Physiological foundations of psychology. Anatomical and physiological mechanism of mental activity

Structure, functioning and properties of the central nervous system.

The problem of the emergence of consciousness is considered from various positions. From one point of view, human consciousness is of divine origin. With another

Point of view, the emergence of consciousness in humans is considered as a natural stage in the evolution of the animal world. Having familiarized ourselves with the material in the previous sections, we can say the following with some confidence:

■ all living beings can be classified according to their level of mental development;

■ the level of mental development of an animal is closely related to the level of development of its nervous system;

■ a person, having consciousness, has the highest level of mental development.

Having made such conclusions, we will not be mistaken if we assert that a person has not only a higher level of mental development, but also a more developed nervous system.

In this section we will get acquainted with the structure and features of the functioning of the human nervous system. Let us immediately make a reservation that our acquaintance will not be of the nature of an in-depth study, since the functional structure of the nervous system is studied in more detail within the framework of other disciplines, in particular the anatomy of the nervous system, the physiology of higher nervous activity and psychophysiology.

The human nervous system consists of two sections: central and peripheral. The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and spinal cord. The brain consists, in turn, of the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. These main sections of the central nervous system also contain the most important structures that are directly related to the functioning of the human psyche: the thalamus, hypothalamus, pons, cerebellum, medulla oblongata (Fig. 4.3).

Rice. 4.4. General structure neuron

Almost all departments and structures of the central and peripheral nervous system are involved in receiving and processing information, but the cerebral cortex is of particular importance for the human psyche, which, together with the subcortical structures included in the forebrain, determines the characteristics of the functioning of human consciousness and thinking.

The central nervous system is connected to all organs and tissues of the human body. This connection is provided by nerves that exit the brain and spinal cord. In humans, all nerves are divided into two functional groups. The first group includes nerves that conduct signals from the outside world and body structures. The nerves included in this group are called afferent. Nerves that carry signals from the central nervous system to the periphery (organs, muscle tissue, etc.) are included in another group and are called efferent.

The central nervous system itself is a collection of nerve cells - neurons (Fig. 4.4). These nerve cells consist of a neuron and tree-like processes called dendrites. One of these processes is elongated and connects the neuron with the bodies or processes of other neurons. This process is called an axon.

Some axons are covered with a special sheath - the myelin sheath, which ensures faster impulse transmission along the nerve. The places where one neuron connects to another are called synapses.

Most neurons are specific, that is, they perform specific functions. For example, neurons that carry impulses from the periphery to the central nervous system are called “sensory neurons.” In turn, the neurons responsible for transmitting impulses from the central nervous system to the muscles are called “motor neurons.” Neurons responsible for ensuring communication between one part of the central nervous system and another are called “local network neurons.”

At the periphery, axons connect to miniature organic devices designed to perceive various types of energy (mechanical, electromagnetic, chemical, etc.) and convert it into the energy of a nerve impulse. These organic devices are called receptors. They are located throughout the human body. There are especially many receptors in the senses, specifically designed to perceive information about the world around us.

While exploring the problem of perception, storage and processing of information, I. P. Pavlov introduced the concept of an analyzer. This concept denotes a relatively autonomous organic structure that ensures the processing of specific sensory information and its passage at all levels, including the central nervous system. Consequently, each analyzer consists of three structural elements: receptors, nerve fibers and the corresponding sections of the central nervous system (Fig. 4.5).

As we have already said, there are several groups of receptors. This division into groups is caused by the ability of receptors to perceive and process only one type of influence, therefore receptors are divided into visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, skin, etc. The information received through the receptors is transmitted further to the corresponding part of the central nervous system, including the cerebral cortex. It should be noted that information from identical receptors arrives only in a certain area of the cerebral cortex. The visual analyzer is closed to one part of the cortex, the auditory analyzer is connected to another, etc. d.

It should be emphasized that the entire cerebral cortex can be divided into separate functional areas. In this case, it is possible to distinguish not only analyzer zones, but also motor, speech, etc. Thus, in accordance with K. Brodmann’s classification, the cerebral cortex can be divided into 11 regions and 52 fields.

Let us consider in more detail the structure of the cerebral cortex (Fig. 4.6, Fig. 4.7, Fig. 4.8). She represents upper layer forebrain, formed mainly by vertically oriented neurons, their processes - dendrites and bundles of axons going down to the corresponding parts of the brain, as well as axons transmitting information from underlying brain structures. The cerebral cortex is divided into regions: temporal, frontal, parietal, occipital, and the regions themselves are divided into even smaller areas - fields. It should be noted that since the brain has left and right hemispheres,

then the areas of the cerebral cortex will accordingly be divided into left and right.

Based on the time of appearance of the sections of the cerebral cortex in the process of human phylogenesis, the cerebral cortex is divided into ancient, old and new. The ancient cortex has only one layer of cells, which are not completely separated from the subcortical structures. The area of the ancient cortex is approximately 0.6% of the area of the entire cerebral cortex.

The old cortex also consists of a single layer of cells, but it is completely separate from the subcortical structures. Its area is approximately 2.6% of the area of the entire cortex. Most of the cortex is occupied by the neocortex. It has the most complex, multi-layered and developed structure.

The information received by the receptors is transmitted along nerve fibers to a cluster of specific nuclei of the thalamus, and through them the afferent impulse enters the primary projection zones of the cerebral cortex. These zones represent the final cortical structures of the analyzer. For example, the projective zone of the visual analyzer is located in the occipital regions of the cerebral hemispheres, and the projective zone of the auditory analyzers is in the upper parts of the temporal lobes.

The primary projective zones of the analyzers are sometimes called sensory zones because they are associated with the formation of a certain type of sensation. If any zone is destroyed, a person may lose the ability to perceive a certain type of information. For example, if you destroy the zone visual sensations, then the person goes blind. Thus, a person’s sensations depend not only on the level of development and integrity of the sensory organ, in this case vision, but also on the integrity of the pathways - nerve fibers - and the primary projective zone of the cerebral cortex.

It should be noted that in addition to the primary fields of the analyzers (sensory fields), there are other primary fields, for example, primary motor fields associated with the muscles of the body and responsible for certain movements (Fig. 4.9). It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that primary fields occupy relatively little large area cerebral cortex - no more than one third part. A much larger area is occupied by secondary fields, which are most often called associative or integrative.

The secondary fields of the cortex are like a “superstructure” over the primary fields. Their functions are to synthesize or integrate individual elements of information into a holistic picture. Thus, elementary sensations in sensory integrative fields (or perceptual fields) add up to a holistic perception, and individual movements, thanks to motor integrative fields, are formed into a holistic motor act.

Secondary fields play exclusively important role in ensuring the functioning of both the human psyche and the body itself. If these fields are influenced electric shock, for example, on the secondary fields of the visual analyzer, then integral visual images can be evoked in a person, and their destruction leads to the disintegration of visual perception of objects, although individual sensations remain.

Among the integrative fields of the human cerebral cortex, it is necessary to distinguish speech centers differentiated only in humans: the center of auditory perception of speech ( The so-called Wernicke center) AND Motor speech center (the so-called Broca's center). The presence of these differentiated centers indicates the special role of speech for the regulation of the human psyche and behavior. However, there are other centers. For example, consciousness, thinking, behavior formation, volitional control are associated with the activity of the frontal lobes, the so-called refrontal and premotor zones.

The representation of speech function in humans is asymmetrical. It is localized in the left hemisphere. Similar phenomenon called functional asymmetry. Asymmetry is characteristic not only of speech, but also of other mental functions. Today it is known that left hemisphere in his work he acts as a leader in the implementation of speech and other speech-related functions: reading, writing, counting, logical memory, verbal-logical, or abstract thinking, voluntary speech regulation of other mental processes and states. The right hemisphere performs functions not related to speech, and the corresponding processes usually occur at the sensory level.

The left and right hemispheres perform different functions when perceiving and forming an image of the displayed object. The right hemisphere is characterized by high speed of recognition, its accuracy and clarity. This method of recognizing objects can be defined as integral-synthetic, predominantly holistic, structural-semantic, i.e. the right hemisphere is responsible for the holistic perception of an object or performs the function of global image integration. The left hemisphere functions on the basis of an analytical approach, which consists in sequentially enumerating the elements of the image, that is, the left hemisphere displays the object, forming individual parts of the mental image. It should be noted that both hemispheres are involved in the perception of the external world. Disruption of the activity of any of the hemispheres can lead to the impossibility of a person’s contact with the surrounding reality.

It is also necessary to emphasize that the specialization of the hemispheres occurs in the process of individual human development. Maximum specialization is observed when a person reaches maturity, and then, towards old age, this specialization is lost again.

When getting acquainted with the structure of the central nervous system, we must definitely stop at considering another brain structure - ReticularFormations, which plays a special role in the regulation of many mental processes and properties. This name is Reticular, or reticular,- it received because of its structure, since it is a collection of sparse, reminiscent of a fine network of neural structures, anatomically located in the spinal, medulla oblongata and hindbrain.

