Types of cognitive processes. Cheat Sheet: Mental Cognitive Processes

The level of development of a person as a being endowed with reason is determined by the effectiveness of his cognitive processes. It is they who provide the receipt and processing of information from the outside and create a completely unique space filled with images, thoughts and feelings of ours.

The psyche, if understood as the content of our inner world, is a very complex entity. All mental phenomena are divided into 3 groups: processes, properties and states. True, this division is conditional, since everything that happens in our minds is interconnected. and depend on , emotional states and , affects the formation of , and images are capable of generating emotions no less strong than real phenomena. And all this is somehow connected with activity and accumulation of experience.

The place of cognitive processes in the human psyche

Despite the unity and interconnection of mental phenomena, several spheres can be distinguished, including the cognitive one, which includes the corresponding processes. They are also called cognitive (cognito - from Latin "knowledge").

The content of the psyche is the result of the reflection of reality, its ideal, subjective image. Cognitive processes provide the process of reflection of the world and the formation of ideal images in our minds. The level of their development determines the effectiveness of a person's interaction with the outside world, as well as his mental and, in many respects, physical health. That is, problems associated with cognitive processes can make a person inferior, mentally retarded, or simply interfere with normal adaptation in the world.

Functions of cognitive processes

Cognitive processes are evolutionarily the "youngest" mental phenomena. Even the centers of these processes are located in the neocortex - the new cortex - the latest formation of our brain. The exception is the more ancient attention and memory, which even fairly primitive living beings have. But despite the youth, cognitive processes perform important functions:

• Reception and differentiation of sensory information coming from the outside world. In accordance with the channels of perception, all external signals are distributed between the visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and taste analyzers.
• Processing of primary information and creation of integral subjective images.
• Storage of received information.
• Establishing a connection between different areas of sensory experience, images, concepts, cognitive constructs, between new information and already available in experience.
• Creation of abstract concepts and signs, identification of patterns of external processes and phenomena. Use of sign function for communication (speech).
• Formation of a strategy of behavior and its motives.
• Goal-setting, creation of promising tasks.
• The prognostic function is the ability to foresee the results of activities and plan one's behavior.

The totality of these functions of cognitive processes is commonly called cognitive or mental abilities. The more efficiently these processes perform their functions, the higher .

Structure of cognitive processes

The cognitive sphere has a branched structure, which is associated with the complexity of the process of knowing the world, which consists of several stages:

• getting information and primary processing data;
• analysis, comparison, generalization and synthesis;
• memorization and storage of information;
• creation of new knowledge in the form of images and concepts;
• complex operations with information at the highest level of consciousness and the formation of a cognition strategy.

Human cognition has its own hierarchy in which higher and lower levels of cognitive processes can be distinguished. The sensory-perceptual sphere belongs to the higher ones, and thinking, imagination and sign function, that is, speech, to the higher ones. Along with this, there are two more cognitive processes that perform a service function and do not have their own content. This is attention and memory.

Sensory-perceptual sphere

This is the sphere of elementary cognitive processes, these include sensation and. On the one hand, they are the most ancient of all cognitive functions, on the other hand, they are the basis for cognition of the world, since they provide any information to the brain.

Feel

The various effects that the world has on a person are called signals, respectively, the sense organs responsible for receiving these signals are receivers-receptors. Feelings are also called sensory processes(sensor - from English. sensor, sensitive element). In sensations, we reflect individual properties, qualities of objects, for example, color, sound, temperature, the nature of the surface, taste, etc. sense organ. The contact ceased and the sensation disappeared.

We are accustomed to think that there are five senses in accordance with the five main sensory channels through which information from the outside world enters the brain. These are hearing, sight, smell, touch ( tactile sensations) and taste. Well, sometimes we can speculate about some mysterious sixth sense. In fact, there are significantly more than five types of sensations. In psychology, they are divided into three groups.

• The exteroceptive ones are just the five types of sensations that we all know. They arise from exposure to external stimuli and are associated with the work of receptors located on the surface of the body.
• Interaceptive or organic is the result of processing signals from our internal organs, for example, sensations of hunger, thirst, heartbeat, pain.
• Proceptive sensations are associated with the work of receptors located in the muscles and ligaments. They carry information about body position, movement (kinesthetic sensations), muscle tension, etc.

Along with these three groups, for example, vibrational sensations are sometimes considered separately - a very ancient type of mental phenomena, a kind of atavism. In the process of evolution, skin sensitivity and hearing developed from vibrational sensations.

Despite the importance of sensations, we almost never deal with them in their pure form, or rather, we are rarely aware of them. For us, cognition begins with the appearance in the brain of a holistic image of a phenomenon. And another process is responsible for this - perception.

Perception

This cognitive process is also called perception and, accordingly, the processes associated with it are perceptual. Unlike sensations, perception is a reflection of the world in holistic images, although it is of a momentary nature. That is, we perceive, for example, a tree, only while we see it. As soon as you turn away, the image of perception disappears. But what remains? What is kept in memory.

As well as sensation, perception is associated with the main sensory channels, so it is customary to talk about auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile and gustatory images. However, only the first two species have been more or less studied. And the rest in psychology have been studied less.

In addition to these five types of perception, there are several more:

• perception of time;
• motion perception;
• perception of space.

True, the latter is related to visual images, but it has its own specifics and is somewhat different in nature than the formation of other visual images.

Perception is a more complex cognitive process than sensation. It is based on the analytical and synthetic activity of the brain, involves the activity of its various departments and has several stages or stages:

• exposure detection;
• discrimination is perception proper;
• identification - comparison with the images available in memory;
• recognition is the creation of a holistic image.

