritical sensitivity:a younger and more perfect sensitivity, allows you to accurately localize an object in space, it gives objective information about the phenomenon.Protopathic Sensitivity:relatively more ancient and primitive, do not give precise localization not in external space, nor in body space. They are characterized by constant affective coloration, theyreflect rather subjective statesthan objective processes.The ratio of protapotic and epicritical components in different types of sensitivity is different.Epicritic (descending): sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. Protopathic is the opposite.

Properties of sensations

1. Modality. Only one type of sensation is possible in the analyzer. The eye cannot perceive sound.

2. Quality ( specific feature, distinguishes it from the rest). For example, the qualities of visual modality include brightness, saturation, Color tone... The qualities of auditory sensations: pitch, volume, timbre.

3. Intensity. The quantitative aspect of the stimulus, the severity of this quality. The dependence of the intensity of sensation on the physical strength of the stimulus acting on the analyzer is mathematically expressed in the basic law of psychophysics, which received the name

4. Spatial localization- This is a characteristic of sensation that allows you to determine the location of the influencing stimulus. Color, light, sound is related to the source

5. Time duration. The duration of the sensation. It is determined by the duration of exposure to the stimulus, its intensity, as well as the functional state of the analyzer. When an irritant is exposed to the sensory organ, the sensation does not arise immediately, but after a certain period of time, which is called the "latent (hidden) period of sensation." When the stimulus stops acting, the sensation does not disappear simultaneously with it, but continues for some time in its absence. This effect is called "aftereffect (or inertia) of sensation."

Patterns of sensations.

1. Sensory adaptation.

Adaptation - adaptation of sensitivity to a constantly acting stimulus, manifested in a decrease or increase in thresholds.Example: adaptation to a long-lasting odor, other odors continue to be felt as keenly as before.

Can distinguish three varieties of this phenomenon.

1. prolonged action of the stimulus - the extinction of sensation. For example, during the day, a person may practically not feel the weight of the clothes and their contact with the skin.

2. Adaptation as dulling sensations under the influence of a strong stimulus. For example, when the hand is immersed in cold water, the intensity of the sensation caused by the temperature stimulus decreases.

1 and 2 - negative adaptation, as a result of which the sensitivity of the analyzers decreases.

3. increased sensitivity under the influence of a weak stimulus. In the visual analyzer, this is a dark adaptation, example: visual sensitivity increases when a person enters a darkened space.

It has enormous biological significance, it helps to catch weak stimuli through the senses and protects the senses from excessive irritation in case of strong influences.

2. Interaction of sensations -change in the sensitivity of one analyzer system under the influence of the activity of another analyzer system.General pattern: weak stimuli in one analyzer system increase the sensitivity of the other system, strong ones decrease it. For example, a weak taste sensation (sour) increases visual sensitivity, a strong noise reduces the acuity of central vision, and a weak one increases it. Mutual influences are noted between sound and visual sensations.

3. Sensitization- increase sensitivity of the body to something as a result of the interaction of sensation and exercise(for example, hearing in children playing music develops). This is a variant of the interaction of sensations. Differs from adaptation: - Increases only in the direction of sharpness (adaptation can change in different sides), - It changes only from the well-being of the body, adaptation occurs only under the influence of the environment.

4. Synesthesia - excitation by the arisen sensations of one modality of sensations of another modality.Sound can be perceived in various colors. Synesthesia occurs in a wide variety of sensations. The most common are visual-auditory synesthesias, when visual images appear in a subject when exposed to sound stimuli. There is no overlap among different people in these synesthesias, however, they are fairly consistent for each individual.

The phenomenon of synesthesia is another evidence of the constant interconnection of analyzer systems human body, the integrity of the sensory reflection of the objective world.

Sensory isolation and its consequences

S. and. - keeping the body in conditions of exclusion from the environment of the maximum number of irritants.

Distinguish 3 kinds of isolation conditions:

1) the absolute negation of the influx of stimuli (sensory hunger);

2) elimination of stimuli that carry information, but without reducing the strength of the energy impact falling on the receptors;

3) reduction of the sensory environment to a series of simple monotonous and repetitive stimuli.

1st condition leads to S. and., The last 2 to perceptual isolation.

The study uses a number of indicators: verbal reports of the subjects, the results of the performance of perceptual, mnemonic and intellectual tests, physical activity, cardiac activity, etc.

Research: in the conditions of S. and. the flow of perceptual processes is disrupted, visual and auditory illusions arise, sociability, clarity of behavior and the ability to think are sharply reduced.During the monotonous hours of the experiment, the subject tries to make sense of the experimental situation, to make it informative (for example, the subjects try to understand the nature of the food, determine the intervals between meals, count inhalations and exhalations, etc.). They try to compensate for the absence of external stimuli with memories or imagination, but these pictures soon become obsessive, uncontrollable, and turn into hallucinations. Feel - the necessary conditions the functioning of the mind as a whole. A number of researchers note the great importance of the subject's past experience for the outcome of the experiment under conditions of S. and. The nature of human behavior in new conditions depends on his internal resources. Obviously, there is a category of people who are easier to get along with their inner peace... (T.P. Zinchenko)

The concept of a threshold in classical psychophysics

Since sensations depend on external stimuli,the question arose about the nature of this dependence, i.e. about the basic laws to which it obeys. This is the central question of psychophysics. Its foundations were laid by the studies of E. Weber and G. Fechner ("Elements of Psychophysics").The main question of psychophysics is the question of thresholds.

Distinguish between absolute and difference thresholds.

It has been found that not all stimuli produce sensations. It may be so weak that it will not cause any sensation. We need a well-known minimum intensity irritation in order to evoke sensation. The minimum irritation causing sensation is calledlower absolute threshold. V Upper absolute threshold -the maximum intensity possible to experience a given quality

In addition to the thresholds of absolute sensitivity, sensations are also characterized by thresholds of sensitivity to discrimination. The minimum amount of stimulus that causes barely noticeabledifferences in sensations is called difference threshold.

E. WEBER found that a certain ratio between the intensities of two stimuli is required in order for them to give different sensations. This ratio is expressed in the law established by Weber:the ratio of the additional stimulus to the main one should be constant.

Further studies showed that the law is valid only for stimuli of average size: when approaching absolute thresholds, the magnitude of the increase transfers to be constant.