Research on functional brain asymmetry

At first glance, the two halves of the human brain appear to be mirror images of each other. But a closer look reveals their asymmetry. Repeated attempts were made to measure the brain after autopsy. In this case, the left hemisphere was almost always larger than the right. In addition, the right hemisphere contains many long nerve fibers that connect widely separated areas of the brain, while the left hemisphere contains many short fibers that form a large number of connections in a limited area.

In 1861, the French physician Paul Broca, examining the brain of a patient suffering from loss of speech, discovered that in the left hemisphere there was damage to an area of the cortex in the frontal lobe just above the lateral sulcus. This area is now known as Broca's area. She is responsible for the function of speech. As we know today, destruction of a similar area in the right hemisphere usually does not lead to speech disorders, since the areas involved in understanding speech and ensuring the ability to write and understand what is written are usually also located in the left hemisphere. Only a very few left-handers have speech centers located in the right hemisphere, but for the vast majority they are located in the same place as right-handers - the left hemisphere.

Although the role of the left hemisphere in speech activity became known relatively long ago, only recently has it become possible to find out what each hemisphere can do on its own. The fact is that the brain normally works as a whole; information from one hemisphere is immediately transmitted to the other along the wide bundle of nerve fibers that connects them, called the corpus callosum. In some forms of epilepsy, this connective bridge can cause problems because seizure activity in one hemisphere spreads to the other. In an effort to prevent such generalization of seizures in some seriously ill epileptics, neurosurgeons began to use surgical dissection of the corpus callosum. For some patients, this operation is successful and reduces seizures. There are no undesirable consequences: in everyday life, such patients act no worse than people with connected hemispheres. Special tests were needed to find out how the separation of the two hemispheres affected mental performance.

Thus, in 1981, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Roger Sperry, who was one of the first to study the activity of the split brain. In one of his experiments, a subject (who had undergone surgery to dissect the brain) was placed in front of a screen that covered his hands. The subject had to fix his gaze on a spot in the center of the screen, and the word “nut” was presented on the left side of the screen for a very short time (only 0.1 s).

The visual signal entered right side brain, which controls the left side of the body. With his left hand, the subject could easily select a nut from a pile of objects that were inaccessible to observation. But he could not tell the experimenter which word appeared on the screen, since speech is controlled by the left hemisphere, and the visual image of the word “nut” was not transmitted to this hemisphere. Moreover, the split-brain patient did not appear to be aware of what his left hand was doing when asked about it. Because the sensory input from the left hand goes to the right hemisphere, the left hemisphere did not receive any information about what the left hand was feeling or doing. All information went to the right hemisphere, which received the initial visual signal of the word “nut”.

In conducting this experiment, it was important that the word appear on the screen for no more than 0.1 s. If this continues longer, the patient has time to shift his gaze, and then the information enters the right hemisphere. It has been found that if a split-brain subject can move his or her gaze freely, information is sent to both hemispheres, which is one reason why cutting the corpus callosum has little impact on the patient's daily activities.

The reticular formation has a noticeable effect on the electrical activity of the brain, on functional state cerebral cortex, subcortical centers, cerebellum and spinal cord. It is directly related to the regulation of basic life processes: blood circulation and respiration.

Very often, the reticular formation is called the source of activity of the body, since the nerve impulses generated by this structure determine the performance of the body, the state of sleep or wakefulness. It is also necessary to note the regulatory function of this formation, since the nerve impulses generated by the reticular formation differ in their amplitude and frequency, which leads to periodic changes in the functional state of the cerebral cortex, which, in turn, determines the dominant functional state of the whole organism. Therefore, the state of wakefulness is replaced by the state of sleep and vice versa (Fig. 4.10).

Disturbance in the activity of the reticular formation causes disruption of the body's biorhythms. Thus, irritation of the ascending part of the reticular formation produces a reaction of change in the electrical signal, characteristic of the state of wakefulness of the body. Constant irritation of the ascending part of the reticular formation leads to the fact that a person’s sleep is disturbed, he cannot fall asleep, and the body shows increased activity. This phenomenon is called desynchronization and manifests itself in the disappearance of slow fluctuations in the electrical activity of the brain. In turn, the predominance of waves of low frequency and large amplitude causes prolonged sleep.

There is also an opinion that the activity of the reticular formation determines the nature of the response to the influence of objects and phenomena of the external world. It is customary to distinguish between specific and nonspecific reactions of the body. In its simplified form, a specific reaction is the body’s usual reaction to a familiar, or standard, stimulus. The essence of a specific reaction is the formation of standard adaptive forms of response to a familiar external stimulus. A nonspecific reaction is the body's reaction to an unusual external stimulus. The unusualness may lie both in the excess of the strength of the usual stimulus, and in the nature of the impact of a new unknown stimulus. At the same time, the body's response

114 ■ Part I. Introduction to general psychology

Anokhin Petr Kuzmich (1898-1974) - famous Russian physiologist. He proposed his own understanding of reinforcement, different from the classical (Pavlovian) one. He considered reinforcement not as the effect of an unconditioned stimulus, but as an afferent signal about the reaction itself, indicating compliance with the expected result (acceptor of the action). On this basis, he developed the theory of functional systems, which became widely known throughout the world. The theory proposed by Anokhin contributed to the understanding of the adaptive mechanisms of a living organism.

Is indicative in nature. Thanks to the presence of this type of reaction, the body has the opportunity to subsequently form an adequate adaptive response to a new stimulus, which preserves the integrity of the body and ensures its further normal functioning.

Thus, we can state that the human nervous system performs the functions of a system that regulates the activities of the entire organism. Thanks to the nervous system, a person is able to receive information about the external environment, analyze it and form behavior appropriate to the situation, that is, successfully adapt to changing environmental conditions.

The relationship between the human psyche and brain. In the 4th century. BC e. Alcmaeon of Croton formulated the idea that mental phenomena are closely related to the functioning of the brain. This idea was supported by many ancient scientists, such as Hippocrates. The idea of the relationship between the brain and the psyche has developed throughout the history of the accumulation of psychological knowledge, as a result of which more and more new variants have appeared.

At the beginning of the 20th century. from two different fields of knowledge - psychology and physiology - two new sciences were formed: physiology of higher nervous activity and psychophysiology. The physiology of higher nervous activity studies the organic processes occurring in the brain and causing various bodily reactions. Psychophysiology, in turn, studies the anatomical and physiological foundations of the psyche.

It should be immediately recalled that the problems of psychophysiology and the fundamentals of the physiology of higher nervous activity are studied in more detail within the framework of courses in psychophysiology and normal physiology. In this section, we consider the problem of the relationship between the brain and the psyche in order to gain a general understanding of it, in order to obtain a holistic understanding of the human psyche.

I. M. Sechenov made a great contribution to understanding how the work of the brain and human body is connected with mental phenomena and behavior. Later, his ideas were developed by I.P. Pavlov, who discovered the phenomenon of conditioned reflex learning. Nowadays, Pavlov's ideas and developments have served as the basis for the creation of new theories, among which stand out the theories and concepts of N. A. Bernstein, K. Hull, P. K. Anokhin, E. N. Sokolov and others.

I.M. Sechenov believed that mental phenomena are included in any behavioral act and themselves represent unique complex reflexes, that is, physiological phenomena. According to I.P. Pavlov, behavior consists of complex conditioned reflexes formed during the learning process. Later it turned out that the conditioned reflex is a very simple physiological phenomenon and nothing more. However, despite the fact that after the discovery of conditioned reflex learning, other ways of acquiring skills by living beings were described - imprinting, operant conditioning, vicarious learning, the idea of a conditioned reflex as one of the ways to gain experience was preserved and was further developed in the works of such psychophysiologists as E. N. Sokolov and Ch. I. Izmailov. They proposed the concept of a conceptual reflex arc, consisting of three interconnected, but relatively independent systems of neurons: afferent (sensory analyzer), effector (executive, responsible for the organs of movement) and modulating (controlling connections between the afferent and effector systems). The first system of neurons ensures the receipt and processing of information, the second system ensures the generation of commands and their execution, the third system exchanges information between the first two.

Along with this theory, there are other, very promising developments concerning, on the one hand, the role of mental processes in the control of behavior, and on the other, the construction of general models of behavior regulation with the participation of physiological and psychological phenomena in this process. Thus, N.A. Bernstein believes that even the simplest acquired movement, not to mention complex human activity and behavior in general, cannot be performed without the participation of the psyche. He argues that the formation of any motor act is an active psychomotor reaction. In this case, the development of movement is carried out under the influence of consciousness, which at the same time carries out a certain sensory correction of the nervous system, ensuring the execution of a new movement. The more complex the movement, the more corrective changes are required. When the movement is mastered and brought to automatism, the control process leaves the field of consciousness and turns into the background.

The American scientist K. Hull considered a living organism as a self-regulating system with specific mechanisms of behavioral and genetic-biological regulation. These mechanisms are mostly innate and serve to maintain optimal conditions physical and biochemical balance in the body - homeostasis - and are activated when this balance is disturbed.

P.K. Anokhin proposed his concept of regulation of behavioral acts. This concept has become widespread and is known as the functional system model (Figure 4.11). The essence of this concept is that a person cannot exist in isolation from the world around him. He is constantly exposed to certain environmental factors. The influence of external factors was called by Anokhin situational afferentation. Some influences are insignificant or even unconscious for a person, but others - usually unusual - cause a response in him. This response is in the nature of an indicative reaction and is a stimulus for activity.