Perception is associated with activity and the general mental state of a person. This connection is called apperception. In a different emotional state, we perceive the same objects in different ways - this is familiar to all of us. And the richer the sensory experience of a person, the more images are stored in his memory, the richer and more diverse his perception. He sees the nuances of shades of clouds at sunset, notices the singing of birds even among the noise of the city, feels the coolness of the breeze and the aromas of a flowering meadow, in which he can distinguish the smells of different flowers.

The highest level of cognitive processes

Cognition does not end with the formation of images of perception. Even stored in memory, they are only the building blocks for the highest level of cognitive processes, which include thinking, imagination, and speech activity.

Thinking

The thought process is also a reflection of reality. But unlike direct reflection in sensations and perception, thinking is mediated by generalized images and concepts. They are the tools with which a person processes and transforms the information received by the brain. The result of thinking is the acquisition of new knowledge, which was not in sensory experience. Thinking is a complex activity, it is organized and controlled consciously. In psychology and logic (the science of thinking) there are several operations of mental activity:

• analysis - understanding the data obtained, highlighting their individual significant elements, properties, qualities;
• comparison of individual details of various objects, phenomena, etc.;
• generalization - the creation of generalized images or concepts based on the selection of essential, significant features;
• synthesis - combining individual transformed information elements into new combinations and obtaining theoretical knowledge.

Three main types of thinking reflect different aspects and levels of this cognitive process:

• Visual-effective thinking is an elementary level at which mental operations are performed in the process of objective activity.
• Visual-figurative thinking operates with both concrete and abstract images.
• Abstract-logical (conceptual) is the highest level of thinking, the main tools of which are concepts, signs and symbols.

These types of thinking were formed gradually in the process of the formation of man as a species, and in a child they also develop gradually. But in the cognitive activity of an adult, all three are present, being activated depending on the situation. In addition, it should be noted that although imaginative thinking is not considered the highest level, but creativity - the pinnacle of the process of cognition - relies precisely on the images that are born in our minds.

Imagination and creativity

Imagination is responsible for the birth of new images. It's exclusive human form knowledge. If the rudiments of elementary thinking are in higher animals, then imagination is inherent only in us.

Imagination is a complex mental process during which comparison, analysis and combination of elements of previous experience take place, and on the basis of such combinatorial activity, unique images that are absent in reality are born. Even if we imagine something we have repeatedly seen, the picture in our brain will still be different from the original.

The level of originality and novelty of images of the imagination is, of course, different, so it is customary to distinguish between two types of imagination.

• Reproductive is responsible for recreating the elements of reality according to a given pattern. For example, we can represent an animal from a description or an architectural structure from a drawing. How much the representation will correspond to reality depends on the strength of our imagination and the knowledge available in memory.
• Creative imagination is the creation of original images, ideas, projects.

Imagination underlies the highest cognitive process - creativity. It is defined as the creation of something new. Unlike other cognitive processes, creativity takes place not only at the level of consciousness, but also in the sphere of practical activity. We can say that imagination becomes creativity when its images are embodied in reality - books and paintings are written, projects and unique works of art are created, inventions are made, buildings are built, etc.

It is creativity that brings to life the results of the cognitive process, and this is the basis for the development of human civilization.

Speech

We are accustomed to consider speech as a means of communication and do not think about its role in cognitive processes. And this role is quite big. Speech in cognition acts as a sign function of consciousness. The highest form of thinking - logical - proceeds in speech form, its tools are words-concepts and other abstract signs.

Speech performs the function of organizing and stimulating thinking, so if a deaf-mute person is not taught a special language, then his mental abilities will remain at the level of a 3-4-year-old child.

Speech is involved even in the process of perception. In order to comprehend, to “accept” the perceived object in our mind, we must name it, designate it. And in order to understand a complex problem and find its solution, you need to “speak” this problem, express the incomprehensible through words-signs. Such is the power of the word over our mind.

Attention and memory

The process of cognition can be represented as a ladder, the ascent of which begins with sensations, then proceeds to perception, thinking, imagination and ends at the top, which is creativity. But two cognitive processes stand apart. This is attention and memory. They play an auxiliary role and exist only in connection with other processes of cognition. But on the other hand, no reasonable human activity is possible without them.

Attention

This is the concentration of consciousness on external objects and phenomena or on internal processes. In order to perceive something, we must focus on it, and objects that do not fall into the sphere of attention are simply not noticed by us, that is, they are not included in the process of cognition.

There are two main types of attention: voluntary and involuntary.

• Involuntary attention arises by itself, under the influence of specific stimuli. Such concentration, regardless of our desire, is caused by some strong, bright, unusual objects and phenomena, or those that matter to us, are related to our interests and needs.
• Voluntary attention is a conscious activity aimed at maintaining concentration on objects that do not arouse interest. The significance of these objects is due to the goals and objectives of the activity, and not their brightness and unusualness. For example, to focus on a complex text of a textbook, you need to make an effort. Voluntary attention is often difficult, so it is necessary to develop the skills of conscious concentration.

In psychology, attention is considered both as a dynamic side of cognition and as its guide. It is this process that determines the selectivity of our consciousness, not only in terms of cognition, but also in mental activity in general. Attention is also associated with increased activity of various centers of the brain and makes any of our activities, including cognitive, effective and productive. And the loss of the ability to concentrate and concentrate, the involuntary loss of attention is a serious mental illness.

Memory

You already know that the images that arise in the process of perception are unstable. In order for them to be preserved and become part of the experience and material for our thinking, the work of memory is necessary. Just like attention, it is not an independent mental process. There is no memory in its pure form, outside, for example, the processes of perception, which supplies information, or thinking, which works with what is stored in memory.

All our experience, including professional and sensual-emotional, is a merit of memory. But it also performs other important functions, not only shaping experience, but also establishing a connection between the present and the past. And having lost memory, a person, along with memories and accumulated experience, loses his own.

There are 4 interconnected processes in memory:

• memorization;
• saving information;
• its reproduction;
• forgetting.