The dependence of the intensity of sensation on the physical strength of the stimulus acting on the analyzer is mathematically expressed in the basic law of psychophysics, which received the name"Weber - Fechner law": If the strength of the stimulus increases exponentially, then the intensity of sensation increases in arithmetic progression.So, a chandelier with 8 bulbs seems to us as much brighter than a chandelier of 4 bulbs, as a chandelier of 4 bulbs is brighter than a chandelier of 2 bulbs. That is, the number of bulbs must increase significantly so that it seems to us that the increase in brightness is constant.

The problem of measuring sensations. Myself Fechner proposed three psychophysical methods that entered psychology under the name of basic methods.These methods are aimed at determining thresholds.

1. Method of boundaries (subtle differences, minimal changes or serial research). The compared stimulus changes in small steps in both an increase and a decrease. The subject at each measurement of the stimulus must say less, equal or more than the standard. As a result of the experiment, the values ​​of the variable stimulus corresponding to the change in the response categories are determined. Atdetermining the absolute thresholdstandard incentivenot presentedand the subject's task is to answer whether there is a stimulus or not.

Addictive errorthere is a tendency to maintain the answer "yes" in the descending rows (with a decrease in stimulus) or the answer "no" in the ascending rows.Anticipation (or expectation) errorhas the opposite character. The main purpose of alternating ascending and descending series is to balance any of the persistent errors, if any.

2. Installation method(mean error, reproduction or trimming method). 2 stimuli, the subject adjusts this stimulus to the standard (it seems to him equal to the standard). Repeat several times, and then calculate the average value and variability of the subjects' attitudes. The average value of trims (settings) is a direct indicator of the point of subjective equality, and the variability of trims allowed by the test subject can be used to calculate the difference threshold.When determining the absolute thresholdthe subject repeatedly sets the value of the variable stimulus, which, in his opinion, is the lowest among the detected stimuli. The average of these settings is taken as the absolute threshold.

3. Method of persistent stimuli(method of true and false cases or method of frequencies). This method concerns the identification of stimuli that lie in the transition zone between perceived and non-perceived.If a stimulus or a difference between stimuli is perceived in 50% of cases, then they respectively indicate the position of the absolute and difference thresholds.In order to compose a picture of the entire transition zone, usually 5-9 different stimuli are selected, ranging from rarely seen to almost always noticed stimuli. When measuring the absolute threshold, stimuli are also selected that lie on both sides of the stimulation threshold or absolute threshold. There are usually two categories of answers - "yes" and "no". Empty trap samples must be turned on so that the subject does not know about them. The absolute threshold is usually taken as the value of the stimulus, at which it is perceived in 50% of cases.

Sub-sensory range concept.

It has long been known that not everything that is perceived by a person and determines his behavior is realized.

Subsensory range- a zone of human sensitivity to imperceptible stimuli.

The subsensory region exists in both normal and pathological conditions. Its limits are highly dependent on functional state human and range from 5 to 12 dB for hearing.

A complete and accurate characterization of human sensory capabilities can be obtained only with the help of involuntary reactions.

Practical importance:in some cases, objective reactions represent the only possibility of measuring sensitivity: in young children who have not yet fully mastered speech, in brain pathologies associated with speech impairment, in simulating insensitivity, etc., where it is desirable to measure sensitivity without drawing the subject's attention to irritants.

Answer
Proprioceptive sensations include sensations of relaxation and muscle contraction. Proprioceptive sensations enable a person to perceive changes in the position of individual parts of the body at rest and during movements. The information coming from the proprioceptors allows him to constantly monitor the posture and accuracy of voluntary movements, to dose the force of muscle contractions when opposing external resistance, for example, when lifting or moving a load.
2. The numerical characteristic of the average attention span of people is equal to ___ units of information.
5–9
1–3
2–4
8–10

Answer
The numerical characteristic of the average attention span of people is equal to 5-9 units of information. Attention is the selective focus of perception on a particular object. The numerical characteristic is usually established through experience, during which a person is presented with a large number of information. What he manages to notice during this time characterizes his attention span.
3. A corrective test to investigate the stability of attention was proposed by a French psychologist ...
B. Burdon
J. Piaget
P. Janet
A. Binet

Answer
A corrective test to investigate the stability of attention was proposed by the French psychologist B. Bourdon. The essence of this test is that the subject is given a form with a set of letters or other characters written in a line (some of them are repeated), and an instruction is received for a certain period of time to view all the characters in each line, crossing out with the proposed methods those of them that were previously indicated by the experimenter.
4. The theory of memory, which is based on the concept of connections between individual mental phenomena - ___ theory.
associative
activity
semantic
informational

Answer
The theory of memory, which is based on the concept of connections between individual mental phenomena, is an associative theory. This theory is one of the first psychological theories memory, which has not lost its scientific significance until now. It arose in the 17th century, was actively developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and received predominant distribution and recognition in England and Germany. This theory is based on the concept of association, developed by G. Ebbinghaus, G. Müller, A. Pilzeker and others.
5. The characteristic of visual sensation corresponding to the intensity of the stimulus is called ...
saturation
brightness
tone
duration

Answer
The characteristic of the visual sensation corresponding to the intensity of the stimulus is called saturation. Visual sensations arise when exposed electromagnetic waves on the visual receptor - the retina. Saturation is the degree to which a given color differs from a gray color, which is the same in lightness, or, as they say, the degree of its expression. Color saturation depends on the ratio of the number of light rays that characterize the color of a given surface to the total luminous flux reflected by it. The color saturation depends on the shape of the light wave.
6. The phenomenon characterizing the effect of interruptions in activity on memory processes was described by B.V. Zeigarnik as an effect ...
unfinished action
the edges
novelty
saving

Answer
The phenomenon that characterizes the effect of interruptions in activity on memory processes was described by B.V. Zeigarnik as the effect of an unfinished action. B.V. Zeigarnik tested K. Levin's hypothesis that interrupted tasks are remembered better than completed ones due to persisting motivational stress. It was found that the number of remembered interrupted tasks is approximately twice the number of memorized completed tasks.

Sensation–this is the simplest mental process, consisting in the reflection of individual properties of objects and phenomena of the material world, as well as the internal states of the organism under the direct influence of stimuli on the corresponding receptors.

Analyzers (sense organs) are the channels through which we receive all information about the world, both external and actually internal. Reflecting objectively existing objects and phenomena, sensations, approximately accurately reflect the world that exists independently of our consciousness, independently of us. Thus, by their origin and content, sensations are objective. But the sensations themselves are subjective.