All objects and conditions of activity affecting a person, regardless of their significance, are perceived by a person in the form of an image. This image correlates with information stored in memory and a person’s motivational attitudes. Moreover, the process of comparison is carried out, most likely, through consciousness, which leads to the emergence of a decision and a plan of behavior.

In the central nervous system, the expected outcome of actions is presented in the form of a kind of nervous model called Anokhin Acceptor of the result of an action. Action Result Acceptor- This is the goal towards which the action is directed. In the presence of an action acceptor and an action program formulated by consciousness, the direct execution of the action begins. This involves the will, as well as the process of obtaining information about the fulfillment of the goal. Information about the results of an action is of the nature feedback(reverse afferentation) and is aimed at forming an attitude towards the action being performed. Since information passes through the emotional sphere, it causes certain emotions that influence the nature of the attitude. If the emotions are positive, then the action stops. If emotions are negative, then adjustments are made to the execution of the action.

The theory of functional systems by P.K. Anokhin has become widespread due to the fact that it allows us to get closer to solving the issue of the relationship between physiological and psychological processes. This theory suggests that mental phenomena and physiological processes play an important role in the regulation of behavior. Moreover, behavior is in principle impossible without the simultaneous participation of mental and physiological processes.

There are other approaches to considering the relationship between the psyche and the brain. Thus, A.R. Luria proposed to identify anatomically relatively autonomous brain blocks that ensure the functioning of mental phenomena. The first block is designed to maintain a certain level of activity. It includes the reticular formation of the brain stem, deep parts of the midbrain, structures of the limbic system, mediobasal parts of the cortex of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. The second block is associated with cognitive mental processes and is intended for the processes of receiving, processing and storing information. This block consists of areas of the cerebral cortex, which are mainly located in the posterior and temporal parts of the cerebral hemisphere. The third block provides the functions of thinking, behavioral regulation and self-control. The structures included in this block are located in the anterior parts of the cerebral cortex.

This concept was put forward by Luria as a result of an analysis of the results of his experimental research functional and organic disorders and diseases of the brain. However, it should be noted that the problem of localizing mental functions and phenomena in the brain is interesting in itself. At one time, the idea was put forward that all mental processes are associated with certain areas of the brain, that is, localized. According to the idea of localizationism, each mental function can be “tied” to a specific organic part of the brain. As a result, detailed maps of the localization of mental functions in the brain were created.

However, after certain time facts have been obtained indicating that various disorders of mental processes are often associated

With damage to the same brain structures, and vice versa, damage to the same areas in certain cases can lead to different disorders. The presence of such facts led to the emergence of an alternative hypothesis - antilocalizationism - which asserts that the work of individual mental functions is associated with the activity of the entire brain. From the point of view of this hypothesis, certain connections have developed between different parts of the brain that ensure the functioning of certain mental processes. But this concept could not explain many brain disorders that speak in favor of localizationism. Thus, disruption of the occipital parts of the cerebral cortex leads to vision damage, and the temporal lobes of the cerebral hemispheres lead to speech impairment.

The problem of localization -anti-localizationism has not yet been resolved. We can say with complete confidence that the organization of brain structures and the relationship between individual parts of the brain is much more complex and multifaceted than the currently available information about the functioning of the central nervous system. We can also say that there are areas of the brain that are directly related to certain sensory organs and movements, as well as the implementation of abilities inherent in humans (for example, speech). However, it is likely that these areas are to a certain extent interconnected with other parts of the brain, which ensure the implementation of a particular mental process in full.

Psychophysiological problem in psychology. Considering the relationship between the psyche and the brain, we cannot help but get acquainted with the so-called psychophysiological problem.

Speaking about the natural scientific foundations of the psyche, today we have no doubt that there is a certain relationship between the psyche and the brain. However, even today the problem, known since the end of the 19th century, continues to be discussed. as psychophysiological. It is an independent problem of psychology and is not specifically scientific, but methodological in nature. It is relevant to solving a number of fundamental methodological issues, such as the subject of psychology, methods of scientific explanation in psychology, etc.

What is the essence of this problem? Formally, it can be expressed in the form of a question: how are physiological and mental processes related? There are two main answers to this question. The first was stated in a naive form by R. Descartes, who believed that there is a pineal gland in the brain, through which the soul influences animal spirits, and animal spirits influence the soul. Or, in other words, the mental and physiological are in constant interaction and influence each other. This approach is called the principle of psychophysiological interaction.

The second solution is known as the principle of psychophysiological parallelism. Its essence is to assert the impossibility of causal interaction between mental and physiological processes.

At first glance, the truth of the first approach, which consists in the affirmation of psychophysiological interaction, is beyond doubt. We can give many examples of the impact of physiological processes of the brain on the psyche and the psyche on physiology. Yet, despite the evidence of psychophysiological interaction, there are a number of serious objections to this approach. One of them is the denial of the fundamental law of nature - the law of conservation of energy. If material processes, what

If physiological processes are caused by a mental (ideal) cause, then this would mean the emergence of energy from nothing, since the mental is not material. On the other hand, if physiological (material) processes gave rise to mental phenomena, then we would be faced with a different kind of absurdity - energy disappears.

Of course, one can object to this that the law of conservation of energy is not entirely correct, but in nature we are unlikely to find other examples of violation of this law. We can talk about the existence of specific “psychic” energy, but in this case it is again necessary to explain the mechanisms of transformation of material energy into some kind of “immaterial” energy. And finally, we can say that all mental phenomena are material in nature, that is, they are physiological processes. Then the process of interaction between soul and body is the process of interaction between material and material. But in this case, it is possible to reach an agreement to the point of complete absurdity. For example, if I raised my hand, then this is an act of consciousness and at the same time a cerebral physiological process. If after this I want to hit someone with it (for example, my interlocutor), then this process can go to the motor centers. However, if moral considerations force me to refrain from doing this, then this means that moral considerations are also a material process.

At the same time, despite all the reasoning given as evidence of the material nature of the psyche, it is necessary to agree with the existence of two phenomena - subjective (primarily facts of consciousness) and objective (biochemical, electrical and other phenomena in the human brain). It would be quite natural to assume that these phenomena correspond to each other. But if we agree with these statements, then we go over to the side of another principle - the principle of psychophysiological parallelism, which asserts the impossibility of interaction between ideal and material processes.

It should be noted that there are several streams of parallelism. This is a dualistic parallelism, coming from the recognition of the independent essence of the spiritual and material principles, and a monistic parallelism, which sees all mental and physiological phenomena as two sides of one process. The main thing that unites them is the assertion that mental and physiological processes proceed in parallel and independently of each other. What happens in the mind corresponds to what happens in the brain, and vice versa, but these processes are independent of each other.

We could agree with this statement if reasoning in this direction did not constantly end in denying the existence of the mental. For example, a brain process independent of the psyche is most often triggered by a push from the outside: external energy (light rays, sound waves, etc.) is transformed into a physiological process, which is transformed in pathways and centers and takes the form of reactions, actions, and behavioral acts. Along with this, without influencing him in any way, events unfold on the conscious plane - images, desires, intentions. At the same time, the mental process does not in any way affect physiological processes, including behavioral reactions. Consequently, if the physiological process does not depend on the mental one, then all human life activity can be described in terms of physiology. In this case, the psyche becomes an epiphenomenon - a side effect.

Thus, both approaches we are considering are unable to solve the psychophysiological problem. Therefore, there is no single methodological approach to the study of psychological problems. From what position will we proceed when considering mental phenomena?

From the above it follows that there is a close connection between mental and physiological processes. Therefore, when considering mental phenomena, we will always remember that they are in close interaction with physiological processes, that they most likely determine each other. At the same time, the human brain is the material “substrate” that provides the possibility of the functioning of mental phenomena and processes. Therefore, mental and physiological processes are interconnected and mutually determine human behavior.

Physiological foundations of the human psyche

Structure, functioning and properties of the central nervous system.

The problem of the emergence of consciousness is considered from various positions. From one point of view, human consciousness is of divine origin. From another point of view, the emergence of consciousness in humans is considered as a natural stage in the evolution of the animal world.

The human nervous system consists of two sections: central And peripheral. The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and spinal cord. The brain consists, in turn, of the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. These main sections of the central nervous system also contain the most important structures that are directly related to the functioning of the human psyche: the thalamus, hypothalamus, pons, cerebellum, medulla oblongata (Fig. 4.3).

Rice. 4.3. Main parts of the human central nervous system

Almost all departments and structures of the central and peripheral nervous system are involved in receiving and processing information, but it is of particular importance for the human psyche cortex, which, together with the subcortical structures included in the forebrain, determines the characteristics of the functioning of human consciousness and thinking.

The central nervous system is connected to all organs and tissues of the human body. This connection is provided nerves, which come from the brain and spinal cord. In humans, all nerves are divided into two functional groups. The first group includes nerves that transmit signals from the external world and body structures. The nerves included in this group are called afferent. Nerves that carry signals from the central nervous system to the periphery (organs, muscle tissue, etc.) are included in another group and are called efferent.

