Physiological indicators of the orienting reaction. Orienting reaction and habituation Orienting reaction
Approximate reaction(OR) was first described by I.P. Pavlov as a motor reaction of an animal to a new, suddenly appearing stimulus. It included a turn of the head and eyes in the direction of the stimulus and was necessarily accompanied by inhibition of the current conditioned reflex activity. Another feature of the OR was the extinction of all its behavioral manifestations upon repetition of the stimulus. The extinguished EP was easily restored at the slightest change in the situation (see Reader 6.2).
Physiological indicators of OR. The use of polygraphic registration showed that OR causes not only behavioral manifestations, but also a whole range of vegetative changes. These generalized changes are reflected in various components of OR: motor (muscular), cardiac, respiratory, galvanic skin, vascular, pupillary, sensory and electroencephalographic (see topic 2). As a rule, upon presentation of a new stimulus, muscle tone increases, the frequency of respiration and pulse changes, the electrical activity of the skin increases, the pupils dilate, and sensory thresholds decrease. In the electroencephalogram, at the beginning of the orienting reaction, generalized activation occurs, which manifests itself in the blockade (suppression) of the alpha rhythm and its change to high-frequency activity. At the same time, it becomes possible to unite and synchronize the work of nerve cells not according to the principle of their spatial proximity, but according to the functional principle. Thanks to all these changes, a special state of mobilization readiness of the body arises.
More often than others, in experiments aimed at studying OR, indicators of the galvanic skin response (GSR) are used. It has a special sensitivity to the novelty of the stimulus; it is modally nonspecific, i.e. does not depend on what kind of stimulus causes the OR. In addition, GSR quickly fades, even if the RR is caused by a painful stimulus. However, GSR is closely related to the emotional sphere, so the use of GSR in the study of OR requires a clear separation of the actual indicative and emotional components of response to a new stimulus.
Nervous stimulus model. The mechanism of occurrence and extinction of OR was interpreted in the concept of the nervous model of the stimulus proposed by E.N. Sokolov. According to this concept, as a result of the repetition of a stimulus, a “model” is formed in the nervous system, a certain configuration of the trace, in which all the parameters of the stimulus are fixed. An orienting reaction occurs when a discrepancy is found between the current stimulus and the formed trace, i.e. "neural model". If the current stimulus and the neural trace left by the previous stimulus are identical, then OR does not occur. If they do not coincide, then the orienting reaction arises and becomes, to a certain extent, the stronger, the more the previous and new stimuli differ. Since the OR arises as a result of a mismatch between the afferent stimulus and the "nervous model" of the expected stimulus, it is obvious that the OR will last as long as this difference exists.
In accordance with this concept, the RR should be fixed at any appreciable discrepancy between two sequentially presented stimuli. There are, however, numerous facts that indicate that OR does not always necessarily arise when the parameters of the stimulus change.
The importance of the stimulus. The orienting reflex is associated with the adaptation of the organism to changing environmental conditions, therefore, the "law of force" is valid for it. In other words, the more the stimulus changes (for example, its intensity or degree of novelty), the greater the response. However, insignificant changes in the situation can cause no less, and often a greater reaction, if they are directly addressed to the basic needs of a person.
It seems that a stimulus that is more significant and, therefore, in some way already familiar to a person, should, other things being equal, cause a smaller RR than an absolutely new one. The facts, however, speak differently. The significance of the stimulus is often decisive for the occurrence of OR. A highly significant stimulus can produce a powerful orienting response with little physical intensity.
- According to some ideas, the factors that provoke OR can be ordered by highlighting 4 levels, or registers:
- incentive register;
- novelty register;
- intensity register;
- significance register.
Almost all incentives pass the first level of evaluation, the second and third registers work in parallel. After passing through any of these two registers, the stimulus enters the last one and its significance is evaluated there. Only after this final act of evaluation does the whole complex of the orienting reaction develop.
Thus, the OR does not arise for any new stimulus, but only for one that is preliminarily assessed as biologically significant. Otherwise, we would experience OR every second, since new stimuli act on us constantly. When evaluating OR, therefore, it is necessary to take into account not the formal amount of information contained in the stimulus, but the amount of semantic, meaningful information.
Another thing is also significant: the perception of a significant stimulus is often accompanied by the formation of an adequate response. The presence of motor components indicates that the OR provides a unity of perceiving and executive mechanisms. Thus, OR, traditionally considered as a reaction to a new stimulus, is a special case of orienting activity, which is understood as the organization of new types of activity, the formation of activity in changed environmental conditions (see Reader 6.1).
ORIENTING REACTION (English orienting response) - a multicomponent reflex (involuntary) reaction of the human and animal organism, caused by the novelty of the stimulus. Syn. orienting reflex, exploratory reflex, “What is it?” reflex, activation reaction, etc. Into the complex of components of O. p. include: 1) movements of the head, eyes and (in many mammals, also ears) in the direction of the source of irritation (motor component), 2) expansion of cerebral vessels with simultaneous narrowing of peripheral vessels, changes in respiration and electrical muscle tone (vegetative component), and also 3) an increase in the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex, manifested in the form of a decrease in the amplitude of the alpha rhythm, the so-called. depression of the electroencephalogram (neurophysiological component), 4) an increase in absolute and / or differential sensory sensitivity, including an increase in the critical frequency of flicker fusion and spatial visual acuity (sensory component). (See Attention, Attention physiological mechanisms.)O. r. has a pronounced trend over time. At first, upon presentation of a new stimulus, all components of the O. river appear, forming the so-called. generalized O. r. At the same time, depression of the alpha rhythm is recorded in many areas of the cortex. After 15-20 presentations of the same stimulus, some of the components of O. p. fading away. Depression of the alpha rhythm is registered only in the cortical projection of the corresponding analyzer. This phenomenon is called local O. of river. With further presentation of an annoying stimulus, even local O. fading occurs; the stimulus, having long ceased to be new to the body, continues to cause only the so-called. evoked potentials of the cerebral cortex: this suggests that nerve impulses caused by an external stimulus reach the cortex even after complete extinction of the O. p.