The latter process is also important not only in the field of cognition, but also for maintaining the emotional balance of a person.

Memorization and storage of data is closely connected not only with all cognitive processes, but also with the field of activity. In order for knowledge to be remembered more easily and retained longer, it must be included in activities: repetition, comprehension, analysis, structuring, use in practice, etc.

Memory is associative in nature, that is, effective memorization occurs through the establishment of a connection (association) with the information we already have. A very interesting and important conclusion follows from this: the more we know, the easier it is to remember new things.

Thus, cognitive processes are a complex system of mental phenomena that ensure the full existence of a person and his relationship with the outside world.

The purpose of the lecture: to consider the integrity of the process of cognition as building an image of the world, to form ideas about the main cognitive processes, their distinctive features, to pay attention to the complexity and diversity of approaches to their study, to show the possibilities for the development of cognitive abilities.

Lecture plan

1. The concept and types of cognitive processes.

2. Feelings.

3. Perception.

4. Attention.

5. Memory.

5.1. Types of memory.

5.2. Patterns of memory processes.

6. Thinking.

6.1. General ideas about thinking.

6.2. Forms of thinking and mental operations.

6.3. Types and individual features of thinking.

7. Imagination.

The concept and types of cognitive processes

Any act of human interaction with the world is based on the idea of ​​its environment. Sensual and abstract cognition ensures the regulation of various types of human activity.

Cognitive processes - mental processes by which images are formed environment and the organism itself. The whole psyche takes part in the formation of the image (based on individual sensations, it builds a complete image and places it outside itself).

Based on the specifics of the contribution to the construction of the image in psychology, the conditional allocation of the following cognitive processes is accepted:

Feel give primary information, reflecting certain aspects of objects and phenomena;

perception integrates sensations, contributes to the construction of a holistic primary image of an object or phenomenon;

Attention provides selectivity of reflection, memorization and processing of information;

memory saves and reproduces information; memory processes are involved in perception, imagination, thinking;

imagination contributes to the creation of images of objects and phenomena that are not actually represented;

thinking produces information that is not given in direct perception, provides forecasting of the future and the decision-making process, is present in the processes of memory, imagination, perception;

speech- “denoting a reflection of being”, a form of existence of thinking.

Cognitive processes are influenced by the emotional state of a person. All mental processes, including cognitive ones, take place in the personality and depend on it:

from the individual characteristics of a person;

from the general development of the personality;

from the interests, goals of a person (cognitive processes turn into actions consciously regulated by a person).

Feel

Sensation is the simplest mental process, consisting in the reflection of individual properties of objects and phenomena with the direct impact of stimuli on the corresponding receptors..

Feelings can be conscious or unconscious. Until the intensity of the stimulus reaches the absolute lower (physiological) threshold, the sensation of excitation of the receptor does not occur. If the intensity of the stimulus is above the physiological threshold, but below the perception threshold, the receptor responds to the signal, information enters the nervous system, but is not recognized. The physiological threshold is determined genetically, depends on physiological factors. The threshold of perception depends on the experience and condition of the person and is less stable than physiological.

Properties of sensations: quality, intensity, duration, spatial localization of stimuli.

Types of sensations.

1. Visual are generated by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths of 380 (violet) - 780 (red) nm. Characterized by hue, saturation, lightness.

2. Auditory - a reaction to mechanical influences, the periodic appearance of areas of high and low pressure. They are characterized by height, timbre, loudness (20 - 20,000 hertz in frequency; 16 - 120 decibels in volume).

3. Smell - a type of sensitivity that gives rise to the sensation of smell - the most ancient, simple and vital sense. The lower the living being on the evolutionary ladder, the larger the olfactory part of the brain.

4. Taste - have 4 modalities: sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

5. Touch - skin sensitivity - the result of a complex combination of sensations of pressure, pain, heat and cold.

6. Others (static and kinesthetic: sensations of balance, vibration, etc.).

Feelings are classified:

according to the nature of contact with the irritant: distant(auditory, visual, olfactory) and contact(skin, taste);

according to the location of the receptor: interoceptive(signaling about the internal state of the body), proprioceptive(signaling the position of various parts of the body, their movement) and exteroceptive(signaling the characteristics of the outside world).

Feeling related effects.

1. Adaptation - change in the sensitivity of the sense organs under the influence of the action of the stimulus. It can occur as a complete disappearance or dullness of sensation during prolonged action of the stimulus or an increase in sensitivity under the influence of the action of a weak stimulus (for example, a change in the width of the pupil during the transition from darkness to light).

2. Interaction of sensations- a change in the sensitivity of the analyzer under the influence of irritation of other sense organs (for example, weak sound and pleasant olfactory stimuli increase the sensitivity of the visual analyzer).

3. Sensitization- increased sensitivity as a result of the interaction of analyzers and exercises. Sensitization leads to: a) the need to compensate for sensory defects (development of smell and touch in deaf-blind people); b) permanent specific activity.

4. Synesthesia- the emergence under the influence of irritation of one analyzer of a sensation characteristic of another (for example, color hearing).

Chapter 3. Psychology of cognitive processes

1. Sensations and perceptions

Consider the structure of cognitive processes by which a person receives and comprehends information, displays the objective world, transforming it into his subjective image.

When describing the process of constructing an image of a perceived object, a distinction is made between the stimulus and activity paradigm (S.D. Smirnov).

So, between these two thresholds there is a zone of sensitivity in which the excitation of receptors entails the transmission of a message, but it does not reach consciousness. These signals enter the brain and are processed by the lower centers of the brain (subconscious, subliminal Perception), not reaching the cerebral cortex and not being realized by a person, but this information accumulated can influence a person's behavior. The same effect of subconscious perception is possible if the exposure time or the interval between signals was less than 0.1 sec, and the signals did not have time to be processed at the level of consciousness.