Rice. 2.1. Analyzer structure

The analyzers collectively call sensory system(Figure 2.1). Feelings depend not only on the characteristics of the human brain and analyzers, but also on experience, professional knowledge, interests and other personality traits, as well as the state of a person (fatigue, mood, etc.). So, with some diseases, sensations become illusory. Sensations are the simplest of all mental phenomena. All living beings with a nervous system have the ability to feel.

Only man and higher animals are endowed with the ability to perceive the world in the form of images.

Feelings in their quality and diversity reflect the diversity of the properties of the environment that are significant for humans.

The vital role of sensations is to promptly and quickly bring to the central nervous system, as the main organ of activity control, information about the state of the external and internal environment, the presence of biologically significant factors in it.

Classification of sensations

Certain types of sensations correspond to each analyzer.

Depending on the location of the receptor, sensations are distinguished exteroceptive(obtained from receptors located on the surface of the body and reflecting the properties of objects and phenomena of the external environment), interoceptive(from receptors located in the internal organs and tissues of the body and reflecting the state internal organs) and proprioceptive(from receptors located in muscles and ligaments; they give information about the movement and position of our body.). The subclass of proprioception, which is sensitivity to movement, is also called kinesthesia, and the corresponding receptors are kinesthetic or kinesthetic(fig. 2.2) .

Rice. 2.2. Classification of sensations

Exteroceptors can be divided into two groups: contact and distant receptors. Contact receptors transmit irritation through direct contact with objects affecting them; such are the tactile, taste buds. Distant receptors respond to stimuli emanating from a distant object; distant receptors are visual, auditory, olfactory (see Fig. 2.2).

In many activities greatest value have visual sensations. An important role in labor actions is played by motor or kinesthetic sensations caused by irritation of nerve endings embedded in muscles, joints, ligaments and bones. They provide the flow of information necessary for the coordination of movements. The concept of "skin sensations" includes sensations of touch and pressure - touch, or tactile sensations, thermal (cold and heat) and pain sensations. Immobile skin only picks up individual sensations. You need to move the object over the skin and the movement of the fingers - feeling, in order to reflect the shape of the object through haptic perceptions. The sense of balance is involved in the perception of the spatial position of the body. The role of auditory sensations is associated in labor activity, on the one hand, with the provision of information exchange between those working together and, on the other hand, with the ability to control the operating state of the machine by the sound characteristic. It is impossible to work in the food industry without the olfactory sensations. Gustatory sensations closely related to olfactory sensations are also important here.

The sensations arising from stimulation of the interoceptors make it possible to eliminate certain deficiencies in the functioning of various internal organs and thus create a feeling of well-being. In conditions of "normal health", individual interoceptive sensations are not recognized. The sensitivity of analyzers is formed and improved in the course of a person's labor activity. All student analyzers can increase their sensitivity, but this requires the following conditions:

1) systematic exercise of analyzers, from which high sensitivity is required in production work;

2) a consistent increase in the requirements for the sensitivity of the exercised analyzers;

3) creation best conditions sensations of weak stimuli (illumination, color, contrast, etc.) encountered in production work;

But the main condition for the formation of feelings in students is to ensure their cheerfulness, interest and activity in work, which increase the sensitivity of all analyzers involved in the activity.

Properties of sensations

Quality- this is the main feature of this sensation, which distinguishes it from other types of sensations and varies within this type. So, auditory sensations differ in height, timbre, volume; visual - by saturation, color tone, etc. The qualitative variety of sensations reflects the infinite variety of forms of motion of matter.

Intensity sensations is its quantitative characteristic and is determined by the strength of the acting stimulus and the functional state of the receptor.

Duration sensations are its temporal characteristics. It is also determined by the functional state of the sense organ, but mainly by the time of action of the stimulus and its intensity. When an irritant is exposed to the sensory organ, the sensation does not arise immediately, but after a while, which was called latent (latent) period of sensation. The latency period for different types of sensations is not the same: for tactile sensations, for example, it is 130 milliseconds, for painful sensations - 370 milliseconds. The gustatory sensation arises 50 milliseconds after the chemical stimulus is applied to the surface of the tongue.

Just as sensation does not arise simultaneously with the onset of the stimulus, it does not disappear simultaneously with the cessation of the latter. This inertia of sensations manifests itself in so called aftereffect.

The visual sensation has some inertia and does not disappear immediately after the stimulus that caused it ceases to act. The trace from the stimulus remains in the form consistent image. Distinguish positive and negative sequential images. A positive sequential image in lightness and chromaticity corresponds to the initial irritation. The principle of cinematography is based on the inertia of vision, on the preservation of the visual impression for some time in the form of a positive sequential image. The sequential image changes over time, with the positive image being replaced by the negative one. With colored light sources, the sequential image transitions to a complementary color.

I. Goethe wrote in his “Essay on the Doctrine of Color”: “When one evening I went into a hotel and a tall girl with a dazzling white face, black hair and a bright red bodice came into my room, I stared at her, who was in the twilight at some distance from me. After she left there, I saw a black face on the opposite light wall, surrounded by a light radiance, while the clothes of a completely clear figure seemed to me a beautiful sea green ” .

The emergence of sequential images can be scientifically explained. As is known, the presence of three types of color-sensing elements is assumed in the retina. In the process of irritation, they get tired and become less sensitive. When we look at the red color, the corresponding receivers get tired more than others, therefore, when on the same part of the retina, then it falls White light, the other two types of receivers remain highly sensitive, and we see a blue-green color.

Auditory sensations, similar to visual sensations, can also be accompanied by sequential images. The most comparable phenomenon in this case is "ringing in the ears", i.e. an unpleasant sensation, which is often accompanied by exposure to deafening sounds. After a series of short sound impulses act on the auditory analyzer for several seconds, they begin to be perceived together or muffled. This phenomenon is observed after the cessation of the action of the sound pulse and continues for several seconds, depending on the intensity and duration of the pulse.

A similar phenomenon occurs in other analyzers as well. For example, temperature, pain and taste sensations also continue for some time after the action of the stimulus.

Finally, the sensations are characterized by spatial localization irritant . Spatial analysis carried out by distant receptors gives us information about the localization of the stimulus in space. Contact sensations (tactile, pain, taste) correlate with the part of the body that is affected by the stimulus. At the same time, the localization of pain sensations is more diffuse and less accurate than tactile ones.