A distinctive feature of the extinction of O. p. - selectivity in relation to the stimulus. A change in the characteristics of the stimulus after the achieved extinction leads to the appearance of an O. p. as a response to novelty. By changing the different parameters of the stimulus, it can be shown that the selectivity of the extinction of O. p. manifests itself in the intensity, quality, duration of the stimulus and the intervals used. In each case, O. river. is the result of mismatch signals arising from a mismatch between the stimulus and its neural model, which was formed during multiple repetitions of the stimulus used during extinction. After the presentation of a new stimulus, O. is temporarily restored. on a habitual irritant: there is a disinhibition of O. of river. The similarity of the extinction of O. p. with fading conditioned reflex gave IP Pavlov reason to believe that both processes are associated with the development of internal inhibition. Considering the extinction of O. p. as the development of inhibitory conditioned reflex connections, we can conclude that it is a negative learning.
Studying of neuronal mechanisms of O. of river. showed that neurons located outside the main sensory pathways in the reticular formation and the hippocampus are associated with it. Unlike specific afferent neurons, which are characterized by stable reactions even during many hours of stimulation, neurons associated with O. r. are original novelty detectors. These are multisensory neurons that respond only to new stimuli. The extinction of the reactions of novelty detectors repeats at the neuronal level the main patterns of O. p. and is characterized a high degree selectivity. See Information Needs.
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If you are sitting quietly in your room reading this book and suddenly something closes the window opening, you will automatically turn your head to see what has happened. In any organism, when meeting with a new or unexpected stimulus, a number of physiological changes develop that “alarm” the body and prepare it for a meeting with a new one.
situation (Lynn, 1966). The most noticeable and rapid reaction is the orientation of the body in the direction of the stimulus. For this reason, the orienting response has been called the “what is it?” reflex. At the same time, sensory thresholds are lowered, current physical activity is suspended, and muscle tone is increased to prepare for action. This complex reaction is accompanied by many physiological changes, including an increase in the frequency of electrical activity of the brain (EEG), vasoconstriction of the extremities, various changes in heart rate (usually slowing down) and respiration (usually deeper, but more rare breaths), a sudden reaction of the sweat glands. The orienting reflex was discovered quite by accident by one of IP Pavlov's students. Whenever Pavlov entered the room to observe the progress of the current experiment with salivation in a dog, the animal always turned towards him, and salivation was inhibited (Lynn, 1966). In other words, the dog had an orienting response. What at first looked like a hindrance became in turn the subject of study as an important phenomenon, interesting in itself. Orientation reaction mechanisms gradually
"became a key topic in Russian psychology. For historical reasons, Western psychologists began to study this reaction only relatively recently.
Sokolov (cited in Lynn, 1966) concluded in his research that one should distinguish between an orienting response to new stimuli and a defensive response to threatening stimuli. American psychologists have long studied a reaction that is similar to the defensive one, which they call the startle reaction. If a gun fires over your head, your reaction to this will be much sharper than if a shadow flickers outside the window. In a startle-type reaction, the animal freezes, attacks or runs away. Physiological reactions in this case are usually very similar to those that occur during the orienting reaction (and in fact turn out to be their extreme expression), but, according to Sokolov, they can be distinguished
Based on the nature of blood flow in the scalp. The orienting reaction causes expansion of the arteries of the forehead, while the defensive reaction is accompanied by a constriction of these vessels (see Chapter 5).
If the stimulus is repeated many times, the orienting reaction to it gradually weakens. This weakening of the response is called habituation. In the case of a defensive reaction, habituation also occurs, but more slowly. A number of models have been proposed that describe physiological changes
Chapter 4
Habituation problems (see Lynn, 1966; Groves and Thompson, 1970), but they are beyond the scope of this book.
In psychophysiological studies, the rate of addiction is often used as a dependent indicator. Subjects are asked, for example, to listen to a series of tones that are delivered at regular intervals. The rate of habituation will be measured by the number of tones that must be applied before the electrocutaneous reaction disappears. Using this method, in particular, it was shown that in schizophrenics addiction occurs more slowly than in normal people (Zahn et al., 1968).
IN historical plan interest in EAK is explained by the ease of its measurement and the demonstrativeness of its manifestation. And today, a student who finds himself in a psychophysiological laboratory is just as amazed by the clarity of RPRK, as were its first researchers. After all, we have a reaction that we see with the naked eye and which allows us to look into the hidden world of inner experiences.
We have seen that EAK is primarily the result of the activity of the sweat glands, mainly those that primarily respond to mental stimuli. Further, the magnitude of the EAK is approximately proportional to the intensity of the inner experience. And finally, different indicators of EAK give different reactions depending on character stimulus or internal state of the subject. SRPR and SRPR are not interchangeable indicators of sympathetic activation.