Intentional and unintentional perception

Depending on the purposeful nature of the personality's activity, perception is divided into intentional (voluntary) and unintentional (involuntary).

Unintentional (involuntary) Perception is caused both by the features of the objects of the environment (their brightness, proximity, unusualness), and by their correspondence to the interests of the individual. In unintentional perception, there is no predetermined goal of activity. There is also no volitional activity in it.

AT intentional perception a person sets the goal of activity, making certain volitional efforts for the better realization of the intention that has arisen, arbitrarily chooses objects of perception.

In the process of human cognition of the surrounding reality, Perception can turn into observation. Observation is the most developed form of intentional perception. Observation is understood as a purposeful, systematically carried out Perception of objects, in the knowledge of which a person is interested.

Observation is characterized by great activity of the individual. A person does not perceive everything that caught his eye, but singles out the most important or interesting to him.

By differentiating the objects of perception, the observer organizes Perception in such a way that the objects of perception do not slip out of the field of his activity.

The systematic nature of purposeful perception makes it possible to trace the phenomenon in development, to note its qualitative, quantitative, and periodic changes. Thanks to the inclusion of active thinking in the course of observation, the main thing is separated from the secondary, the important from the accidental. Thinking helps to clearly differentiate objects of perception. Observation ensures the connection of perception with thinking and speech. In observation Perception, thinking and speech are combined into a single process of mental activity.

The act of observation reveals the extreme stability of a person's voluntary attention. Thanks to this, the observer can observe for a long time and, if necessary, repeat it several times. If a person systematically exercises in observation, improves the culture of observation, then he develops such a personality trait as observation.

Observation is the ability to notice the characteristic, but subtle features of objects and phenomena. It is acquired in the process of systematically doing what you love and therefore is associated with the development of the professional interests of the individual.

The relationship of observation and observation reflects the relationship between mental processes and personality traits. Observation, which has become a property of the individual, rebuilds both the structure and the content of all mental processes.

Perceptual disturbance

With a sharp physical or emotional overwork, sometimes there is an increase in susceptibility to ordinary external stimuli. Daylight suddenly blinds, the color of surrounding objects becomes unusually bright. The sounds are deafening, the slamming of the door sounds like a gunshot, the clatter of dishes becomes unbearable. Odors are perceived acutely, causing severe irritation. Tissues touching the body appear rough. Visions can be mobile or fixed, of unchanging content (stable hallucinations) and constantly changing in the form of a variety of events that play out as on stage or in a movie (scene-like hallucinations). There are single images (single hallucinations), parts of objects, bodies (one eye, half of the face, ear), crowds of people, flocks of animals, insects, fantastic creatures. The content of visual hallucinations has a very strong emotional impact: it can frighten, cause horror, or, on the contrary, interest, admiration, even admiration. It is impossible to convince a hallucinating person that the hallucinatory image does not exist: “How can you not see, because here is a dog, red hair, here it is, here it is ...”. It is assumed that hallucinations occur in the presence of a hypnotic paradoxical phase of the brain, in the presence of an inhibitory state in the cerebral cortex.

Allocate pseudohallucinations- when images are projected not into external space, but into internal space: "voices sound inside the head", visions are perceived by the "mental eye". pseudo-hallucinations can be in any sensory sphere: tactile, gustatory, visual, kinesthetic, sound, but in any case they are not identified with real objects, although they are clear images, in the smallest detail, persistent and continuous. pseudohallucinations arise spontaneously, regardless of the will of the person and cannot be arbitrarily changed or expelled from consciousness, they are in the nature of "imposition".

The combination of pseudo-hallucinations with a symptom of alienation, "made" ("made by someone") is called Kandinsky's syndrome: a person has a feeling of influence from the outside. There are 3 components of this syndrome:

1. ideatory - “made, violent thoughts”, arises unpleasant feeling"internal openness";
2. sensory - “made-up sensations” (“pictures are forcibly shown ...”);
3. motor - “made movements” (“someone acts with arms, legs, body, makes you walk strangely, do something ...”).

Illusions, that is, erroneous perceptions of real things or phenomena, should be distinguished from hallucinations. The obligatory presence of a genuine object, although perceived erroneously, is the main feature of illusions, usually divided into effective, verbal (verbal) and pareidolic.

Unlike cognitive processes (perception, memory, thinking, etc.), attention does not have its own special content; it manifests itself, as it were, within these processes and is inseparable from them. attention characterizes the dynamics of mental processes.

Physiologically, this is explained by the fact that under the influence of long-acting Excitation of the same stimulus, according to the law of negative induction, causes inhibition in the same area of ​​the cortex, which leads to a decrease in the stability of attention.

However, the lack of stimuli and information is an unfavorable factor. Studies have shown that when a person is isolated from stimuli coming from the environment and from own organism(sensory deprivation, when a person is placed in a soundproof chamber, put on lightproof glasses, placed in a warm bath to reduce skin sensitivity), then a normal physically healthy person quite quickly begins to experience difficulties in controlling his thoughts, he loses orientation in space, in the structure of his own body He starts hallucinating and having nightmares. When examining people after such isolation, they observed disturbances in the perception of color, shape, size, space, time, and sometimes the constancy of perception was lost.