The central nervous system itself is a collection of nerve cells - neurons. These nerve cells are made up of neuron and tree-like shoots called depdrites. One of these processes is elongated and connects the neuron with the bodies or processes of other neurons. This process is called axon. Some axons are covered with a special sheath - myelin sheath, which ensures faster transmission of impulses along the nerve. The places where one neuron connects to another are called synapses.

At the periphery, axons connect to miniature organic devices designed to perceive various types of anergy (mechanical, electromagnetic, chemical, etc.) and convert this into the energy of a nerve impulse. These organic devices are called receptors. They are located throughout the human body. There are especially many receptors in the senses, specifically designed to perceive information about the world around us.

While exploring the problem of perception, storage and processing of information, I. P. Pavlov introduced the concept analyzer. This concept denotes a relatively autonomous organic structure that ensures the processing of specific sensory information and its passage at all levels, including the central nervous system. Consequently, each analyzer consists of three structural elements: receptors, nerve fibers and the corresponding sections of the central nervous system (Fig. 4.5).

As we have already said, there are several groups of receptors. This division of the pa group is recognized by the ability of receptors to perceive and process only one type of influence, therefore receptors are divided into visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, skin, etc. The information received with the help of receptors is transmitted further to the corresponding part of the central nervous system, including the cerebral cortex. It should be noted that information from identical receptors arrives only in a certain area of the cerebral cortex. The visual analyzer is connected to one area of the cortex, the auditory analyzer to another, etc.

Let us consider in more detail the structure of the cerebral cortex (Fig. 4.6, Fig. 4.7, Fig. 4.8). It is the upper layer of the forebrain, formed mainly by vertically oriented neurons, their processes - dendrites and bundles of axons going down to the corresponding parts of the brain, as well as axons transmitting information from underlying brain structures. The cerebral cortex is divided into regions: temporal, frontal, parietal, occipital, and the regions themselves are divided into even smaller areas - fields. It should be noted that since the brain has left and right hemispheres,

then the areas of the cerebral cortex will accordingly be divided into left and right.

The information received by the receptors is transmitted along nerve fibers to a cluster of specific nuclei of the thalamus, and through them the afferent impulse enters the primary projection zones cerebral cortex. These zones represent the final cortical structures of the analyzer. For example, the projective zone of the visual analyzer is located in the occipital regions of the cerebral hemispheres, and the projective zone of the auditory analyzers is in the upper parts of the temporal lobes.

The primary projective zones of the analyzers are sometimes called sensory zones because they are associated with the formation of a certain type of sensation. If any zone is destroyed, a person may lose the ability to perceive a certain type of information. For example, if the zone of visual sensations is destroyed, a person will go blind. Thus, a person’s sensations depend not only on the level of development and integrity of the sensory organ, in this case vision, but also on the integrity of the pathways - nerve fibers - and the primary projective zone of the cerebral cortex.

It should be noted that in addition to the primary fields of the analyzers (sensory fields), there are other primary fields, for example, primary motor fields associated with the muscles of the body and responsible for certain movements (Fig. 4.9). It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that the primary fields occupy a relatively small area of the cerebral cortex - no more than one third. A much larger area is occupied by secondary fields, which are most often called associative, or integrative.

Rice. 4.9. Diagram of primary motor fields of the cerebral cortex

Secondary fields play an extremely important role in ensuring the functioning of both the human psyche and the body itself. If these fields are influenced by electric current, for example, the secondary fields of the visual analyzer, then integral visual images can be evoked in a person, and their destruction leads to the disintegration of visual perception of objects, although individual sensations remain.

Among the integrative fields of the human cerebral cortex, it is necessary to highlight speech centers that are differentiated only in humans: auditory speech perception center(so-called Wernicke Center) And motor speech center(so-called Broca's center). The presence of these differentiated centers indicates the special role of speech for the regulation of the human psyche and behavior. However, there are other centers. For example, consciousness, thinking, behavior formation, volitional control are associated with the activity of the frontal lobes, the so-called prefrontal and premotor zones.

The representation of speech function in humans is asymmetrical. She localized in the left hemisphere. This phenomenon is called functional asymmetry. Asymmetry is characteristic not only of speech, but also of other mental functions. Today it is known that the left hemisphere in its work acts as the leader in the implementation of speech and other speech-related functions: reading, writing, counting, logical memory, verbal-logical, or abstract, thinking, voluntary speech regulation of other mental processes and states. The right hemisphere performs functions not related to speech, and the corresponding processes usually occur at the sensory level.

It is also necessary to emphasize that the specialization of the hemisphere occurs in the process of individual human development. Maximum specialization is observed when a person reaches maturity, and then, towards old age, this specialization is lost again.

When getting acquainted with the structure of the central nervous system, we must definitely stop at considering another brain structure - reticular formation, which plays a special role in the regulation of many mental processes and properties. It received this name - reticular, or reticular - because of its structure, since it is a collection of sparse, reminiscent of a fine network of neural structures, anatomically located in the spinal cord, medulla oblongata and hindbrain.

The reticular formation has a noticeable effect on the electrical activity of the brain, on the functional state of the cerebral cortex, subcortical centers, cerebellum and spinal cord. It is directly related to the regulation of basic life processes: blood circulation and respiration.

Very often the reticular formation is called source of activity the body, since the nerve impulses generated by this structure determine the performance of the body, the state of sleep or wakefulness. It is also necessary to note the regulatory function of this formation, since the nerve impulses generated by the reticular formation differ in their amplitude and frequency, which leads to periodic changes in the functional state of the cerebral cortex, which, in turn, determines the dominant functional state of the whole organism. That's why waking state is replaced by a state of sleep and vice versa (Fig. 4.10).

Disturbance in the activity of the reticular formation causes disruption of the body's biorhythms. Thus, irritation of the ascending part of the reticular formation produces a reaction of change in the electrical signal, characteristic of the state of wakefulness of the body. Constant irritation of the ascending part of the reticular formation leads to the fact that a person’s sleep is disturbed, he cannot fall asleep, and the body shows increased activity. This phenomenon is called Resynchronization and manifests itself in the disappearance of slow fluctuations in the electrical activity of the brain. In turn, the predominance of waves of low frequency and large amplitude causes prolonged sleep.

In a simplified form, a specific reaction is the body’s usual reaction to a familiar, or standard, stimulus. The essence of a specific reaction is the formation of standard adaptive forms of response to a familiar external stimulus. A nonspecific reaction is the body's reaction to an unusual external stimulus. The unusualness may lie both in the excess of the strength of the usual stimulus, and in the nature of the impact of a new unknown stimulus. In this case, the body's response is indicative character. Thanks to the presence of this type of reaction, the body has the opportunity to subsequently form an adequate adaptive response to a new stimulus, which preserves the integrity of the body and ensures its further normal functioning.

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FEDERAL STATE BUDGET EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

"Rybinsk State Aviation Technical University named after P.A. Solovyov"

Faculty of Correspondence Studies

COURSESMY JOB

in the discipline: “Psychology and Pedagogy”

on the topic of: "Physiological basis psyche and human health"

Rybinsk, 2012

1. The concept of the psyche

2. Development of the psyche in phylogenesis

3.Structure of the human psyche

4. Mind and body

5. Psyche, nervous system, brain

6. Mentality, behavior and activity

List of used literature

1. The concept of the psyche

Traditionally, the concept of psyche is defined as a property of living, highly organized matter, consisting in the ability to reflect with its states the surrounding objective world in its connections and relationships. Etymologically, the word “psyche” (in Greek “soul”) has a dual meaning. One meaning carries the semantic load of the essence of a thing. The psyche is an entity where the externality and diversity of nature gathers into its unity, it is a virtual compression of nature, it is a reflection of the objective world in its connections and relationships.

Mental reflection is not a mirror, mechanically passive copying of the world (like a mirror or a camera), it is associated with a search, a choice; in mental reflection, incoming information is subject to specific processing, i.e. mental reflection is an active reflection of the world in connection with some necessity, with needs, it is a subjective selective reflection of the objective world, since it always belongs to the subject, it does not exist outside the subject exists, depends on subjective characteristics. The psyche is a “subjective image of the objective world”, it is a set of subjective experiences and elements of the subject’s internal experience.

However, the psyche cannot be reduced simply to the nervous system. Indeed, when the activity of the nervous system is disrupted, the human psyche suffers and is disrupted. But just as a machine cannot be understood through the study of its parts and organs, so the psyche cannot be understood through the study of the nervous system alone. However, the close connection between the psyche and brain activity is beyond doubt; damage or physiological inferiority of the brain clearly leads to inferiority of the psyche. Although the brain is an organ whose activity determines the psyche, the content of this psyche is not produced by the brain itself, its source is the external world.

Mental properties are the result of the neurophysiological activity of the brain, but they contain the characteristics of external objects, and not the internal physiological processes through which the mental arises. The transformation of signals taking place in the brain is perceived by a person as events taking place outside him, in external space and the world. Even K. Marx wrote that “the light effect of a thing on the optic nerve is perceived not as a subjective irritation of the nerve itself, but as the objective form of a thing located outside the eyes.”