It can be expected that in the coming years the differences between these indicators will be clarified more precisely. It is possible that, based on the fact that these differences have a biological meaning, we can even begin to build a biological classification of experiences and forms of behavior. For example, instead of starting from the rather vague category of "emotions" and wondering which of the EAK indicators reflects their occurrence, we can start with the fact that the EAC and EAC are independent, and then catalog the behaviors and experiences that cause changes in each of these indicators. Once the various situations in which the RCM and the RCM arise are identified, we can ask the question: what do these situations have in common? In this way, we will approach the creation of a science that will really be based on an understanding of the biological nature of man.
The cardiovascular system
If the sweat gland may at first glance seem biologically unimportant, then it would never occur to anyone to underestimate the crucial role of the cardiovascular system. The heart literally sustains life by providing continuous circulation of blood. Even the very first anatomists were sure that the heart is a very important organ, they just did not know exactly what it does.
Background
The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart is responsible for emotions. Even in the time of Aristotle, philosophers still attributed to the heart most of the functions we now know are connected with the brain. Traces of this ancient belief still persist in language - for example, we say that someone has a "broken heart" or that a person does something "not with all their heart."
In the Middle Ages, the study of the heart, like everything else, "suspended. The first major step forward in comparison with ancient knowledge was made in 1628, when William Harvey came to the conclusion that blood circulates throughout the body, and in successive cycles of blood circulation one participates and the same blood. Harvey was so struck by his observations, which spoke of the complexity of this system, that he tried to revive the ancient idea of blood as the seat of the soul. Science did not return to this, but Harvey's skillful experiments and observations remain an impressive example of the scientific method.
About 100 years later, the English priest Stephen Hales invented a method that allowed him to measure blood pressure, that is, the force with which the heart pumps blood. Using a complex device made of copper tubing and a goose trachea, he found that when an artery was cut in a mare, blood spurted up to eight feet high. Scientists later calculated that with the same method, a person's blood would rise about 5 feet. Fortunately, other, harmless to the body, methods for determining blood pressure were subsequently invented.
Chapter 5
The cardiovascular system
The Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso was one of the first to suggest that measuring blood pressure could be useful in the study of mental processes. In particular, Lobrozo believed that if the blood pressure of a suspected criminal who is being interrogated by the police can be determined whether this person is telling the truth (see Chapter 10).
In practical medicine, it is now widely known that stress and tension increase cardiovascular function.
With the help of portable measuring instruments, it was found that in many stressful situations real life increased heart rate (PC) and increased blood pressure (BP). The use of such portable devices has often been critical in diagnosing heart disease in cases where it was not detected during examination in the quiet environment of a doctor's office. Gunn et al. (Gunn et al., 1972) report, for example, one patient in whom a rapid heart rate (more precisely, paroxysmal atrial tachycardia) was detected only during the game of bridge, when his partner was his wife. A few years later, this patient died of a heart attack during such a game of bridge.
Daily measurements of the heart rate in a healthy person throughout the year showed that the peaks in the frequency of contractions occurred on Saturdays and Mondays, which can be easily explained by the state of arousal. An increase in cardiovascular function was also found when driving a car, donating blood, talking to a psychiatrist, before ski jumping, landing an aircraft on an aircraft carrier, and also when acting as a broker during stock exchange hours (Gunn et al. , 1972).
An increase in cardiovascular function is, of course, also observed with muscle tension during physical work. One of the more interesting examples of this phenomenon is given by Masters and Johnson (Masters and Johnson, 1966), who studied sexual activity: apparently, an increase in the heart rate, at least in women, correlates with the intensity of orgasm. The study of sexual activity also indicates the importance of local changes in blood circulation. An erection is largely determined by increased blood flow to the penis and clitoris. Redness of the skin, often observed during sexual arousal, is also due to increased blood flow to the skin. An innocent blush of embarrassment is nothing more than an expansion of the arteries of the face, leading to increased blood flow and an increase in skin temperature.
Emotions and activation(arousal)
In early psychophysiological studies, measures of the cardiovascular system were often used, as well as measures of EHR, as indicators of the level of general activation. But if the stimuli to which the EAK reaction is detected were usually quite moderate in strength (such as the word "prostitute"), then the indicators of the cardiovascular system change only with stronger stimuli.
For example, in one series of studies it was shown that immediately before exams, students have large PC and BP values (Brown, Van Gelder, 1938). Nissen (Nissen, 1928) found that in two patients sitting in dental chairs, the rise in blood pressure occurred at the time of the appearance in the dentist's office. In one of the more "edgy" studies recorded in the history of psychology, Landis (1926) examined three of his colleagues whom he forced to stay without sleep for two days. After that, each subject was subjected to an electric current of as much force as he could bear, and for as long as he could endure. Among the physiological reactions to the current were marked sweating, shortness of breath, vomiting and increased blood pressure.
Needless to say, the concept of a general activation of the cardiovascular system, as well as other physiological systems of the body, is only a first reasonable approximation. The next step on this path is the idea of different complexes of cardiovascular reactions under different circumstances.
Albert Ex in his classic work (Ah, 1953) directly raised the question of whether it is possible to distinguish one emotion from another on the basis of physiological reactions (see Chapter 2). He assessed the state of the cardiovascular, skin, respiratory and muscular systems. One of the main problems in the study of emotions is the very great difficulty in reproducing these states in the laboratory. In order to make his subjects first angry and then scared, X resorted to complex tricks, And this allowed him to re-create the situation.