All this indicates that a certain influx of signals from the external environment is necessary for normal perception. At the same time, an excessive influx of signals leads to a decrease in the accuracy of perception and human response to errors. These restrictions on the possibility of simultaneous perception of several independent signals, information about which comes from external and internal environment, are associated with the main characteristic of attention - its fixed volume. An important feature of the amount of attention is that it is difficult to regulate during training and training. But still, you can develop attention with the help of psychological exercises, for example:

1. "Games of the Indians" for the development of attention span: two or more competitors are shown many objects at once for a short time, after which each separately tells the judge what he saw, trying to list and describe in detail as many objects as possible. So, one magician achieved that, quickly passing by the shop window, he could notice and describe up to 40 objects.
2. "Typewriter"- This classic theatrical exercise develops concentration skills. Each person is given 1-2 letters from the alphabet, the teacher says the word and the participants have to “tap” it on their typewriter. They call the word and clap, then the person with whose letter the word begins clap, then the teacher's clap - the second letter, the student's clap, etc.
3. "Who quickly?" People are encouraged to cross out a common letter in a column of any text as quickly and accurately as possible, such as "o" or "e". The success of the test is evaluated by the time of its execution and the number of errors made - missing letters: the smaller the value of these indicators, the higher the success. At the same time, success must be encouraged and interest stimulated.
   To train the switching and distribution of attention, the task should be changed: it is proposed to strike out one letter with a vertical line, and the other with a horizontal one, or, on a signal, alternate the strikethrough of one letter with the strikethrough of another. Over time, the task can become more difficult. For example, cross out one letter, underline another, and circle the third.
   The purpose of such training is the development of habitual actions brought to automaticity, subordinated to a specific, clearly perceived goal. The time of tasks varies depending on age (younger schoolchildren - up to 15 minutes, teenagers - up to 30 minutes).
4. "Observation" Children are invited to describe in detail the school yard from memory, the way from home to school - something that they have seen hundreds of times. The younger students make such descriptions orally, and their classmates fill in the missing details. Teenagers can write down their descriptions and then compare them with each other and with reality. In this game, the connections between attention and visual memory are revealed.
5. "Proofreading" The facilitator writes several sentences on a piece of paper with skipping and rearranging letters in some words. The student is allowed to read this text only once, immediately correcting the mistakes with a colored pencil. Then he passes the sheet to the second student, who corrects the remaining errors with a pencil of a different color. It is possible to conduct competitions in pairs.
6. "Fingers" Participants sit comfortably in chairs or chairs, forming a circle. Interlace the fingers of the hands on the knees, leaving thumbs free. On the command “Start,” slowly rotate the thumbs around each other at a constant speed and in the same direction, making sure that they do not touch each other. Focus on this movement. At the command "Stop" stop the exercise. Duration 5-15 minutes. Some participants experience unusual sensations: enlargement or alienation of the fingers, an apparent change in the direction of their movement. Someone will feel intense irritation or anxiety. These difficulties are connected with the singularity of the object of concentration.

Target: To acquaint students with the concept of "cognitive processes". To study the types, structure, mechanisms of the following cognitive processes: sensations, perceptions, memory, attention, thinking and imagination. To acquaint with the methods of development of mental processes. Organize an independent study of the issue "Pathology of cognitive processes."

Plan:

1. Feelings.

2. Perception.

3. Memory.

4. Attention.

5. Thinking.

6. Imagination.

Today we are starting to study an important section of psychology: “Cognitive processes”. The study will take 4 hours.

We all have the ability to perceive beauty, smell flowers, analyze events and our actions, forget the bad and remember the good, and much more.

Why do we have this opportunity? This possibility is provided to us by cognitive processes.

What are cognitive processes? We give a definition.

1. Cognitive processes- these are mental phenomena that provide, directly in their totality, knowledge, i.e. perception of information, its processing, storage and use. These include: sensations, perceptions, ideas, attention and memory, imagination and thinking.

The most important function of all cognitive processes is to report various kinds of information about the surrounding reality and about ourselves in order to plan further actions. Our task is to understand and understand the content and features of various cognitive processes.

Feelings are the foundation of all cognitive processes. The world around us is wide and varied; complicated and confusing. To learn how to navigate and live in this world, you need to start somewhere. This function of orientation in the simplest, elementary properties of the surrounding life is performed by sensations.

The properties and signs of surrounding objects and phenomena - colors, smells, taste, heat, sounds - a person learns through sensations. If we didn't have sensations, we wouldn't be able to get a picture of the world!

What are sensations?

Feel- this is the simplest mental process, reflecting the individual properties of objects and phenomena with the direct impact of stimuli on the senses. All living beings that have a nervous system have sensations. But only those who have a brain, and most importantly a cerebral cortex, are aware of their sensations.

Human sense organs from birth are adapted to perceive and process various influences - irritants.

Yes, man has vision. The retina of the eye captures colors, their brightness, contrast, movement and size of objects. On a clear dark night, a person is able to see the flame of a candle located at a distance of 27 km.

In order for a sensation to arise, the impact of a stimulus of a certain strength is necessary.

How many grains of sugar, for example, do you need to put in a glass of water to make you feel sweet? That's right, everyone will have their own answer.

The minimum amount of stimulus that causes a barely perceptible sensation is called lower absolute threshold sensitivity. - Everyone, as we found out, has his own threshold.

upper threshold sensitivity is the maximum value of the stimulus at which the sensation still retains its qualitative characteristics.

What is the relationship between threshold value and sensitivity? Remember our sugar example: who will be more sensitive? The lower the threshold value, the higher the sensitivity.

What is the mechanism of sensation?

Feeling arises when some object or phenomenon affects its specific property - taste, smell, color, temperature, etc. - to the receptor. In the receptor, special sensitive cells. This is how irritation– physical process. Under the influence of irritation, a physiological process occurs - excitation. Through afferent nerves, excitation is transmitted to the corresponding part of the cerebral cortex, where it turns into a mental process. - feeling, and a person feels one or another property of an object or phenomenon.

Already in ancient greece knew the five organ senses and their corresponding sensations.

Which? Visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory.

At present, tactile (sensations of touch, pressure, roughness, hardness), pain, temperature, vestibular (balance and acceleration), vibration and others are known.