2.Concept about sensation and incentives, their causing. The mainproperties sensations.

3.Classifications sensations and receptors.

Answers: 1 question.

Sensation is a mental process of reflection of certain elementary properties of reality, directly affecting our senses.

More complex cognitive processes are based on sensations: perception, representation, memory, thinking, imagination. Sensations are, as it were, the “gates” of our knowledge.

Sensation is the sensitivity to the physical and chemical properties of the environment.

Sensations and the perceptions and representations that have arisen on their basis are present in both animals and humans. However, human sensations are different from those of animals. A person's feelings are mediated by his knowledge, i.e. social and historical experience of mankind. Expressing this or that property of things and phenomena in the word (“red”, “cold”), we thereby carry out elementary generalizations of these properties. A person's feelings are associated with his knowledge, the generalized experience of the individual.

The sensations reflect the objective qualities of phenomena (color, smell, temperature, taste, etc.), their intensity (for example, a higher or lower temperature) and duration. Human sensations are as interconnected as various properties of reality are interconnected.

Sensation is the transformation of the energy of external influence into an act of consciousness.

They provide a sensory foundation mental activity provide sensory material for building mental images

Question 2.

Concept about sensation and incentives, their causing

General sensations are those sensations that cannot be attributed to any particular organ or part of the body. These include feelings of hunger and thirst, fatigue, stuffiness, and sex drive. From the point of view of sensory physiology, they are united by the fact that they can be caused by one or more adequate stimuli that arise in the body itself, and not in environment... These incentives are perceived by receptors, some of which are not yet known. Adequate incentives not only cause general sensations, but also lead to the emergence of motivations aimed at eliminating the experienced discomfort. This activity is to a certain extent controlled by sensations, and to some extent independent of them. So, for example, a lack of water in the body leads not only to a feeling of thirst, but also to the search for water and the elimination of its deficiency in the body. Consequently, satisfaction of motivations removes the cause of the general feeling. The motivations associated with general sensations serve to ensure the survival of the individual and the species as a whole. Motivations are innate, not acquired in the learning process, but throughout life they are modified under the influence of many factors.

The mainproperties sensations.

Any sensation can be described using several inherent properties. The main properties of sensations include: quality, intensity, duration and spatial localization.

Quality- this is a specific feature of a given sensation that distinguishes it from all other types of sensations and varies within a specific modality.

For example, the qualities of visual modality include

• saturation,

  Color tone.

Qualities of auditory sensations:

• volume,

Quality of tactile sensations:

hardness,

roughness, etc.

In foreign literature, the term “submodality” is synonymous with the concept of “quality of sensation”.

Intensity of sensation- a characteristic determined by the strength of the acting stimulus and the functional state of the analyzer.

Dependence of the intensity of sensation E from the physical strength of the stimulus S acting on the analyzer is mathematically expressed in the basic law of psychophysics, called "Weber - Fechner law":

E = k log S + s.

Intensity of sensation(E) is directly proportional to the logarithm stimulus strength(S); k and s are some constants determined by the specifics of a particular sensory system.

Here is another formulation of the Weber-Fechner law:

If the strength of the stimulus increases exponentially, then the intensity of sensation increases in arithmetic progression. Empirical studies confirm this relationship only for the middle part of the range of perceived stimulus values.

The Weber - Fechner law is usually contrasted with Stevens law, according to which the dependence of E on S is not a logarithmic, but a power-law character: the intensity of sensation is determined by the degree of physical intensity of the stimulus.

Duration of sensation- its temporal characteristic, determined by the duration of exposure to the stimulus, its intensity, as well as the functional state of the analyzer.

When an irritant is exposed to the sensory organ, the sensation does not arise immediately, but after a certain period of time, which is called the "latent (hidden) period of sensation." For tactile sensations, the latency period is 130 ms, for pain sensations - 370 ms, for gustatory sensations - 50 ms.

When the stimulus stops acting, the sensation does not disappear simultaneously with it, but continues for some time in its absence. This effect is called "aftereffect (or inertia) of sensation." A short-term preservation of the sensory trace of the stimulus is carried out in the form of a sequential image, which can be either positive (corresponding in characteristics to the stimulus that caused it) or negative (having opposite characteristics, for example, colored in an additional color).

Spatial localization- This is a characteristic of sensation that allows you to determine the location of the influencing stimulus. So, distant sensations contain information about the location of the source of stimulation in space, while the contact sensation is related to that part of the body or a point on its surface, which is affected by the stimulus.

Question 3.

CLASSIFICATION OF SENSATIONS.

All types of sensations arise as a result of the action of the corresponding stimuli-stimuli on the sensory organs. Sense organs- bodily organs specially designed for the perception, processing and storage of information. They include receptors, neural pathways that conduct excitations to the brain and vice versa, as well as the central parts of the human nervous system that process these excitations.

The classification of sensations is based on the properties of the stimuli that cause them, and the receptors that these stimuli affect. So, according to the nature of the reflection and the location of the sensation receptors, it is customary to divide into three groups:

1. Interoceptive sensations having receptors located in the internal organs and tissues of the body and reflecting the state of the internal organs. Signals from internal organs are usually less noticeable, with the exception of painful symptoms. Information from interoreceptors informs the brain about the state of the internal environment of the body, such as the presence of biologically beneficial or harmful substances in it, body temperature, the chemical composition of the fluids it contains, pressure, and much more.

2. Proprioceptive sensations whose receptors are located in ligaments and muscles - they provide information about the movement and position of our body. Proprioceptive sensations mark the degree of muscle contraction or relaxation, signal the position of the body in relation to the direction of the forces of gravity (a sense of balance). The subclass of proprioception, which is sensitivity to movement, is called kinesthesia, and the corresponding receptors - kinesthetic or kinesthetic.

3. Exteroceptive sensations reflecting the properties of objects and phenomena of the external environment and having receptors on the surface of the body. Exteroceptors can be classified into two groups: contact and distant... Contact receptors transmit irritation through direct contact with objects affecting them; those are tactile, taste buds... Distant receptors respond to stimuli emanating from a distant object; distant receptors are visual, auditory, olfactory.

From the point of view of the data of modern science, the accepted division of sensations into external (exteroceptors) and internal (interoceptors) is not enough. Some types of sensations can be considered externally-internally... These include, for example, temperature and pain, gustatory and vibration, muscle-articular and static-dynamic. An intermediate position between tactile and auditory sensations is occupied by vibrational sensations.