Allegedly, 43 healthy subjects were selected for the study of "hypertension". Several electrodes were attached to a person And they explained that only one thing was required of him - to lie still, while the nurse would measure his pressure once a minute. Meanwhile, the subject, as if by the way, was informed that the employee who usually records the indicators fell ill. And that a person replaces him.
Chapter 5
The cardiovascular system
Who was recently kicked out for incompetence and bad temper. After a short period of rest during which all indicators were recorded, this dummy operator shouted from the next room that something was wrong with the recording. Then they changed places with the experimenter and the dummy operator began to justify his reputation as an unbearable person. He criticized the nurse, rudely pushed the subject, "checking contacts", sarcastically remarked to him that everything was not going well because of him, because he was late for the examination. In just five minutes, he managed to accuse the subject of not trying to contribute to the success of the examination, that he moves when he needs to lie still - in a word, of everything he could. Then the experimenter returned and apologized for the rudeness of his assistant. With the help of this trick, the subjects were successfully angered. Some of them said that "this type should have been punched in the face."
Then, after a break for rest, the subjects were evoked another emotion - fear. (In the same study, in another group of subjects, the order was reversed - first they caused fear, and then rage.) Now the subject was given electric shocks on the little finger, the strength of which was gradually increased until complaints appeared. The experimenter staged an alarm, rushing around the room, warning the subject to lie still for his own safety. This performance continued for another five minutes - at one point the experimenter even pressed a button, which caused sparks to fall around the room. Needless to say, the threat of accidental death in the electric chair evoked fear in the subjects. One of them shouted all the time: “Remove the wires, please! Help me!" Another prayed, while a third later said philosophically: “Each of us must die sometime. I decided it was my turn."
Complexity methodological techniques This work shows why the study of emotions is not carried out so widely. Increased attention to the ethical side of things in deceiving subjects could make such work impossible in our day. Be that as it may, when people experienced two types of emotions, they registered two physiological reactions of a different nature. The picture of the fear reaction was apparently associated with the action of the hormone adrenaline, and the picture of rage was associated with the action of norepinephrine. Weerts and Roberts (Weerts and Roberts, 1976), who recently continued this study, found a similar pattern of physiological responses when people only imagined themselves in situations that caused them rage or fear.
The main result of the study of the cardiovascular system was the conclusion that an increase in diastolic pressure and a slowing of the heart rate are more characteristic of feelings of rage than of fear. Other findings included that general level The electrical conductivity of the skin changes more strongly with rage, while spontaneous shifts in this value often occur with fear. Considering the data of Kilpatrick (1972), one might think that in this situation the "intellectual" component is more pronounced in the feeling of rage. This suggests that, even in such a subtle experiment, “maintaining a calm recumbent posture throughout the events may have changed the nature of the reactions compared to what would have happened if the subject had actually been allowed to give a “rude” face.
The described experiment allows us to draw an important conclusion. at least some emotions can be distinguished by physiological responses - cardiovascular and other. Once again, we see that the key here is the characteristic structure (pattern) of the physiological response.
The reaction of an animal to novelty was first studied and called the orienting reflex in the school of I.P. Pavlova. It was shown that the appearance of the orienting reflex is not associated with the sensory modality of the stimulus, that it can be subjected to extinction, and the mechanism of the latter is the generation of internal inhibition, that for all that it is innate, i.e. unconditioned, and is preserved in animals deprived of the cortex hemispheres, acquiring in this case special durability and inextinguishability (N.A. Popov, 1921, 1938; S.N. Chechulin, 1923; I.S. Rosental, 1929; G.P. Zeleny, 1930).
Initially, only the motor reaction of the animal to a new or unusual stimulus (turning the head, moving the ears and eyes, etc.) was called the orienting reflex. Subsequently, a broader point of view became widespread, according to which the orienting reflex is a whole system of reactions integrated in a complex somatic-getative complex (E.N. Sokolov, 1958 a, b; O.S. Vinogradova, 1959, 1961). Thus, the orienting reaction can be studied both by motor and by vegetative and electrographic indicators, which, however, do not always agree with each other (for example, the rate of extinction of various components of the orienting reaction may be different in the same subject).
The orienting reaction can be characterized by a number of parameters, each of which has a special functional meaning, apparently not always coinciding with the meaning of others. With respect to each of them, one or another degree of connection with certain features of the nervous system can be assumed. What are these options?
One of them is the threshold of the orienting reflex. Since the latter is always the result of sensory stimulation, the question arises of the minimum value of the stimulus that causes a response in the form of an orienting reaction. Many authors have found that the threshold of the orienting reflex (mainly in terms of galvanic skin and electroencephalographic parameters) actually coincides with the threshold of sensation determined by the verbal reaction, in any case, before the orienting reaction begins to fade away upon repeated presentation of the stimulus (G.V. Gershuni, 1955; AJ Derbyshire, J. C. Farley, 1959). But the threshold of sensation (see more about this below) reveals a connection with the strength of the nervous system (B.M. Teplov, 1955; V.D. Nebylitsyn, 1959 a; V.I. Rozhdestvenskaya et al., 1960). Therefore, the threshold for the occurrence of an orienting reaction should correlate with indicators of the strength of the nervous system (relative to excitation).
Unfortunately, so far no direct comparison of the corresponding indicators in the experiment has been given, although, probably, the use of this technique would be useful in studying the relationship between sensitivity and strength of the nervous system in animals.