According to the location of the receptors, sensations are divided into three groups:

1. exteroceptive- sensations located on the surface of the body. They reflect information about the properties of objects from the outside world (visual, auditory, tactile).

2. proprioceptive- sensations located in the muscles and ligaments. They transmit information about body position and movement (kinesthetic, vestibular).

3. Interoreceptive- sensations located in the internal organs. They reflect information about the state of internal organs (pain, burning, nausea).

So, we said that each of us has his own threshold of sensitivity. Do you think it is possible to change the sensitivity threshold? How?

What color is this notebook? But an employee of a paint and varnish company will be surprised at such an answer and name up to 100 (!) Shades of black. He sees, but we don't.

Why? Because in the course of activity (read exercises) the threshold of sensation has sharply decreased. And the lower the threshold of sensation, the higher the sensitivity. This phenomenon is called sensitization– changes in the threshold of sensitivity. In medical practice, we find the following examples of sensitization. So, in case of organic loss of any analyzer ( deprivation), for example, with blindness or deafness, the sensitivity of other analyzers increases sharply. True, this is due to the processes compensation organism.

What do you think, and if blindness developed with age, it came after 70 years. Will the sensitivity of other organs change in this case? Why?

In a practical lesson, we will conduct an experiment that will help us understand the role of sensations in the process of cognition.

Can a health worker use his feelings in professional activities?

The health worker needs to distinguish color skin the patient, listen to the sound of breathing, heart work, intestinal motility; by touch to determine the shape, size, density of various organs of the body. You should know what olfactory and gustatory sensations can occur in a patient, especially in a child, when taking certain drugs. Changes occurring in the human body are not always accessible to external observation. Pain can signal internal trouble. It is the sensation of pain that always indicates a serious violation in the work of the human body.

Thus, a health worker not only can, but must improve his sensitivity in every possible way in order to put it at the service of his professional activity.

2. - Sensation is the process that gives knowledge about the elementary simple properties of the environment: about sounds in general, about smells in general, about colors in general, etc. But let me say, you say, I do not see a color in general, I see a colored thing. I hear not just sound - I hear speech, music, noise, finally. It's exactly like that. Although the process of sensation provides us with the opportunity to sensually reflect individual properties of reality, in life we ​​perceive not individual properties, but real things. Perception is such a human ability that allows you to get a holistic view of things.

Take any item. Give me your notebook, please. Look. You see something. However, you see how a holistic thing. A thing that has a certain shape, color, size. In life we ​​reflect things in the integrity of their properties. So.

Perception- this is a complex mental process of reflecting a holistic image of objects and phenomena with all their properties and qualities with the direct impact of the stimulus on the senses.

The process of perception includes memory, thinking, early acquired experience and knowledge. Perception is always an active and even creative process.

Why do you think visiting the same exhibition will evoke completely different stories about it? Perception works selectively. Depending on the interests, the significance of certain events and objects for a particular individual.

has a great influence on the process of perception. emotional condition . If a person is in a state of depression, he is pessimistic, anticipates some kind of trouble, while he is inclined to see even joyful events in black. And vice versa. If a person feels good and pleasant, then he tends to perceive the surrounding world and people as?

Such quality of perception, as speed, accuracy and completeness, largely depend on the knowledge and experience of a person. Therefore, an experienced health worker and a beginner may see different manifestations of the disease. Now you understand why it is so important to know the theory well. Someone from the wise said: "Theory without practice is empty, and practice without theory is criminal."

Perception carried out for a specific purpose is called observation. For a health worker, observation is a professionally important quality that needs to be constantly developed in oneself.

Remember which of the literary heroes had exceptional powers of observation?

An interesting fact: the prototype of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle (who at one time worked as a doctor for several years) was Joseph Bell, a surgeon at the Edinburgh Hospital. The author at that time studied at the University of Edinburgh. Everyone who knew Bell noted one feature in the character of the professor - his exceptional powers of observation.

Observation of the medical staff will help to see changes in the patient's painful manifestations: complexion, features of facial expressions, gait and other signs, which is important for diagnosis.

For example, for a therapist, auditory sensitivity is especially important - for listening to heart sounds, breathing patterns. For a dermatologist and an infectious disease specialist, the sensitivity of the visual analyzer is important - to determine the nature of the rash.

For a surgeon who manipulates by touch, tactile sensitivity is important.

Unfortunately, there is a serious disease in which people cannot classify a thing otherwise than as something. So, for example, pointing to a nurse, we ask the patient a question:

Who is it?

What does it look like?

Long. (An outstanding domestic psychologist V.V. Davydov cited such an example in his lecture)

As you can see, there is a violation of the processes of perception. A person cannot give any objective characteristics, he sees only separate aspects of an object and cannot synthesize them into a real thing.

3. Let's move on to the issue of memory. Memory is the basis of any mental phenomenon. The personality, its attitudes, skills, habits, hopes and desires exist thanks to memory. Violations of memory processes entail the disintegration of personality. It is no coincidence that in ancient Greek mythology the mother of all the muses is the goddess Mnemosyne. According to legend, if a person is deprived of the gift of Mnemosyne, then all the wisdom and beauty of the world become inaccessible to him, the past and the future disappear.... They say that somewhere in Greece, near one of the caves, there are two sources: Leta - oblivion and Mnemosyne - memory. If you get to that cave and take three sips from the source of Mnemosyne, the memory will return, and the person will gain the ability to create.

Memory- this is a form of mental reflection of past experience, which consists in remembering, preserving, then reproducing and forgetting what was perceived, experienced, or done.

Memory connects the subject's past with his present and future. Memory is the most important cognitive process underlying development and learning. Not by chance. I.M. Sechenov considered memory " cornerstone mental development". Therefore, the future health worker should develop and train his memory in every possible way for effective implementation your professional activities.

Memory is involved in all the diversity of human life and manifests itself in a variety of ways. different forms Oh.