An important role in general process a person's orientation in the environment is played by sensations equilibrium and acceleration... The complex systemic mechanism of these sensations covers the vestibular apparatus, vestibular nerves and various parts of the cortex, subcortex and cerebellum. Common for different analyzers and pain sensations, signaling the destructive force of the stimulus.

Touch(or skin sensitivity) is the most common type of sensitivity. The composition of the sense of touch, along with tactile sensations (sensations of touch: pressure, pain) includes an independent type of sensation - temperature sensations (warm and cold). They are a function of a special temperature analyzer. Temperature sensations are not only part of the sense of touch, but also have an independent, more general meaning for the entire process of thermoregulation and heat exchange between the body and the environment.

Unlike other exteroreceptors, localized in narrowly limited areas of the surface, predominantly of the head end of the body, the receptors of the skin-mechanical analyzer, like other skin receptors, are located over the entire surface of the body, in areas bordering with external environment... However, the specialization of skin receptors has not yet been accurately established. It is unclear whether there are receptors exclusively intended for the perception of one effect, which generate differentiated sensations of pressure, pain, cold or heat, or the quality of the sensation that arises can vary depending on the specificity of the property affecting it.

The function of tactile receptors, like all others, is to receive the process of irritation and transform its energy into a corresponding nervous process. Irritation of nerve receptors is the process of mechanical contact of an irritant with a section of the skin surface in which this receptor is located. With a significant intensity of the stimulus, contact turns into pressure. With the relative movement of the stimulus and the area of ​​the skin surface, contact and pressure are carried out under changing conditions of mechanical friction. Here, the stimulation is carried out not by a stationary, but by a fluid, changing contact.

Research shows that sensations of touch or pressure only occur if a mechanical stimulus causes deformation of the skin surface. When pressure is applied to a very small area of ​​skin, the greatest deformation occurs precisely in the place of direct application of the stimulus. If pressure is applied to a sufficiently large surface, then it is distributed unevenly - its lowest intensity is felt in the depressed parts of the surface, and the greatest - along the edges of the depressed area. In the experiment of G. Meissner it is shown that when the hand is immersed in water or mercury, the temperature of which is approximately equal to the temperature of the hand, the pressure is felt only at the boundary of the part of the surface immersed in the liquid, i.e. exactly where the curvature of this surface and its deformation are most significant.

The intensity of the feeling of pressure depends on the speed with which the deformation of the skin surface is performed: the strength of sensation is the greater, the faster the deformation occurs.

Smell is a type of sensitivity that generates a specific sense of smell. This is one of the most ancient and vital sensations. Anatomically, the organ of smell is located in most living beings in the most advantageous location- in front, in the prominent part of the body. The path from the olfactory receptors to those brain structures where the impulses received from them are received and processed is the shortest. Nerve fibers leaving the olfactory receptors enter the brain directly without intermediate switches.

The part of the brain called olfactory also the most ancient; than on the lower rung of the evolutionary ladder is Living being, the more space it occupies in the mass of the brain. In fish, for example, the olfactory brain covers almost the entire surface of the hemispheres, in dogs - about one third of it, in humans, its relative share in the volume of all brain structures is approximately one twentieth of it. These differences correspond to the development of other sense organs and the value that given view sensation has for living beings. For some species of animals, the value of smell goes beyond the perception of smells. In insects and higher monkeys, the sense of smell also serves as a means of intraspecific communication.

In many ways, the sense of smell is the most mysterious. Many have noticed that although the smell helps to revive an event in memory, it is almost impossible to remember the smell itself, just as we mentally reconstruct an image or sound. Smell serves memory so well because the olfactory mechanism is closely connected with the part of the brain that controls memory and emotions, although we do not know exactly how this connection works and works.

Flavoring sensations have four main modalities: sweet, salty, sour and bitter... All other sensations of taste are varied combinations of these four basic ones. Modality- a qualitative characteristic of sensations arising under the influence of certain stimuli and reflecting the properties of objective reality in a specifically encoded form.

Smell and taste are called chemical senses because their receptors respond to molecular signals. When molecules dissolved in a liquid, such as saliva, excite the taste buds of the tongue, we taste. When molecules in the air hit the olfactory receptors in the nose, we smell. Although in humans and most animals, taste and smell have evolved from a common chemical sense to become independent, they remain linked. In some cases, for example, inhaling the smell of chloroform, it seems to us that we smell it, but in fact it is a taste.

On the other hand, what we call the taste of a substance often turns out to be its smell. If you close your eyes and pinch your nose, you may not be able to tell the difference between potatoes and apples, or wine from coffee. By pinching your nose, you will lose 80 percent of the ability to smell most foods. That is why people whose nose does not breathe (runny nose) have a bad taste of food.

Although our olfactory apparatus is surprisingly sensitive, humans and other primates smell much worse than most other animal species. Some scientists suggest that our distant ancestors lost their sense of smell when they climbed trees. Since visual acuity was more important during this period, the balance between different kinds feelings were disturbed. In the course of this process, the shape of the nose has changed and the size of the organ of smell has decreased. It became less subtle and did not recover even when the ancestors of man came down from the trees.

Nevertheless, in many animal species, the sense of smell is still one of the main means of communication. Smells are probably more important to humans than hitherto assumed.

Usually people distinguish each other by relying on visual perception. But sometimes the sense of smell plays a role here. M. Russell, a psychologist at the University of California, has shown that babies can recognize a mother by smell. Six out of ten six-week-old babies smiled when they smelled their mother and did not react or cry when they smelled another woman. Another experience has shown that parents can also recognize their children by smell.

Substances have an odor only if they are volatile, that is, they easily pass from a solid or liquid state to a gaseous state. However, the strength of the smell is not determined by volatility alone: ​​some less volatile substances, such as those contained in pepper, smell stronger than more volatile ones, such as alcohol. Salt and sugar are almost odorless, since their molecules are so tightly bound to each other by electrostatic forces that they hardly evaporate.

Although we are very good at detecting odors, we are poor at recognizing them in the absence of visual cues. For example, the smells of pineapple or chocolate seem to be pronounced, and nevertheless, if a person does not see the source of the smell, then, as a rule, he cannot accurately determine it. He can say that the smell is familiar to him, that it is the smell of something edible, but most people in such a situation cannot name its origin. This is the property of our perception mechanism.

Diseases of the upper respiratory tract, allergy attacks can block the nasal passages or dull the acuity of the olfactory receptors. But there is also a chronic loss of smell, the so-called anosmia.