In a typological context, another parameter of the orienting reaction can be studied - its magnitude. The determination of this parameter presents some difficulties, since the magnitude of the orienting reaction naturally falls as the presentations are repeated. Therefore, to take into account the magnitude of the orienting reflex, one of the following indicators approximately corresponding to the task should be used: 1) the magnitude of the reaction to the first presentation of a new stimulus, 2) average reactions to a certain pre-fixed number of stimulus presentations, and finally, 3) a characteristic of the steepness of the curve that displays on the graph the dynamics of the extinction of the orienting reaction (function gradient). The simplest of these indicators is the first, and, as we will see later, it performs quite well.
Finally, the third main parameter of the orienting response is the rate of its extinction with continued repetition of the stimulus. Extinguishing can be carried out up to a certain, predetermined criterion, for example, until there is no reaction in a series of three or more presentations in a row (acute extinction) or until there is no reaction in several consecutive experiments (chronic extinction). This procedure strongly resembles the extinction of a conditioned reflex. I.P. Pavlov assumed that it was also accompanied by the development of internal inhibition (1951-1952, vol. IV, p. 269) and, perhaps, in terms of physiological meaning, it means the same as the extinction of the conditioned reaction. Since, however, the orienting reflex is an unconditioned reaction, many foreign authors prefer to use the terms "addiction" and "adaptation" instead of the term "extinction".
As already mentioned, each of the listed basic parameters of the orienting reaction probably has a typological significance, that is, it depends on some properties of the nervous system. Unfortunately, in the Pavlovsk school - as during the life of I.P. Pavlov, and after his death - no systematic studies were carried out individual characteristics orienting reactions, as well as the possible connection of these features with the properties of the nervous system, although the data obtained in passing by some of the authors mentioned above undoubtedly gave reason to think that the properties of the nervous system of the animal are also reflected in a number of features of the dynamics of the orienting reflex. The available direct data on the comparison of the properties of the orienting reaction with the properties of the nervous system can be systematized as follows.
In 1933 N.V. Vinogradov described a dog of a weak type, which, according to the author's observations, was characterized by an inextinguishable orienting reflex. Since then, in the literature (MS Kolesnikov, 1953) there has been an opinion that animals of a weak type of nervous system are characterized by an unquenchable orienting reaction to any environmental stimuli. Thus, according to this point of view, the rate of extinction of orientation is a function of the strength of the nervous system.
Another point of view (L.N. Stelmakh, 1956) connects the speed of extinction of the orienting reaction not with the strength of the nervous system, but with the mobility of the nervous processes (determined by the speed of alteration). L.N. Stelmakh points out that, on the one hand, an inextinguishable orienting reaction can also occur in dogs of a strong type, and on the other hand, extinction of orientation can be easily achieved in dogs with a weak nervous system. At the same time, some dependence of the extinction rate on the property of mobility is revealed (albeit with significant exceptions). Unfortunately, the author does not give quantitative values of the connection between the extinction of orientation and alteration. A significant drawback of the work is also the fact that the study of the orienting reaction was carried out after the type of nervous system in dogs had been determined, that is, after many months of work with various external stimuli.
E.A. Varukha (1953), comparing the dynamics of orienting reactions in dogs with the results of determining the properties of the nervous system according to a small standard, found that such an indicator as a change in the magnitude of the orienting reflex with increasing stimulus can be taken to assess the strength of the nervous system (relative to excitation), and the speed of orientation extinction is not related to the strength of the nervous system relative to inhibition.
Works performed by L.G. Voronin, E.N. Sokolov and their collaborators (L.G. Voronin, G.I. Shirkova, 1949; L.G. Voronin, E.N. Sokolov, 1955; E.N. Sokolov et al., 1955; L.G. Voronin and et al., 1959; W. Bao-Hua, 1958, 1959), drew attention to another aspect of the typological conditionality of orienting reactions, namely, their connection with the balance of nervous processes. At the same time, as already mentioned in Chap. II, although the authors talk about the balance in strength, the analysis of the tests they use allows us to conclude that we are talking, rather, about what we designate as the balance of nervous processes in terms of dynamism. Thus, in the work of W. Bao-Hua (1959), the reference indicator of balance was the number of erroneous actions during the development of an elementary motor stereotype according to a preliminary instruction, more precisely, the ratio of errors when presenting positive and negative components of the stereotype.
Neither this nor other tests provided for by the N.A. Rokotova (1954), used in this case by W. Bao-Hua, cannot at all give indicators of the strength (endurance) of the nervous system with respect to excitation, as well as with respect to inhibition, but some of them can be interpreted as reflecting the level of dynamism of nervous processes. In most of these works, we deal with the rate of extinction of galvanic skin reactions, and the assumptions are reduced to the fact that the rapid extinction of orientation by the galvanic skin index indicates the predominance of the inhibitory process, while the delayed extinction of GSR indicates the predominance of the excitatory process. The same assumption is contained in the work of A. Mundy-Castle and B. McKeever (A.C. Mundy-Castle, B. Z. McKiever, 1953), also performed using a galvanic skin index.
So, different authors associate certain indicators of the orienting reflex with various properties of the nervous system, and, apparently, the main interest is the speed of extinction of the reaction. What can be said about this?