Theories about the connection between mental and physiological processes.

According to the theory of psychophysiological parallelism, the mental and physiological constitute 2 series of phenomena that correspond to each other link by link, but at the same time, like two parallel lines, never intersect and do not influence each other. Thus, the presence of a “soul” is assumed, which is connected with the body, but lives according to its own laws.

The theory of mechanical identity, on the contrary, states that mental processes are, in essence, physiological processes, that is, the brain secretes the psyche, thought, just as the liver secretes bile. The disadvantage of this theory is that the psyche is identified with nervous processes, do not see qualitative differences between them.

Unity theory states that mental and physiological processes occur simultaneously, but they are qualitatively different.

The concept of phrenology assumed that there is a strict unambiguous connection between each part of the brain and a certain mental function, and if any part of the brain is overdeveloped, even “bulging out like a lump on the skull,” then the mental function that is realized by this is accordingly very developed. area of the brain. Phrenologists compiled “maps of the lumps and cavities of the skull” and assigned certain mental functions to them. However, the relationship between mental functions and the brain turned out to be much more complex than phrenologists assumed.

Mental phenomena are correlated not with a separate neurophysiological process, not with individual parts of the brain, but with organized sets of such processes, i.e. the psyche is a systemic quality of the brain, realized through multi-level functional systems of the brain that are formed in a person in the process of life and mastery them historically established forms of activity and experience of humanity through their own active activity.

Here we must pay attention to one more important feature human psyche - human psyche it is not given in ready-made form to a person from the moment of birth and does not develop on its own; the human soul does not appear on its own if the child is isolated from people. Only in the process of communication and interaction of a child with other people does he develop a human psyche, otherwise, in the absence of communication with people, nothing human appears in the child either in behavior or in the psyche (the Mowgli phenomenon). Thus, specifically human qualities (consciousness, speech, work, etc.), the human psyche are formed in a person only during his lifetime in the process of assimilating the culture created by previous generations. Thus, the human psyche includes at least 3 components: the external world, nature, its reflection - full-fledged brain activity - interaction with people, active transmission of human culture and human abilities to new generations.

Mental reflection is characterized by a number of features:

It makes it possible to correctly reflect the surrounding reality, and the correctness of the reflection is confirmed by practice;

The mental image itself is formed in the process of active human activity;

Mental reflection deepens and improves;

Ensures the appropriateness of behavior and activities;

Refracted through a person’s individuality;

It is anticipatory in nature.

Functions of the psyche: reflection of the surrounding world and regulation of the behavior and activity of a living creature in order to ensure its survival.

The relationship between subjective and objective reality. Objective reality exists independently of a person and can be reflected through the psyche into subjective mental reality. This mental reflection, belonging to a specific subject, depends on his interests, emotions, characteristics of the senses and level of thinking (different people can perceive the same objective information from objective reality in their own way, from completely different perspectives, and each of them usually thinks that his perception is the most correct), thus, subjective mental reflection, subjective reality may differ partially or significantly from objective reality.

The external world can be perceived in two ways: reproductively, perceiving reality in much the same way as film reproduces photographed things (although even simple reproductive perception requires the active participation of the mind), and creatively, consciously, comprehending reality, enlivening it and recreating this new material through the spontaneous activity of one’s mental and emotional processes. Although to a certain extent every person reacts both reproductively and creatively, the proportion of each type of perception is far from equal. Sometimes one of the types of perception atrophies. The relative atrophy of creative ability is manifested in the fact that a person, a perfect “realist,” sees everything that is visible on the surface, but is unable to penetrate deeper into the essence. He sees details, but not the whole; he sees trees, but not the forest. Reality for him is only the total sum of what has already materialized. But on the other hand, a person who has lost the ability to reproductively perceive reality (as a result of severe mental illness - psychosis, which is why he is called psychotic) is insane. The psychotic builds in his inner world a reality in which he has complete confidence; he lives in his own world, and general factors the realities perceived by all other people are unreal for him. When a person sees objects that do not really exist, but are entirely a product of his imagination, he experiences hallucinations. He interprets events relying only on own feelings without being intelligently aware of what is happening in reality. For the psychotic, actual reality has been erased and its place has been taken by internal subjective reality.

2. Development of the psyche in phylogenesis

There are different approaches to understanding who has a psyche:

Anthroppsychism (Descartes) - the psyche is inherent only to man;

panpsychism (French materialists) - the universal spirituality of nature, all nature, the whole world has a psyche (including stone);

biopsychism - psyche is a property of living nature (also inherent in plants);

neuropsychism (Ch. Darwin) - the psyche is characteristic only of organisms that have a nervous system;

brain-psychism (K.K. Platonov) - the psyche is only in organisms with a tubular nervous system that have a brain (with this approach, insects do not have a psyche, since they have a nodular nervous system, without a pronounced brain);

6) the criterion for the appearance of the rudiments of the psyche in living organisms is the presence of sensitivity (A. N. Leontiev) - the ability to respond to vitally insignificant environmental stimuli (sound, smell, etc.), which are signals for vital stimuli (food, danger ) due to their objectively stable connection. The criterion of sensitivity is the ability to form conditioned reflexes - a natural connection of an external or internal stimulus with a particular activity through the nervous system. Evolutionary theory states that the most adapted individuals to a given environment will leave more offspring than the less adapted ones, whose descendants will gradually decrease and disappear. This theory allows us to understand how the evolution of behavior and psyche occurred from the time of the appearance of life on Earth to the present day. The psyche arises and develops in animals precisely because otherwise they could not navigate the environment and exist.

Instincts are innate forms of response to certain environmental conditions

I. At the stage of elementary sensitivity, the animal reacts only to individual properties of objects in the external world and its behavior is determined by innate instincts (feeding, self-preservation, reproduction, etc.).

II. At the stage of objective perception, the reflection of reality is carried out in the form of holistic images of objects and the animal is capable of learning, the emergence of the intellectual psyche is characterized by the animal’s ability to reflect individually acquired behavioral skills.

III. The stage of the intellectual psyche is characterized by the animal’s ability to reflect interdisciplinary connections, to reflect the situation as a whole; as a result, the animal is able to bypass obstacles and “invent” new ways to solve two-phase problems that require preliminary preparatory actions for their solution. The actions of many predators, but especially great apes and dolphins, are intellectual in nature. The intellectual behavior of animals does not go beyond the scope of biological needs and operates only within the limits of a visual situation.

The human psyche is a qualitatively higher level than the psyche of animals (Homo sapiens - Homo sapiens). Human consciousness and intelligence developed in the process of labor activity, which arises due to the need to carry out joint actions to obtain food during a sharp change in the living conditions of primitive man. And although the specific biological and morphological characteristics of humans have been stable for thousands of years, the development of the human psyche occurred in the process of labor activity. Labor activity is productive; labor, carrying out the production process, is imprinted in its product, i.e., there is a process of embodiment, objectification of their spiritual powers and abilities in the products of people’s activities. Thus, the material, spiritual culture of humanity is an objective form of embodiment of the achievements of the mental development of humanity.

In the process of historical development of society, a person changes the ways and techniques of his behavior, transforms natural inclinations and functions into “higher mental functions” - specifically human, socially historically conditioned forms of memory, thinking, perception (logical memory, abstract logical thinking), mediated by the use of auxiliary means, speech signs created in the process of historical development. The unity of higher mental functions forms human consciousness.

3. Structure of the human psyche

The psyche is complex and diverse in its manifestations. Usually

There are three large groups of mental phenomena, namely:

1) mental processes,

2) mental states,

3) mental properties.

Mental processes. Mental processes are a dynamic reflection of reality in various forms mental phenomena. A mental process is the course of a mental phenomenon that has a beginning, development and end, manifested in the form of a reaction. It must be borne in mind that the end of a mental process is closely related to the beginning of a new process. Hence the continuity of mental activity in a person’s waking state. Mental processes are caused both by external influences and by stimulation of the nervous system coming from the internal environment of the body. All mental processes are divided into cognitive processes - these include sensations and perceptions, ideas and memory, thinking and imagination, emotional - active and passive experiences, volitional - decision, execution, volitional strengthening, etc.

Mental processes ensure the formation of knowledge and the primary regulation of human behavior and activity. In complex mental activity, various processes are connected and form a single stream of consciousness, providing an adequate reflection of reality and the implementation of various types of activities. Mental processes occur with varying speed and intensity depending on the characteristics of external influences and personality states.

Mental states. A mental state should be understood as a relatively stable level of mental activity that has been determined at a given time, which manifests itself in increased or decreased activity of the individual.

Every person experiences different mental states every day. In one mental state, mental or physical work is easy and productive, in another it is difficult and ineffective. Mental states are of a reflex nature: they arise under the influence of the situation, physiological factors, progress of work, time and verbal influences (praise, blame, etc.).

The most studied are:

1) general mental state, for example, attention, manifested at the level of active concentration or absent-mindedness;

2) emotional states, or moods (cheerful, enthusiastic, sad, sad, angry, irritated, etc.). There are interesting studies about a special, creative state of the individual, which is called inspiration.