Even people who do not complain about smell may not be able to smell some of the odors. So, J. Emur from the University of California found that 47% of the population do not smell the hormone androsterone, 36% do not smell malt, 12% do not smell musk. Such features of perception are inherited, and the study of smell in twins confirms this.

Despite all the shortcomings of our olfactory system, the human nose is generally better at detecting the presence of odor than any device. Nevertheless, devices are necessary to accurately determine the composition of the smell. Gas chromatographs and mass spectrographs are commonly used to analyze odor components. The chromatograph separates odor components, which then enter the mass spectrograph, where their chemical structure is determined.

Sometimes a person's sense of smell is used in combination with a device. For example, manufacturers of perfumery and aromatic food additives, in order to reproduce, for example, the aroma of fresh strawberries, using a chromatograph, break it down into more than a hundred components. An experienced taster of odors inhales an inert gas with these components, alternately leaving the chromatograph, and determines three or four main components that are most noticeable to humans. These substances can then be synthesized and mixed in the appropriate proportion to obtain a natural aroma.

Ancient oriental medicine used odors for diagnosis. Often, doctors, without sophisticated instruments and chemical tests to make a diagnosis, relied on their own sense of smell. In the ancient medical literature there is information that, for example, the smell exuded by a sick typhus is similar to the aroma of freshly baked black bread, and from patients with scrofula (a form of tuberculosis) the smell of sour beer emanates.

Today, physicians are rediscovering the value of odor diagnostics. So it was found that the specific smell of saliva speaks of gum disease. Some doctors experiment with catalogs of smells - sheets of paper soaked in various compounds, the smell of which is characteristic of a particular disease. The smell of the leaves is compared to the smell coming from the patient.

Some medical centers have special installations for studying the odors of diseases. The patient is placed in a cylindrical chamber through which an air stream is passed. At the outlet, the air is analyzed by gas chromatographs and mass spectrographs. The possibilities of using such a device as a tool for diagnosing a number of diseases, especially diseases associated with metabolic disorders, are being studied.

Smell and smell are much more complex phenomena that affect our lives to a greater extent than we thought until recently, and it seems that scientists dealing with this range of problems are on the verge of many startling discoveries.

Visual sensations- the type of sensations caused by the impact on the visual system of electromagnetic waves in the range from 380 to 780 billionths of a meter. This range covers only a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Waves within this range and varying in length produce sensations of different colors. The table below provides data reflecting the dependence of the sensation of color on the length of electromagnetic waves. (The table shows the data developed by R.S. Nemov)

The eye is the apparatus of vision. Light waves reflected by an object are refracted, passing through the lens of the eye, and are formed on the retina in the form of an image - an image. The expression: “It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times” - speaks of the greatest objectivity of the visual sensation. Visual sensations are divided into:

Achromatic, reflecting the transition from darkness to light (from black to white) through a mass of shades of gray;

Chromatic, reflecting the color gamut with numerous shades and color transitions - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue, violet.

The emotional impact of color is associated with its physiological, psychological and social meaning.

Auditory sensations are the result of mechanical action on the receptors of sound waves with an oscillation frequency of 16 to 20,000 Hz. Hertz is a physical unit by which the frequency of vibration of air per second is estimated, numerically equal to one vibration per second. Oscillations of air pressure, following with a certain frequency and characterized by periodic appearance of areas of high and low pressure, are perceived by us as sounds of a certain pitch and volume. The higher the frequency of the air pressure fluctuations, the higher the sound we perceive.

There are three types of sound sensations:

Noises and other sounds (occurring in nature and in an artificial environment);

Speech (related to communication and media);

Musical (artificially created by man for artificial experiences).

In these types of sensations, the auditory analyzer distinguishes four qualities of sound:

Strength (loudness, measured in decibels);

Height (high and low frequency fluctuations per unit of time);

Timbre (the originality of the color of sound - speech and music);

Duration (playing time plus tempo-rhythmic pattern).

It is known that a newborn is able to recognize distinct sounds of varying intensity from the very first hours. He can even distinguish his mother's voice from other voices that say his name. The development of this ability begins during the period of intrauterine life (hearing, as well as vision, functions already in a seven-month-old fetus).

In the process of human development, sense organs have also developed, as well as the functional place of various sensations in the life of people in terms of their ability to “deliver” biologically significant information. For example, optical images formed on the retina (retinal images) are light patterns that are important only insofar as they can be used to recognize the non-optical properties of things. An image cannot be eaten, just as it cannot eat itself; biologically, images are irrelevant.

The same cannot be said for all sensory information in general. After all, the senses of taste and touch directly convey biologically important information: an object is solid or hot, edible or inedible. These feelings give the brain the information it needs to keep it alive; moreover, the significance of such information does not depend on what the given object is as a whole.

This information is important in addition to identifying objects. Whether a burning sensation appears in the hand from the flame of a match, from a red-hot iron or from a stream of boiling water, the difference is not great - the hand in all cases withdraws. The main thing is that there is a burning sensation; it is this sensation that is transmitted directly, but the nature of the object can be established later. Reactions of this kind are primitive, subperceptive; they are reactions to physical conditions, not to the object itself. Identifying an object and reacting to its hidden properties appear much later.

During biological evolution the first, apparently, there were feelings that provide a reaction to precisely such physical conditions that are directly necessary for the preservation of life. Touch, taste and perception of temperature changes should have arisen before sight, since in order to perceive visual images, they need to be interpreted - only in this way can they be connected with the world of objects.

The need for interpretation requires a complex nervous system (a kind of "thinker"), since behavior is guided more by a guess about what the objects are than by direct sensory information about them. The question arises: did the appearance of the eye precede the development of the brain, or vice versa? Indeed, why do we need an eye if there is no brain capable of interpreting visual information? But, on the other hand, why do we need a brain that can do this, if there are no eyes that can “feed” the brain with relevant information?

It is possible that development proceeded along the path of transformation of the primitive nervous system, which responds to touch, into the visual system, which serves primitive eyes, since the skin was sensitive not only to touch, but also to light. Vision developed, probably from a reaction to shadows moving along the surface of the skin - a signal of imminent danger. Only later, with the emergence of an optical system capable of forming an image in the eye, object recognition appeared.