The role of the strength of the nervous system in certain characteristics of the orienting response can hardly be questioned. We have already spoken about this when discussing the question of the threshold for the emergence of orientation. But the magnitude of the orienting reaction, apparently, also cannot, to some extent, be independent of the strength of the nervous system in relation to excitation. Since a strong nervous system is less sensitive, the relationship between the strength and magnitude of orientation should be reversed: individuals with a weak nervous system should have a more pronounced orienting response, especially when using stimuli of low and medium intensity, which, in the case of systems of different sensitivity, will provide the greatest differences in physiological effect. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the higher orienting activity, the "inextinguishable" orienting reflex in some individuals of a weak type of nervous system - but, probably, only one of the reasons, and not the most significant one.
As regards the connection between orienting reactions and the mobility of nervous processes, the available materials (LN Stelmakh, 1956) are not sufficient to draw any definite conclusions on this issue. This, of course, does not mean that the assumption of such a connection should be rejected on the spot. It only means that it must be tested in an experimental comparison of the relevant indicators.
The views that link certain parameters of the orienting reaction with the balance of nervous processes (we would say, with balance in terms of dynamism) seem to be the most justified. At the same time, it should perhaps be borne in mind that the dynamism of the excitatory and the dynamism of the inhibitory processes, reflecting the functionally different properties of the nerve substrate, can have different effects on different aspects of the orienting reflex.
As regards the rate of orientation extinction, it can be assumed to be a direct function of the dynamism of the inhibitory process. As already noted, even I.P. Pavlov and his collaborators pointed out that the effect of extinction of the orienting reflex is completely similar to the effect of extinction of the conditioned reflex: the similarity is observed both in the details of the processes themselves and in their results - both of them lead to the appearance of a drowsy and sleepy state, which owes its origin to the irradiation of the developed internal inhibition.
An analysis of the electrographic manifestations of the orienting reflex allowed E.N. Sokolov (1963) and O.S. Vinogradova (1961) put forward the assumption that the extinction of the orienting reaction itself is nothing more than a gradually developed conditioned reflex process, in which the conditioned stimulus is the beginning of the applied stimulus, which becomes a signal of its definite duration and its absence in the background.
Thus, the extinction of the orienting reflex leads to the formation of an inhibitory functional structure in the same way as the extinction of the conditioned reaction, which, as expected, leads to an increase in the selective activity of inhibitory synaptic apparatuses (E.N. Sokolov, N.P. Paramonova, 1961; P. V. Simonov, 1962). As in the case of a conditioned response, this inhibitory functional structure apparently takes shape primarily in the cerebral cortex: the removal of the cortex, according to data obtained back in the school of I.P. Pavlova (G.P. Zeleny, 1930; N.A. Popov, 1938), and the data of the latest works (M. Jouvet, 1961), leads to the elimination of the mechanism of quenching of the orientation reaction, as a result of which, as E.N. Sokolov (1963), the orienting reflex turns into a properly unconditioned reflex, devoid of conditioned reflex components and therefore not amenable to extinction.
Based on these data and considerations, we assume that the extinction of the orienting response, as well as the extinction of the conditioned response, is a function mainly of that property of the nervous system that we designate as the dynamism of the inhibitory process: a high level of dynamism of inhibition leads to a rapid extinction of orientation, at a low level of this property, orientation extinction can be a very long process. Let us note again that the latter phenomenon may probably be the result not only of the low dynamics of the inhibitory process, but also of the high absolute sensitivity of the analyzer, which perceives a sensory stimulus, which, upon reaching the given system, acquires greater physiological efficiency; high sensitivity is inherent in a weak nervous system.
Some parameters of the orienting reaction may also depend on the dynamics of the excitatory process. In particular, the influence of the latter can be assumed in the magnitude of the orienting reaction at the first presentation of the stimulus. Indeed, if its subsequent presentations lead to the development of conditioned inhibition, which limits the resulting excitation, then at the first application of the stimulus, this restriction has not yet been worked out, or, in any case, is not enough. Therefore, the excitation that occurs at the first presentation of a signal, when the mechanisms of conditioned inhibition have not yet come into action, will probably be characterized by a greater amplitude, intensity, and duration. Hence, in individuals with a high dynamism of the excitatory process, one can expect more pronounced (in magnitude) orienting reactions to the first inclusion of a stimulus in comparison with individuals with a low dynamism of the excitation process.
According to some of the assumptions made, certain experimental data were obtained in the laboratory of psychophysiology. Since these data each time have their own specifics according to the method used, we will consider them in several sections, devoting each one to one of the methods used.
Sensory orienting reactions. A specific feature of sensory orienting reactions, i.e., changes in the thresholds of sensation (in our case, absolute thresholds) that proceed according to the rules of the orienting reflex, is that in addition to the above parameters - the threshold, magnitude and rate of extinction - they also have a direction parameter: orienting the reaction can be expressed both in a decrease and in an increase in absolute sensitivity, varying in this quality from subject to subject.
The work of L.B. Ermolaeva-Tomina (1957, 1959) showed this with complete certainty, which made significant corrections to the materials of L.A. Chistovich (1956), who noted only an increase in absolute thresholds during the initial action of side stimuli, and E.N. Sokolov (1958a), who found in his subjects only a lowering of thresholds under the influence of stimuli causing an orienting reaction.
L.B. Ermolaeva-Tomina investigated both the effect of secondary light stimuli (flickering light) on auditory thresholds and the effect of secondary sound stimuli (intermittent sound) on visual thresholds (for a detailed description of the technique, see the indicated works of L.B. Ermolaeva-Tomina). The orienting nature of the impact of these stimuli is proved, firstly, by the fact that the indicated shifts are extinguished upon repeated presentations, secondly, by the fact that upon further presentations these shifts acquire an opposite direction and now a stationary character, and, thirdly, by the fact that that tentative threshold shifts also occur when a permanent side stimulus is turned off, as well as when the order of stimuli changes.