Mental properties. The highest and most stable regulators of mental activity are personality traits. Mental properties of a person should be understood as stable formations that provide a certain qualitative and quantitative level of activity and behavior typical for a given person. Each mental property is formed gradually in the process of reflection and is consolidated in practice. It is therefore the result of reflective and practical activity.

Personality properties are diverse, and they need to be classified in accordance with the grouping of mental processes on the basis of which they are formed. From here we can highlight the properties of human intellectual activity. As an example, let us cite some intellectual properties - observation, flexibility of mind, volitional - determination, perseverance, emotional - sensitivity, tenderness, passion, affectivity, etc. Mental properties do not coexist together, they are synthesized and form complex structural formations individuals who must be included:

1) a person’s life position (a system of needs, interests, beliefs, ideals that determines a person’s selectivity and level of activity);

2) temperament (a system of natural personality traits - mobility, balance of behavior and activity tone - characterizing the dynamic side of behavior);

3) abilities (system of intellectual-volitional and emotional properties, which determines the creative capabilities of the individual) and, finally,

4) character as a system of relationships and modes of behavior.

psyche ontogenesis

4. Mind and body

An organism is a whole that is included in a larger whole from which it comes; our human body is a child of nature and necessarily retains and intensively uses the physical laws of nature, i.e. the organism exists only in the natural environment, in the process of systematic exchange of products with natural environment and there is a deep, fundamental connection between our organic existence and nature. And the function of the psyche is, in fact, to display, retain, reproduce and develop this unity of all essential forces of nature. The fact that our body and its psyche are included in the universal coherence of world processes and somehow contain nature in general as a whole suggests a significant direct influence of this whole on our psyche, the influence of natural pulsations and rhythms on our body and our mental states. All these influences of nature on our psyche can be represented in the form of some circles of influence:

1. The most fundamental circle describing such influence is the circle or whole of cosmic life in general. In ancient times, in this sense, they talked about birth under a certain star, i.e., about a certain state of the world and cosmic processes that have primary (and then subsequent) influences on our psyche and, accordingly, on life and its image. Here we are talking about some kind of isomorphism between the states of the world, the cosmos and our mental states, cosmic processes and the dynamics of our lives. The universal life of nature, the integrity of cosmic life is somehow reproduced in our psyche and is, apparently, its deepest layer.

2. The second, narrower circle makes up the whole life of the Solar System, in which we are included. Let us note that the second circle removes and retains in itself the previous circle, the first circle, just as each subsequent circle of influences retains in itself the previous circle of which it is a part. The solar system already more directly sets the conditions of our life, determines its character and structure. And it is not surprising that we are sensitive to rhythm solar system. Corresponding scientific disciplines have long appeared that study these influences (cosmobiology, heliobiology, heliopsychology, etc.). It has long been noted that, for example, solar flares and an increase in its radioactivity have a direct impact on class mental states. Such influences are precisely general influences, and the psyche that perceives this should be considered as a supra-individual component of the psyche.

3. And the third, even more direct, circle of influences is the life of the Earth. By our nature, biology, structure of our psyche (and then consciousness), we are children of the Earth, earthly natural conditions. And our historical existence, history in general, has as its condition a specific earthly existence, which is determined by the special natural conditions of our planet and its planetary life. True, these psychobiological characteristics of ours are not so easy to accurately describe, since we do not have criteria, we do not have other living conditions, but some correlations are still very clearly striking.

Undoubtedly, the influence on the psychobiological organization of climate in conjunction with the integrity of natural conditions. In a warm climate, one can state a certain specific mental complex, a mental structure, which can be designated as “spiritual lightness,” and, indeed, people in a warm climate are more expressive, mobile, “free,” and dynamic. On the contrary, in a cold climate, rigor, organization, rhythm of life and mental properties corresponding to such a life prevail. And a temperate climate determines something like an average mental organization (balance, restraint, etc.). This, of course, is not an exact description; it rather has the task of pointing out the very fact of the existence of such a layer of the psyche and the need to understand and take it into account.

Parts of the world and geographical conditions of the habitat correspond to racial bio mental characteristics, which are formed in the process of adaptation of the organism to the existing environment. And since here the environment is common to all individuals living in this part of the world, then the psychobiological characteristics that are formed in the process of adaptation to the environment are common to all individuals of this group. Natural conditions also determine the primary conditions of people’s production activity, determine the nature, methods, rhythm of production activity, in general general character movements, psychodynamics, rhythm of all behavior and reactions. So, a steppe inhabitant is accustomed to viewing space with one glance, but a mountain dweller is another matter; his orientation is structured differently. Thus, the psyche and its states imitate external conditions in the process of adaptation to them, and through the reproduction of such imitations, they are retained in the psyche itself and become its moment.

4. Natural rhythms have an impact on the human psyche. For example, the change of seasons is reflected in a person’s mental states (compare “spring mood” and “autumn mood”). Likewise, the time of day corresponds to certain inclinations. The morning corresponds more to absent-mindedness, the day - concentration, activity, the evening corresponds to withdrawal from activity, the tendency to think, reflect, and the night - peace, sleep, going deep into oneself, into one’s own well-being and at the same time rest. Here you can also add meteorological changes and their rhythm; people in such states have wounds that hurt and their diseases worsen (so they can play the role of a barometer). Hegel says in this regard that the soul feels the states of nature, for it is nature itself.

Thus, we are talking about the natural psyche, which is in essential harmony with natural states. The development of the psyche in this sense should not run counter to natural processes and should not contradict the laws of nature. It is necessary to systematically study natural conditions and their influence on the psyche, and then, based on a system of such knowledge, organize the optimal functioning and development of the psyche, and use the maximum possible amount of mental resources. This problem is especially relevant today, when man is increasingly alienated from nature and his existence is artificially subject to technical laws. A person, according to X. Delgado (one of the largest modern neuropsychologists), can be considered as a temporary material-information structure. Membranes, cells and other living elements arose as a result of the connection chemical elements. A living organism is only a temporary combination of chemical compounds. Every ion that makes up our body previously existed in nature, and all the elements that form our body will return back to the same nature. Atoms, organization and time are the only factors that create an organism. This cannot, of course, be said about the content of our mental processes. Actually, the human, complexly organized psyche can form and function successfully only under certain biological conditions: the level of oxygen in the blood and brain cells, body temperature, metabolism, etc. There are a huge number of such organic parameters, without which our psyche cannot function normally will. The following features of the human body are of particular importance for mental activity: age, gender, structure of the nervous system and brain, body type, genetic abnormalities and level of hormonal activity. Almost any chronic disease leads to increased irritability, fatigue, and emotional instability, that is, it leads to changes in psychological tone. Already one entry of bile into the blood (and this happens when a person gets jaundice) is accompanied by significant changes in his psyche: depression, irritability, sad mood, apathy, depression of intellectual functions. Hence the well-known concept of “bilious character,” reflecting centuries of experience in observing how liver diseases affect human behavior.

The German psychologist E. Kretschmer (1888-1964), in his famous work “Body Structure and Character,” tried to find the connections that exist between the structure of a person’s body and his psychological makeup. Based on high volume clinical observations he came to the conclusion: body type determines not only the forms of mental illness, but also our basic personal (characteristic) characteristics.

There is a dependence of the specifics of the psyche and mental processes on the gender of a person. Thus, psychological studies have shown that girls are superior to boys in verbal abilities; boys are more aggressive, as well as mathematical and visual-spatial abilities. True, the fact of greater male aggressiveness, according to the latest research, raises more and more doubts. Geodakyan, in his gender theory of interhemispheric asymmetry, analyzes some differences in the structure of the brains of men and women. For example, it was recently discovered that women have more nerve fibers in certain areas of the corpus callosum (an important part of the brain) than men. This may mean that interhemispheric connections in women are more numerous and therefore they are better able to synthesize information available in both hemispheres. This fact may explain some gender differences in the psyche and behavior, including the famous female “intuition.” In addition, the higher scores found in women related to linguistic functions, memory, analytical abilities and fine manual manipulation may be associated with greater relative activity in the left hemisphere of their brain. On the contrary, creative artistic abilities and the ability to confidently navigate spatial coordinates are noticeably better in men. Apparently, they owe these advantages to the right hemisphere of their brain.

The feminine principle (within the human population) is designed to ensure the persistence of offspring from generation to generation, i.e. it is focused on preserving existing characteristics. Hence the greater mental stability of women and the average parameters of their psyche. Masculinity is associated with the need to adapt to completely new, unknown conditions, which explains the greater psychological individualization of men, among whom not only super-talented, but also completely worthless individuals are more often found. Research has shown that the level of general ability average woman higher than the average man, but among men it is actually more common to find indicators significantly higher average level and much lower than that. Consequently, we can assume: the characteristics of both the male and female psyches are determined by evolutionary-genetic expediency (Geodakyan). Women easily adapt at the individual level to the outside world, but at the same time they are more susceptible to the influence of population and species patterns, their behavior is more biologically determined. The specificity of the male psyche suggests a greater variety of types of male psyche with a significantly lower ability to survive in unfavorable conditions. Therefore, signs of degeneration in any population are found primarily in males.