By retention time material distinguish short-term, long-term, working memory.

short term memory involves saving information from a few seconds to 1-2 days.

long term memory has practically unlimited volume and storage time (well-learned verses or the multiplication table are stored in memory throughout life).

RAM includes elements of both short-term and long-term memory and manifests itself in the process of a specific activity, to solve a specific problem. To store information in working memory, a person must systematically repeat it.

This means that in order to use the knowledge you have gained in your professional activities, you must constantly return to the previously studied.

According to the goals of the activity allocate arbitrary and involuntary memory.

Who among you did not pay attention to the fact that sometimes information is remembered as if by itself. We do not want to remember, for example, advertising of certain goods. However, any of you, for sure, will remember now, more than one such advertisement. And for sure, the thought occurred to you: “I wish I could remember like this educational material!" This type of memory is called involuntary. What is involuntary memory?

Involuntary memorization- this is memorization, which is carried out without special efforts, without the desire to memorize.

How does it happen? Why do we remember, even though we don’t put any effort into it? This is facilitated by the presence of interest, curiosity, joy, i.e. having a strong feeling. The advantage of such memorization is a large volume and high strength.

The question arises: “Why, then, can we not use such memory when memorizing, for example, educational information?”

Not all knowledge is carried out in the presence of this or that feeling - this is firstly. And secondly, this type of memory is characterized by incompleteness, inaccuracy. And sometimes a distortion of reality.

Arbitrary memorization characterized by the presence of a motive (it is necessary!), has a purposeful character and is accompanied by arbitrary attention. It is this kind of memory that underlies learning.

Each of you has a motive - wants to become a great health worker. To do this, you need to know anatomy, pharmacology, psychology, etc. this is our goal. To achieve it, you need to make some strong-willed efforts.

By way of remembering distinguish between mechanical and semantic memory. mechanical memory a person successfully uses when remembering dates, phone numbers, addresses and other information that does not require understanding. If we are talking about the phone, then what is there to understand? And he also uses it when the material is incomprehensible or there is no desire to learn it (“cramming”).

Semantic (logical) memory consists in analyzing (understanding) what should be remembered. Such memory includes logical comprehension, systematization of the material, breaking it into parts, highlighting the main logical components of information, establishing links between parts, retelling in your own words.

What do you think is the best memory? What memory should be used in the learning process? It has been proven that the efficiency of semantic memory is 20 times higher than mechanical memory.

How to boost memory strength?

The strength of memory depends largely on repetition. When memorizing large amounts of information, one should divide it into parts and memorize it in parts, combining, then into a single whole. Strength also depends on the method of memorization, on goals and motives. What else affects our memory?

The following experiment was carried out. High school students were invited to an exhibition in an art gallery. After the tour, all participants were asked to remember all the paintings they saw at the exhibition. The results were as follows. Those schoolchildren who liked the tour remembered all 50 pictures. Those who didn't like it - 28. And those who didn't care could remember only 7 pictures. What do you think these results say? In which case was the best result?

Positive impact on learning efficiency emotional involvement, a person's interest in the material. So, if you want to remember well and for a long time, make the material interesting for yourself.

It must be remembered that when memorizing, the so-called edge effect: I remember the beginning and end better. And the information that was in the middle is remembered worse.

Depending on the predominant type of mental activity, the following types of memory are distinguished: figurative, emotional, motor and verbal-logical.

figurative memory- this is a type of memory, which is based on sensations, perceptions, ideas. A person with a figurative memory well remembers faces, sights, colors of objects, sounds, smells. Depending on which sense organ serves as the basis for memorization and reproduction, visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and gustatory memory are distinguished.

emotional is the memory of emotions. It has been proven that facts and situations that have a positive connotation are better remembered.

motor memory It's movement memory. It is included in the work when developing motor skills (walking, writing, dancing and sports movements).

Verbal-logical memory- this is a memory for verbal, abstract material. These are categories, concepts, judgments. This is the leading type of memory in humans.

What type of memory do you think is better?

According to psychologists, the more types of memory a person uses when memorizing, the more firmly the material is preserved and better reproduced. In addition, memory processes have big influence properties and personality traits. Our memory depends on the level of development of the emotional, volitional and intellectual spheres. By developing and improving these areas, we objectively contribute to the improvement of our memory. However, no matter what kind of memory a person has, he will not be able to remember anything. If you are not careful.

4. – Before we start talking about attention, I want to tell you a story about how the Maharaja chose the minister…

Attention- this is the orientation of the consciousness of a person's mental activity to certain objects with a simultaneous distraction from others. A person consciously or unconsciously focuses on certain objects and phenomena of the external world or his own feelings, distracting from everything else.

Attention cannot be considered an independent process, like perception or memory. Attention does not exist outside of these processes. You can't just be mindful, regardless of perception, memory or thinking. Attention is manifested in specific mental processes, creating optimal conditions for mental activity.

physiological basis attention is excitation concentration in certain areas of the cerebral cortex, while the rest of the cortex is in a state of inhibition.

Psychologists distinguish three types of attention: voluntary, involuntary and after arbitrary.

Arbitrary attention- this is attention associated with a consciously set goal, with an effort of will.

involuntary attention is attention, which is characterized by the fact that mental activity goes as if by itself, without volitional efforts, without the desire to be attentive.

Imagine that now the door suddenly opens and enters, for example, head teacher Tatyana Vasilievna. – What will happen? No matter how busy we are, we will definitely be distracted by this noise: the mechanism of involuntary attention is triggered. But then the man went out, closed the door behind him, and he had to go back to work. Sometimes it takes a lot of willpower to do that. In this case, voluntary attention works.

Post-voluntary attention- this is the attention that naturally accompanies human activity. Occurs when an activity generates interest. In this case, the tension caused by volitional effort disappears, and the person continues to work purposefully.