It is important to note that the manifestation of the found regularities, apparently, does not depend on the analyzed analyzer: if the subject tends to lower the auditory threshold under the action of pulsating light, then the effect of intermittent sound on the visual threshold will also be mostly expressed in him in a decrease in the measured threshold.
The main correlation obtained by L.B. Ermolaeva-Tomina, in comparison with the properties of the nervous system, consists in the dependence of the direction of the approximate shift in sensitivity on the strength of the nervous system in relation to excitation. It was found that subjects with a strong nervous system react to the first and subsequent (up to extinction) presentations of an additional stimulus, as a rule, by a decrease in absolute sensitivity, while in “weak” subjects under the same conditions, sensitivity in the vast majority of cases increases. Individual exceptions, inevitable in the study of unselected groups, only confirm the general rule.
But the influence of the strength of the nervous system affects not only the direction of shifts in absolute sensitivity. Comparison of the group averages leads to the conclusion that, in addition to the direction of the shifts, the groups of “strong” and “weak” subjects also differ in the magnitude of these shifts: the average absolute value of changes in sensitivity in subjects with a weak nervous system is noticeably greater than in subjects with a strong nervous system. system.
Thus, in “strong” subjects, the sensory orienting reaction proceeds as an external brake, while in “weak” individuals, the orienting reaction leads to an improvement in the sensory function under study. These apparently paradoxical results need an explanation, in which L.B. Ermolaeva-Tomina puts forward the following assumption: “With weak cortical cells ... the orienting reaction obviously causes a more generalized excitation, which manifests itself in an increase in the sensitivity of the analyzers. The decrease in sensitivity during the orienting reaction in subjects with strong cortical cells can probably be explained by the fact that excitation in them is very quickly localized in the analyzer to which the extra stimulus is directly addressed” (1959, p. 102). One can agree with this explanation in principle if some missing links are added to it, concerning mainly the physiological mechanisms of these differences.
One can definitely think that these differences are connected with the difference in the absolute sensitivity of the strong and weak nervous system. A weak nervous system, having a lower sensation threshold, probably also has a lower threshold for excitation of a nonspecific activating system. It can be assumed that due to this circumstance, a weak nervous system retains the tonic nature of generalized activation longer, provided by the mesencephalic section of the reticular system.
On the contrary, under the same conditions, a strong nervous system with its higher threshold, which leads to a relative decrease in the physiological effect, probably already during the interval of action of the side stimulus (20–30 s) passes to a phasic form of activation, usually associated with the thalamic nonspecific system. And, as you know, a feature of thalamic activation is its localization in the structures of the irritated analyzer (S. Sharpless, H. Jasper, 1956; A.Yu. Gasto et al., 1957; E.N. Sokolov, 1958 a). One can imagine, as L.B. Ermolaev-Tomin, that in the first moments of the action of a side stimulus on a strong nervous system, in it, as well as in a weak one, generalized activation also takes place, accompanied by an increase in sensitivity to the testing stimulus. Since, however, it is of a very brief nature, the experimenter simply does not have time to measure and register its peripheral effect. A few seconds later, when the activation reaction has already been transferred to the thalamic level and localized within the narrower boundaries of cortical projections, in the area of the analyzer receiving the testing threshold stimulus, perhaps due to the mechanisms of sequential induction, there is a drop in excitability and, thereby, a decrease in sensitivity to the testing stimulus.
Of course, all these considerations are of a very hypothetical nature and require further experimental and theoretical substantiation.
So, one of the parameters of sensory orienting reactions - their direction (and maybe, if we keep in mind their magnitude - and two) - reveals a fairly definite connection with such a property of the nervous system as its strength in relation to excitation. Unfortunately, we cannot say anything so definite about the role played by other properties of the nervous system in sensory orienting reactions, since the necessary comparisons have not been made in the laboratory, and, as far as we know, there are no literature data on this issue. In this regard, more material has been obtained in the study of vascular reactions.
Vascular orientation reactions. Work on the study of vascular (vasomotor) orienting and conditioned reflex reactions was undertaken in the laboratory of psychophysiology V.I. Rozhdestvenskaya (1963 b) specifically with the aim of studying the possibilities of this technique in studying the properties of the human nervous system. The main problem that arises when working with the plethysmographic technique is the difficulty of establishing in many subjects the so-called zero plethysmographic curve, i.e., an even background devoid of spontaneous fluctuations. True, this seems to refer more to the more sensitive plethysmogram of the finger, rather than the hand (A.A. Rogov, 1963), but in this latter case, a pronounced spontaneous undulation can be observed, masking reactions to stimuli used in the experiment.
It should be pointed out, however, that the very nature of the initial, background curve, as shown by V.I. Rozhdestvenskaya and a number of other authors, can serve as an indicator of such a quality as the balance of excitatory and inhibitory processes. The question arises: what is this balance? Is it a balance in the Pavlovian sense of the term, i.e., the balance of nervous processes in some higher levels of the nervous system, or, perhaps, the undulation of the plethysmogram reflects only the imbalance of dynamic vasoconstrictor and vasodilator influences interacting in the subcortical vasomotor centers or even directly on the periphery?