5. Psyche, nervous system, brain

As you know, the nervous system is the center of activity of the whole organism; it performs two main functions: the function of transmitting information, for which the peripheral nervous system and the receptors associated with it are responsible (sensitive elements located in the skin, eyes, ears, mouth, etc. ), and effectors (glands and muscles). The second important function of the nervous system, without which its first function loses its meaning, is the integration and processing of received information and programming the most adequate response. This function belongs to the central nervous system and includes a wide range of processes - from the simplest reflexes at the level of the spinal cord to the most complex mental operations at the level of the higher parts of the brain. The central nervous system consists of the spinal cord and various structures brain. Damage or inadequate functioning of any part of the nervous system causes specific disturbances in the functioning of the body and psyche. The psyche is most strongly influenced by the nature of the usefulness and adequacy of the functioning of the brain, especially the cerebral cortex. In the cerebral cortex there are sensory zones, where information from sensory organs and receptors is received and processed, motor zones, which control the skeletal muscles of the body and movements, human actions, and associative zones, which serve to process information. For example, the gnostic zones adjacent to the sensory areas are responsible for the process of perception, and the practical zones adjacent to the motor-motor area provide fine motor skills and automatic movements. Association zones located in the frontal part of the brain are especially closely connected with mental activity, speech, memory and awareness of the position of the body in space.

The specialization of the cerebral hemispheres reaches highest development in humans. It is known that in about 90% of people, the left hemisphere of the brain, in which the speech centers are located, is dominant. Depending on which hemisphere of a person is better developed and functions more actively, distinctive differences appear in the human psyche and his abilities.

The individuality of a person is largely determined by the specific interaction of the individual hemispheres of the brain. These relationships were first experimentally studied in

60s of XX century. Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Technology Roger Sperry (in 1981 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for research in this area). Splitting the brain (commissurotomy - this is how the operation to split the commissures and brain connections came to be called) was also tested in humans: cutting the corpus callosum relieved patients with severe epilepsy from painful seizures. After such operations, patients showed signs of “split brain syndrome”, the division of certain functions into hemispheres (for example, the left hemisphere of right-handed people after the operation lost the ability to draw, but retained the ability to write, the right hemisphere forgot how to write, but was able to draw). It turned out that in right-handed people, the left hemisphere controls not only speech, but also writing, counting, verbal memory, and logical reasoning. The right hemisphere has an ear for music, easily perceives spatial relationships, understands forms and structures immeasurably better than the left, and is able to recognize the whole from the part. There are, however, deviations from the norm: sometimes both hemispheres turn out to be musical, sometimes the right one finds a stock of words, and the left one finds ideas about what these words mean. But the pattern, basically, remains the same: both hemispheres solve the same problem from different points of view, and when one of them fails, the function for which it is responsible is also disrupted. When the composers Ravel and Shaporin suffered a hemorrhage in the left hemisphere, both could no longer speak or write, but continued to compose music, not forgetting musical notation, which has nothing in common with words and speech.

Modern research has confirmed that the right and left hemispheres have specific functions and the predominance of the activity of one or another hemisphere has a significant impact on individual characteristics person's personality.

Experiments showed that when the right hemisphere was turned off, people could not determine the current time of day, time of year, orient themselves in a specific space - they could not find their way home, did not feel “higher or lower,” did not recognize the faces of their acquaintances, did not perceive the intonations of words and etc.

A person is not born with functional asymmetry of the hemispheres. Roger Sperry discovered that split-brain patients, especially young ones, have rudimentary speech functions that improve over time. The “illiterate” right hemisphere can learn to read and write in a few months as if it already knew how to do all this, but forgot. The speech centers in the left hemisphere develop mainly not from speaking, but from writing: exercise in writing activates and trains the left hemisphere. “But it’s not about participation right hand. If a right-handed European boy is sent to study in a Chinese school, the centers of speech and writing will gradually move to his right hemisphere, because in the perception of the hieroglyphs that he learns, the visual zones are immeasurably more active than the speech zones. The reverse process will occur for a Chinese boy who moves to Europe. If a person remains illiterate throughout his life and is busy with routine work, he will hardly develop interhemispheric asymmetry. Thus, the functional specificity of the hemispheres changes under the influence of both genetic and social factors. Asymmetry of the brain hemispheres is a dynamic formation; in the process of ontogenesis, a gradual increase in brain asymmetry occurs (the greatest severity of hemispheric asymmetry is observed in middle age, and gradually levels out in old age), in the case of damage to one hemisphere, partial interchangeability of functions is possible and compensation for the work of one hemisphere due to another.

It is the specialization of the hemispheres that allows a person to view the world from two different points of view, to cognize its objects, using not only verbal and grammatical logic, but also intuition with its spatial-figurative approach to phenomena and instantaneous coverage of the whole. The specialization of the hemispheres, as it were, gives rise to two interlocutors in the brain and creates a physiological basis for creativity. But it should be emphasized that normally the implementation of any function is the result of the work of the entire brain, both the left and right hemispheres. “To study the work of an isolated hemisphere, the following technique is used: each hemisphere has its own carotid artery, through which blood flows to it. If a narcotic is injected into this artery, the hemisphere that receives it will quickly fall asleep, and the other, before joining the first, will have time to manifest its essence. If turning off the right hemisphere does not particularly affect the intellectual level, then miracles happen with the emotional state. The person is overcome by euphoria: he constantly makes stupid jokes, he is carefree even when his right hemisphere is not “switched off”, but is truly out of order, due to a hemorrhage, for example. But the main thing is talkativeness. The entire passive vocabulary of a person becomes active, each question is given a detailed answer, presented in a highly literary, complex manner. grammatical structures. True, the voice sometimes becomes hoarse, the person nasals, lisps, lisps, puts emphasis on the wrong syllables, and emphasizes prepositions and conjunctions in phrases with intonation. All this produces a strange and painful impression, which is aggravated in truly clinical cases, when a person is seriously deprived of the right hemisphere. Along with him, he also loses his creative streak. An artist, a sculptor, a composer, a scientist—they all stop creating.” The exact opposite is turning off the left hemisphere. Creative abilities not associated with verbalization (verbal description) of forms remain. The composer, as already mentioned, continues to compose music, the sculptor sculpts, the physicist, not without success, reflects on his physics. But not a trace remains of the good mood. There is melancholy and sadness in his gaze, despair and gloomy skepticism in his laconic remarks, the world appears only in black. So, suppression of the right hemisphere is accompanied by euphoria, and suppression of the left is accompanied by deep depression.

Outstanding Russian neuropsychologist A.R. Luria identified the three largest parts of the brain, which he called blocks, which differ significantly from each other in their main functions in organizing holistic behavior.

The first block, which includes those areas that are most closely connected both morphologically and functionally with the ancient sections that control the state of the internal environment of the body, ensures the tone of all overlying sections of the brain, i.e. its activation. To simplify, we can say that this department is the main source from which the motivating forces of animals and humans draw energy for action. When it is damaged, a person does not experience disturbances in either visual or auditory perception, he still possesses all previously acquired knowledge, his movements and speech remain intact. The content of the main disorders in this case are precisely disturbances in mental tone: a person shows increased mental exhaustion, quickly falls asleep, attention fluctuates, the organized train of thoughts is disrupted, his emotional life changes - he becomes either overly anxious or extremely indifferent.

The second block includes the cerebral cortex, located posterior to the central gyrus, i.e. parietal, temporal and occipital regions. Damage to these sections, with preserved tone, attention and consciousness, manifests itself in a variety of disturbances of sensations and perception, the modality of which depends on specific areas of damage that are highly specific: in the parietal sections - cutaneous and kinesthetic sensitivity (the patient cannot recognize an object by touch, it does not feels the relative position of body parts, i.e. the body diagram is disrupted, so the clarity of movements is lost); in the occipital regions - vision is impaired while touch and hearing are preserved; in the temporal lobes - hearing suffers while vision and touch are intact. Thus, when this block is damaged, the ability to build a full-fledged sensory image is impaired. environment and your own body.

The third extensive zone of the cortex occupies a third of the total surface of the cortex in humans and is located anterior to the central gyrus. When it is damaged, specific disorders occur: while all forms of sensitivity and mental tone are preserved, the ability to organize movements, actions and carry out activities according to a predetermined program is impaired. With extensive damage, speech and conceptual thinking, which play a crucial role in the formation of these programs, are disrupted, and behavior loses its arbitrariness.

6. Mentality, behavior and activity

The most important function of the psyche is regulation, control of the behavior and activity of a living being. Russian psychologists made a great contribution to the study of the patterns of human activity: A. N. Leontiev, L. S. Vygotsky. Human actions and activity differ significantly from the actions and behavior of animals. The main distinctive feature of the human psyche is the presence of consciousness, and conscious reflection is such a reflection of objective reality in which its objective stable properties are highlighted, regardless of the subject’s relationship to it (A. N. Leontiev). The leading factors in its emergence were labor and language. Any joint work of people presupposes a division of labor, when different members of collective activity perform different operations; Some operations immediately lead to a biologically useful result, other operations do not give such a result, but act only as a condition for achieving it, that is, these are intermediate operations. But within the framework of individual activity, this result becomes an independent goal, and the person understands the connection between the intermediate result and the final motive, that is, he understands the meaning of the action. Meaning, according to A. N. Leontyev’s definition, is a reflection of the relationship between the purpose of an action and the motive.