Apparently, the development of vision went through several stages: first, the light-sensitive cells, previously scattered over the skin surface, were concentrated, then “optic cups” were formed, the bottom of which was covered with light-sensitive cells. The “glasses” gradually deepened, as a result of which the contrast of the shadows falling on the bottom of the “glass” increased, the walls of which were increasingly protecting the photosensitive bottom from oblique rays of light.

The lens, apparently, at first was simply transparent window, which protected the "eye cup" from clogging by particles floating in sea water - then it was the permanent habitat of living things. These protective windows gradually thickened in the center, since this gave a quantitative positive effect - it increased the intensity of illumination of light-sensitive cells, and then there was a qualitative leap - the central thickening of the window led to the appearance of an image; this is how a real “creative” eye appeared. The ancient nervous system - the touch analyzer - got its hands on an ordered pattern of light spots.

The source of our knowledge about the external world and our own body are sensations. They constitute the main channels through which information about the phenomena of the external world and about the states of the body reaches the brain, giving a person the opportunity to navigate in the environment and in his body.

Sensations are defined as the process of reflection of individual properties of objects and phenomena of the objective world with their direct impact on receptors.

Classification of sensations:

By the location of receptors on the surface of the body, in muscles, tendons or inside the body, exteroception (visual, auditory, tactile), proprioception (sensation in muscles and tendons), interoception (sensations in internal organs) are distinguished, respectively.

· Depending on the modality, visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and other types of sensations are distinguished.

Visual sensations can be: achromatic (reflect the transition from white to black, through a lot of shades of gray); chromatic (reflect color range with numerous shades and color transitions).

Auditory sensations can be: speech, musical, noise and rustle sensations.

Vibrational sensations are adjacent to auditory sensations and reflect vibrations of the elastic medium. This type of sensitivity is figuratively called contact hearing.

Olfactory sensations are distant sensations. The sense of smell is suppressed by sight, hearing, and taste. These sensations help to recognize the quality of food, warn of danger to the body. air environment, allow in some cases to determine the composition of a chemical.

Taste sensations arise when the sensory organ comes into contact with the object itself. There are 4 main qualities of taste stimuli: sour, sweet, bitter, salty.

Skin sensations include: the tactile system (sensations of touch); temperature system(sensations of warmth and cold); pain system.

Static (gravitational) sensations reflect the position of our body in space.

Kinesthetic sensations are sensations of movement and position of individual parts of the body. As a result of these sensations, knowledge is formed about the strength, speed, trajectory of movement of body parts.

Organic sensations arise from internal organs, form an organic feeling (well-being) of a person.

Sensation properties:

1. Modality is qualitative characteristic, in which the specificity of the sensation is manifested. There are such types of sensations as visual, auditory, olfactory, etc. Each type of sensation has its own modal characteristics. For visual sensations, these can be color tone, lightness, saturation; for auditory - pitch, timbre, volume; for tactile ones - hardness, roughness, etc.

2. Localization - the spatial characteristic of sensations, information about the localization of the stimulus in space. In some cases (pain, interoceptive sensations), localization is difficult, uncertain.

3. Intensity is a quantitative characteristic of sensations. The basic psychophysical law reflects the relationship between the magnitude of the sensation and the magnitude of the acting stimulus. Psychophysics explains the variety of observed forms of behavior and mental states primarily by the differences in the physical situations that cause them.

4. Duration - a temporal characteristic of sensation, depending on the functional state of the sense organ, on the duration of the stimulus and its intensity. It has been established that the sensation arises and disappears later than the stimulus begins or ends. The period from the onset of the stimulus to the onset of sensation is called the latent (latent) period of sensation (for tactile - 130 ms, for painful - 370 ms, for gustatory - 50 ms, etc.). After the termination of the action of the stimulus, its trace remains for some time in the form of a sequential image, which can be either positive (corresponding to the characteristics of the stimulus) or negative (with opposite characteristics).

5. Thresholds of sensitivity. For any sensation to arise, the stimulus must have a certain intensity value. The lower and upper limits of sensation are called absolute sensitivity. It is measured by the lower and upper sensitivity thresholds. The minimum amount of stimulation that is necessary for the emergence of a barely noticeable sensation is called the absolute lower threshold of sensation. The upper absolute threshold of sensations is the maximum amount of irritation, a further increase in which causes pain sensations or the disappearance of sensations. Along with the absolute one distinguishes between relative sensitivity - this is the sensitivity to changes in the intensity of exposure. Relative sensitivity is measured by the threshold of discrimination - this is the minimum difference in the strength of two stimuli required to change the intensity of sensation.

6. Sensory adaptation is a change in the thresholds of sensations under the action of a constant stimulus. Adaptation (translated from Latin means "adaptation") is the adaptation of sensitivity to a constantly acting stimulus. This adaptation is manifested in a decrease or increase in the thresholds of sensitivity. Full sensory adaptation causes a lack of sensation.

7. Synesthesia (translated from Greek means “co-sensations”) - this is the transition of sensations of one type to another. Synesthesia is a manifestation of the interaction of analyzers. The phenomenon of synesthesia is the appearance, under the influence of irritation of one analyzer, of a sensation characteristic of another analyzer. The most common are visual-auditory synesthesias, when visual images appear in a subject when exposed to sound stimuli. Less common are cases of the occurrence of auditory sensations when exposed to visual stimuli, gustatory - in response to auditory stimuli. The phenomenon of synesthesia is evidence of the constant interconnection of the analytic systems of the human body.

8. Sensitization (translated from Latin means “sensitivity”) is an increased sensitivity of analyzers under the influence of internal (mental) factors. Sensitization can be caused by: the interaction of sensations (weak taste sensations increase visual sensitivity); physiological factor (state of the body); expectation of this or that impact; the significance of such an impact; a special installation to distinguish between stimuli; exercise (for example, a wine taster). Compensatory sensitization is noted in people who are deprived of any kind of sensitivity.

Basic patterns of sensations:

1. The absolute sensitivity (E) is numerically equal to the value inversely proportional to the absolute threshold (P) of sensations, that is, E = 1 / P.

2. The Bouguer-Weber law. The discrimination threshold has a constant relative magnitude, that is, it is always expressed in the form of a ratio showing how much of the initial magnitude of the stimulus must be added to this stimulus in order to obtain a barely noticeable distinction in sensations.

3. H. Fechner's law. The intensity of sensations does not increase in proportion to the change in stimuli, but much more slowly, that is, the intensity increases exponentially, and the sensations grow in arithmetic progression.