Data V.I. Rozhdestvenskaya testify, rather, in favor of the first assumption. These data were obtained on 25 adult normal subjects when registering a digital plethysmogram. The experimental program included: 1) testing the action of neutral sound (tone 400 Hz) stimuli of different intensity, 2) testing the effect of "unconditional" cold stimulation (ice) and 3) the development of conditioned vasoconstrictive vascular reactions by combining a sound stimulus, the orienting reaction to which was to at this point extinguished, with a reinforcing Cold Agent.
Thus, the features of the background curve and the process of orientation extinction could be compared with the properties of the dynamics of the excitatory process, determined using the vasomotor technique. In addition, the magnitude and latent period of reactions to both types of applied stimuli were measured. So, with regard to orientation, two of its parameters were studied here: the magnitude (average of the 10 first presentations of sound) and the rate of extinction.
A feature of the work was that all four sound stimulus intensities used to extinguish orientation (from near-threshold to very strong) were presented in a random order and, thus, it was possible to compare the course of extinction of the orientation reaction at different stimulus intensities. It turned out (see Table 2, borrowed from the work of V.I. Rozhdestvenskaya, 1963 b) that the loudness of sound has a very significant effect on the speed of extinction of orientation: with a very loud stimulus, the extinction criterion (5 inhibitory reactions in 5 consecutive presentations of a given stimulus) does not was achieved in subjects out of 25, with loud - in 7 subjects, with medium and quiet - only in 1.
The clearest individual differences are observed at an average intensity of the stimulus, to which no reaction was observed in 5 subjects, and the maximum number of presentations until the reaction was extinguished was 20 (in 1 subject more than 20). For this reason, and also because conditioned responses were developed to a stimulus of precisely this intensity, to determine the relationship between the rate of orientation extinction and the speed of elaboration of the conditioned reflex, we took individual indicators obtained at this average intensity.
table 2
The number of presentations of a sound stimulus of varying intensity until the extinction of the indicative vascular reaction (V.I. Rozhdestvenskaya, 1963 b)
Reference pointaboutmilitary rebutaction(reflex "What is it?", according to I.P. Pavlov), a complex of shifts in different systems of the animal or human body, caused by any unexpected change in the situation and due to the special activity of the central nervous system. Changes in activity of the central and vegetative nervous system at O. of river. aimed at mobilizing the analyzer and motor systems of the body, which contributes to a quick and accurate assessment of a new situation and the development of an optimal control apparatus for a new non-automated action. At the same time, the previous activity is suppressed and the head (ears, eyes) turns towards the stimulus. O. r. accompanied by an increase in the level of adrenaline in the blood, a change in the electrical potential of the skin (galvanic skin reflex), an activation reaction (in the form of desynchronization of the slow electrical activity of the cerebral cortex), and a number of other phenomena that characterize the preparation of the body for action in a new situation. Functions not involved in such activities (for example, digestion) are inhibited. If a change in the situation is accompanied by unconditional irritation, that is, reinforced by it, then on the basis of O. p. a conditioned reflex may develop; an indifferent stimulus becomes essential, significant for the organism. If a new irritant turned out to be insignificant for the organism, its repeated use leads to "addiction" and O. p. fading away.
O. r. plays an important role in the organization of the higher nervous activity of animals and humans. According to modern concepts, at the heart of O. p. are activating influences on the higher parts of the central nervous system from the reticular formation. This significantly increases the level of excitability of the corresponding areas of the cerebral cortex, which creates favorable conditions for the formation of a conditioned reflex circuit in the cortex. At the person O. r. participates in acts of varying degrees of complexity - from a reaction to any new agent to the most complex mental work, when, faced with an unexpected fact or thought, a person concentrates, mobilizes to comprehend them. At the heart of the attention arising at the same time lies O. R., appearing, according to V. M. Bekhterev, in the form of a “concentration reflex”. The role of O. r. in the mental activity of a person is more fully revealed when it is violated, for example, in schizophrenia. Loss of an important property of O. p. - its extinction with the repetition of irritations - significantly reduces the possibility of adapting to new conditions. In other cases, the presence of only the inhibitory component of O. p. in the absence of its research form, it paralyzes the possibility of analyzing a new situation and adequately responding to it
24 question. psychophysiology of speech processes. Inner speech. Not verbal communications.
What is speech - a mental process; language is a means, a tool that helps to implement speech. It has different forms - oral, written, internal and external.
Speech is a complex form of mental activity inherent in a person, through which communication takes place using language.
The center of speech functions is located in the same place as the auditory one - in the temporal lobe.
If you cut off, damage the frontal lobes (lobotomy) - the person turned into a vegetable. His center of regulation of all centers of speech, thinking, perception, and recognition deteriorated.
But different parts of the temporal lobes are responsible for speech.
The center of the speech function is the cortex of the temporal lobes of the cerebral hemispheres. In which there are 2 interrelated processes - encoding (formation of a speech message) and decoding (understanding of a speech message). It is in the temporal lobe that hearing is decoded, and we understand sounds that add up to phonemes, words to sentences, we can process, encode and transmit them using sounds.
And between them there are mutual arrows that help to see that the process of speech itself can go in two directions and move one into the other. And maybe, up to the opposite, we accept the arrangement, or in writing, it goes into inner speech, decoding goes through and is understood.
And if there is an unfamiliar language that we do not speak, then the process will not work.
If we do not speak this language well, then additional tools may be needed - gestures, facial expressions, head movements, etc. (emotional speech)