Hereditary behavioral programs (instincts) are typical. Inspiration is limited to the acquisition of individual experience, thanks to which the hereditary species behavior programs adapt to the specific conditions of the animal’s existence

Transfer and consolidation of experience through social means of communication (language and other sign systems). Consolidation and transmission of the experience of generations in material form, in the form of objects of material culture

They can create auxiliary means and tools, but do not preserve them, do not use the tools constantly. Animals are unable to make tools using another tool

Making and preserving tools, passing them on to subsequent generations. Making a tool with the help of another object or tool, making a tool for future use presupposed the presence of an image of a future action, i.e. emergence of the plane of consciousness

Activity is active interaction a person with an environment in which he achieves a consciously set goal that arose as a result of the emergence of a certain need or motive (Fig. 4). Motives and goals may not coincide. Why a person acts a certain way is often not the same as why he acts. When we are dealing with activity in which there is no conscious goal, then there is no activity in human sense words, but impulsive behavior takes place, which is controlled directly by needs and emotions.

Behavior in psychology is usually understood as the external manifestations of a person’s mental activity. Behavioral facts include:

1) individual movements and gestures (for example, bowing, nodding, squeezing a hand),

2) external manifestations of physiological processes associated with the state, activity, communication of people (for example, posture, facial expressions, glances, redness of the face, trembling, etc.),

3) actions that have a certain meaning, and finally,

4) actions that have social significance and are associated with norms of behavior.

Deed

An action in which a person realizes its meaning for other people, i.e. its social meaning. The main characteristic activity is its objectivity. By subject we do not simply mean natural object, but an object of culture in which a certain socially developed way of acting with it is recorded. And this method is reproduced whenever objective activity is carried out. Another characteristic of activity is its social, socio-historical nature. A person cannot independently discover forms of activity with objects. This is done with the help of other people who demonstrate patterns of activity and include the person in joint activities. The transition from activity divided between people and carried out in external (material) form to individual (internal) activity constitutes the main line of internalization, during which psychological new formations (knowledge, skills, abilities, motives, attitudes, etc.) are formed. . Activity is always indirect. The role of means is played by tools, material objects, signs, symbols (interiorized, internal funds) and communication with other people. Carrying out any act of activity, we realize in it a certain attitude towards other people, even if they are not actually present at the moment of performing the activity.

Human activity is always purposeful, subordinated to a goal as a consciously presented planned result, the achievement of which it serves. The goal directs the activity and corrects its course.

Activity is not a set of reactions, but a system of actions cemented into a single whole by the motive that motivates it. A motive is something for which an activity is carried out; it determines the meaning of what a person does. Basic knowledge about activities, motives, and skills are presented in diagrams. Finally, activity is always productive in nature, that is, its result is transformations both in the external world and in the person himself, his knowledge, motives, abilities, etc. d. Depending on which changes play the main role or have the greatest share, different types activities (work, cognitive, communication, etc.).

Psychophysiological functions constitute the organic foundation of activity processes.

Sensorimotor processes are processes in which perception and movement are connected. In these processes, four mental acts are distinguished: 1) the sensory moment of reaction - the process of perception; 2) the central moment of the reaction - more or less complex processes associated with the processing of what is perceived, sometimes distinction, recognition, evaluation and choice; 3) motor moment of reaction - processes that determine the beginning and course of movement; 4) sensory movement corrections (feedback).

Ideomotor processes link the idea of movement with the execution of the movement. The problem of the image and its role in the regulation of motor acts is the central problem of psychology correct movements person.

Emotional-motor processes are processes that connect the execution of movements with emotions, feelings, mental conditions experienced by man.

Interiorization is the process of transition from external, material action to internal, ideal action.

Exteriorization is the process of transforming internal mental action into external action.

It has already been noted that our needs push us to action, to activity. Need is a state of need for something experienced by a person. States of the organism's objective need for something that lies outside it and constitutes a necessary condition for its normal functioning are called needs. Hunger, thirst, or the need for oxygen are primary needs, the satisfaction of which is vital for all living beings. Any disturbance in the balance of sugar, water, oxygen or any other needed by the body component automatically leads to the emergence of a corresponding need and to the emergence of a biological impulse, which, as it were, pushes a person to satisfy it. The primary impulse thus generated triggers a series of coordinated actions aimed at restoring balance.

Maintaining a balance in which the body does not experience any needs is called homeostasis. Hence, homeostatic behavior is behavior that is aimed at eliminating motivation by satisfying the need that caused it. Often human behavior is caused by the perception of certain external objects, the action of some external stimuli. The perception of certain external objects plays the role of a stimulus, which can be as strong and significant as the internal drive itself. The need for movement, for receiving new information, new stimuli (cognitive need), new emotions allows the body to maintain an optimal level of activation, which allows it to function most effectively. This need for stimuli varies depending on the physiological and mental state of the person. The need for social contacts, to communicate with people is one of the leading needs in a person, only over the course of life does it change its forms. People are constantly busy with something, and in most cases they decide for themselves what they will do. To make a choice, people resort to a thinking process. We can consider motivation as a “selection mechanism” for some form of behavior. This mechanism, if necessary, responds to external stimuli, but most often it selects an opportunity that this moment best corresponds to a physiological state, emotion, memory or thought, or unconscious attraction, or innate characteristics. The choice of our immediate actions is guided by the goals and plans we have set for the future. The more important these goals are to us, the more powerfully they guide our choices.

List of used literature

1. Stolyarenko L.D. Basics of psychology. Third edition, revised and expanded. Series "Textbooks, teaching aids". Rostov-on-Don: “Phoenix”, 2000. -672 p.

2. Rean A. A., Bordovskaya N. V., Rozum S. I. Psychology and pedagogy. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. - 432 pp.: ill. -- (Series “Textbook of the New Century”).

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Topic: Physiological foundations of the human psyche and health

INTRODUCTION

1. THE CONCEPT OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE

4. FEATURES OF FUNCTIONING OF THE LEFT AND RIGHT HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIN

5. FUNDAMENTALS OF MENTAL HEALTH

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The material basis of the psyche is the processes occurring in the functional formations of the brain. These processes are currently very much influenced by the various conditions in which the human body finds itself. One of these conditions is stress factors.

The increase in stress is humanity's price for technological progress. On the one hand, the share of physical labor in the production of material goods and in everyday life has decreased. And this, at first glance, is a plus, since it makes a person’s life easier. But, on the other hand, a sharp decrease in motor activity disrupted the natural physiological mechanisms of stress, the final link of which should be movement. Naturally, this also distorted the nature of life processes in the human body and weakened its margin of safety.

Target of this work: the study of the physiological foundations of the human psyche and the factors influencing it.

An object studying: processes that determine mental activity.

Item studying: the mechanisms of the central nervous system, which determines the mental state and factors influencing its work.

Tasks of this work:

1) study the basic mechanisms and features of the functioning of the brain,

2) consider some factors affecting health and psyche.

1. THE CONCEPT OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE

2. CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE PSYCHE

The brain is a huge number of cells (neurons) that are connected to each other by numerous connections. The functional unit of brain activity is a group of cells that perform a specific function and are defined as a nerve center. Similar formations in the cerebral cortex are called nerve networks or columns. Among such centers there are congenital formations, which are relatively few, but they are of utmost importance in the control and regulation of vital functions, for example, breathing, thermoregulation, some motor and many others. The structural organization of such centers is determined to a large extent by genes.

The second functional block of the brain is the block for receiving, processing and storing information (memory). It is located in the posterior parts of the cerebral cortex and includes the occipital (visual), temporal (auditory) and parietal lobes.

It is important to note that only the joint work of all three blocks of the brain ensures the implementation of any mental function of a person.

3. BASIC MECHANISMS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM OPERATION

The main, basic mechanism of activity of the nervous system is reflex- the body's response to irritation. Reflexes can be congenital or acquired. A person has relatively few of the first, and, as a rule, they ensure the performance of the most important vital functions. Congenital reflexes, inherited and genetically determined, are rather rigid systems of behavior that can change only within the narrow limits of the biological reaction norm. Acquired reflexes are formed in the process of life, the accumulation of life experience and targeted learning. One of the known forms of reflexes is conditioned.

A more complex mechanism underlying brain activity is functional system. It includes a mechanism for probabilistic prediction of future action and uses not only past experience, but also takes into account the motivation of the corresponding activity. A functional system includes feedback mechanisms that allow you to compare what is planned with what is actually done and make adjustments. When (ultimately) the desired positive result is achieved, positive emotions are activated, which reinforce the neural structure that ensures the solution of the problem. If the goal is not achieved, then negative emotions destroy the unsuccessful building in order to “clear” the place for a new one. If the acquired form of behavior has become unnecessary, then the corresponding reflex mechanisms go out and are inhibited. An information trace about this event remains in the brain thanks to memory and can restore the entire form of behavior years later, and its renewal is much easier than the initial formation.

Physiological foundations of psychology. Anatomical and physiological mechanism of mental activity

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