4. Stevens law: the ratio between the minimum possible change in sensations and the primary sensation is a constant value ...

3. Perception

A person perceives the world around him and navigates in it with the help of analyzers. Irritation of analyzers with certain objects and phenomena of the external world causes the emergence of perceptions - reflections of objects and phenomena in the aggregate of their properties and parts with a direct impact on the sense organs.

Perception classification:

· Depending on the participation of will and purposefulness, they distinguish involuntary (not associated with volitional tension and a predetermined goal) and voluntary (intentional and purposeful) perception.

· Depending on the modality of the receptors, auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, etc. perception.

· Depending on the complexity, development of perceptual activity, simultaneous (one-act) and successive (phased, sequential) perception are distinguished.

Depending on the form of existence of matter, the perception of space, time, movement is distinguished

perceptual properties:

· Integrity is a property of perception, which consists in the fact that any object, and even more so a spatial situation, is perceived as a stable systemic whole.

Structurality is an isolation from general structure the subject of its parts and certain sides.

· Selectivity is a person's predominant selection of some objects in comparison with others, depending on the characteristics of his personality.

· Constancy is the relative independence of the reflection of the objective qualities of objects (size, shape, characteristic color) from the changed conditions of their perception (illumination, distance, angle of view).

· Objectivity is the correspondence of images of perception to real objects of reality, it is the relative independence of the perceived characteristics of objects from the parameters of stimulation of the receptor surfaces of the sense organs.

· Meaningfulness is the assignment of the perceived object to the main group, class, its generalization in the word. Perception arises as a result of the direct action of the stimulus on the receptors, as a result of which perceptual images arise that always have a certain semantic meaning... Perception is associated with thinking and speaking. Consciously perceiving an object means mentally naming it and attributing the perceived object to a certain group, class of objects, and generalizing it in a word.

· Activity is manifested by the participation in the process of perception of the motor elements of the analyzers (the possibility of active movement of the body or its parts).

· Apperception is the dependence of perception on past experience, on the general content of a person's mental activity and his individual characteristics. Apperception can be personal (depending on the individual characteristics of a person) and situational (for example, at night a tree looks like a scary creature).

4. Attention

Attention- this is the concentration of consciousness and its focus on something that has this or that meaning for a person. Attention does not have its own cognitive content and only serves the activities of others cognitive processes. Kinds of attention: involuntary, post-voluntary and voluntary. Properties of attention: stability, concentration, distribution, switchability, volume, absent-mindedness. Attention theories: 1) N. Lange classified the theories into 7 groups (attention as a result of motor adaptation, as a limited volume of consciousness, as a result of emotions, as a result of apperception, as a special active ability of the spirit, as an effort of the nervous system, as a theory of nervous suppression). 2) T. Ribot connected attention with emotions, depending on their intensity and duration. 3) D. N. Uznadze's concept of attitude established a direct connection between attention and attitude. 4) P. Ya. Halperin defined attention as one of the moments of orientational research activity, which is a psychological action. He considered the main function of attention to be control. In his opinion, all acts of attention are the result of the formation of new mental actions... There is still controversy about the nature of attention.

Memory

Memory - the mental process of accumulation, preservation and reproduction of information perceived by a person in different periods of life.

Many famous psychologists have studied the mechanisms of memory. In the 80s of the last century, the German psychologist G. Ebbinghaus proposed a technique with which, in his opinion, it was possible to study the patterns of memory, regardless of the activity of thinking (memorizing meaningless syllables). The classical studies of G. Ebbinghaus were accompanied by the works of the German psychiatrist E. Krepelin, who used similar techniques in the study of violations of the processes of memorization in mentally ill, and the German psychologist G. E. Müller, whose fundamental research is devoted to the basic laws of fixing and reproducing traces of memory in humans.

V late XIX and at the beginning of the XX centuries. There were studies of the famous American psychologist Thorndike, who studied the formation of skills in animals in the process of leaving the maze.

At the beginning of the XX century. studies of memory processes were continued by I.P. Pavlov, who described the conditions under which new conditioned reflex connections arise and are retained. The doctrine of the highest nervous activity later became the basis of ideas about physiological mechanisms memory.

The highest forms of memory in children were first studied by the outstanding Russian psychologist L.S. Vygotsky, who showed that the highest forms of memory are complex shape mental activity, social in origin.

A.A. Smirnov and P.I. Zinchenko discovered new and significant laws of memory as a meaningful human activity, established the dependence of memorization on the task at hand, and identified the main methods of memorizing complex material.

Most widespread in psychology received associative theories memory, which provide that objects and phenomena of reality are imprinted and reproduced not in isolation from each other, but in connection with each other, when the reproduction of some entails the reproduction of others. Under the influence of real objective connections of objects and phenomena, temporary connections arise in the cerebral cortex, which serve physiological basis memorization and reproduction (association). Some associations are a reflection of the spatio-temporal relations of objects and phenomena (associations by contiguity), others reflect their similarity (associations by similarity), others are the opposite (associations by contrast), and the fourth are cause-and-effect relationships (associations by causality).

The main types of memory.

1. By the duration of information storage:

· Short-term memory is characterized by a very short preservation after a single very short perception and immediate reproduction (in the first seconds after perception) of the material. Information is stored in short-term memory for no more than 20 s. Short-term memory is primarily associated with primary orientation in the environment and therefore is aimed mainly at fixing the total number of newly emerging signals, regardless of their informational content.

· RAM represents the ability of a person to save current information necessary to perform an action; the storage duration is determined by the time at which this action was performed.

· Long-term memory stores information for future use for future activities. Information in long-term memory can be stored for days, months and years.

2. By the nature of mental activity prevailing in activity, memory is subdivided into motor, emotional, figurative and verbal-logical.

3. By the nature of the goals of activity, memory is subdivided into involuntary and voluntary;

To the main processes functioning of memory include memorization (consolidation), reproduction (updating, renewal), as well as preservation and forgetting of material. In these processes, the connection between memory and activity is especially clearly manifested.

Memory theories: associative, behavioristic (reinforcement of memory with appropriate stimuli), psychoanalytic (needs, emotions, motivation affect the memory process), gestalt psychology (emphasis on the integrity of information reproduction), activity direction (memory processes are determined by the degree of their importance for activity, especially practical) ...

The laws of memory: the associative law, the law of awareness, the law of emotional coloring, the law of actual needs, the law of speech and figurative accompaniment of memory ...