What draws our attention?

Attention is drawn to the novelty of impressions, the intensity of sounds and bright colors, everything unusual and unexpected. If we are bored, it is difficult for us to focus our attention, and interest increases the degree of its concentration. Attention may wander if we feel bad or are disturbed. The longer we do one thing, the less attentive we are. Therefore, it is important to switch your attention from time to time. The most important thing: each person pays attention, first of all, to what is connected with his professional interests.

Attention has a number properties.

1. Concentration is the degree of focus on an object. For example, if during the lesson you hear any rustle, turn around, do not understand the explanation, then you have not concentrated. Sometimes the degree of concentration is absolutely complete, and then the surrounding world disappears for a person. It happened in Germany in 1794...

2. attention span- this is the number of objects that can be grasped by attention at the same time. Average attention span - 5-9

3. Switching is the conscious transfer of attention from one object to another.

4. Distribution- this is the ability to keep several objects in the field of attention at the same time, to perform several types of activities. For example, Julius Caesar was able to simultaneously conduct a conversation, listen to reports and write a speech.

5. Sustainability is a prolonged focus on an object. Often the attention of a particular person turns into an important personality trait- attentiveness. For a health worker, this feature is a professionally important quality. The opposite of mindfulness is distraction. What can be said about such a person? There are many stories about the distraction of talented people, for example, scientists (A.P. Borodin, I. Newton). What do you think explains this disparity?

4. – There is such an expression: “If God wants to punish a person, he deprives him of his mind”... Mind, thinking, mind have always been considered the dignity of a person, and the absence of mind is a big misfortune. In many fairy tales, the main character has to solve 3 riddles in order to save his life or get the hand and heart of a beautiful princess. One of the most difficult is this: “What is the fastest in the world?”. And the smart hero replies: "The fastest thing is human thought."

What is a thought? Thinking? Is it necessary to specifically learn to think and is it possible to learn this?

The possession of reason, the ability to think is the most important difference between a person and other living beings. Thinking allows a person to adapt to the environment, set goals and achieve them, penetrate into the essence of things and phenomena, communicate with other people.

What is thinking?

Thinking- this is a mediated and generalized reflection by a person of reality in its essential connections and relationships. Thinking is seen as a process, and thought as the result of this process.

We perceive the world around us with the help of sensations and perceptions. We see an object, we try it by touch, by taste; we perceive color and form and thus we learn its properties, qualities, features. But in this way we can perceive only single facts of the surrounding world. In the process of thinking, a person goes beyond sensory knowledge, i.e. begins to cognize such phenomena of the external world, their properties and relations, which are not directly given in perception, and therefore not observable.

So, for example, the following facts are known: sand is free-flowing, a cube has six faces, and an apple has a spherical shape. However, the volume of the earth chemical composition glass (the main component of which is sand), structural features of a cube-shaped building, etc. - all this is not amenable to knowledge by direct perception. The process of thinking helps to know their nature.

Albert Einstein, when asked by his son what he is famous for, replied: “A blind beetle crawling along the surface of a ball believes that it moves along a plane, but I managed to see this curved surface.”

In thinking we are dealing with the reflection of the most general and essential properties, objects and phenomena. - Think about what unites us all, so different? We are all living, intelligent beings - people. Pronouncing the word "man", we immediately understand that we are talking about a living being with consciousness, able to speak, work, etc. This is the generalized idea of ​​who a person is.

Thinking is not only a process of generalized, but also mediated knowledge of reality. The mediation of our thinking lies in the fact that we reflect reality, relying on the knowledge and skills already known, accumulated by mankind, enshrined in the language. Mastering speech, language, we learn to think. And vice versa: "He who thinks clearly, he clearly states." Speech allows in one word, phrase to reflect a whole class of concepts, the meaning of certain phenomena. Thinking allows us to anticipate the course of events and the results of our own actions. So, for example, it is impossible to observe many disease processes occurring in the human body, however, by studying the symptoms of the disease, analyzing the cause-and-effect relationships, the doctor draws a conclusion about the origins of the disease and how to treat it.

Thinking activity proceeds in the form mental (mental) operations .

- Consider the basic mental operations .

Analysis is the mental division of the whole into parts. It is based on the desire to know the whole deeper by studying each of its parts.

Synthesis is a mental connection of parts into a single whole.

Comparison- this is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena, their properties or qualitative features.

Abstraction- this is a mental selection of the essential properties of objects and phenomena while simultaneously abstracting from the non-essential. To think abstractly means to be able to consider some property, a side of a cognizable object without connection with other features of the same object. (Example)

Generalization- a mental association of objects or phenomena not based on common and essential properties and features for them, the process of reducing less general concepts to more general ones. (Example)

Specification- this is a selection from a general, one or another specific feature or property. (Example)

Systematization (classification) is a mental distribution of objects and phenomena into groups depending on similarities and differences.

All thought processes do not occur in isolation, but in various combinations.

There are the following kinds thinking:

Visual Action Thinking- a type of thinking involving the solution of mental problems in terms of practical activity. (Examples)

Visual-figurative- a kind of thinking that does not require systematic practical manipulation of the object, but in all cases involves a clear perception and representation of this object. Such thinking operates with visual images - drawings, diagrams, plans.

Logical (abstract) thinking is a type of thinking that relies on concepts and reasoning, as well as logical actions with them to obtain conclusions and conclusions.

Main forms of abstract thinking are concepts, judgments and inferences.

concept is a form of thinking that reflects the most common features and properties of objects or phenomena of the objective world, expressed in words.

Judgment- this is a form of thinking that reflects the relationship between concepts, expressed in the form of an affirmation or negation. Usually a judgment consists of two concepts: the subject and the predicate. For example, "white robe". Any judgment can be true or false, i.e. correspond or not correspond to reality. For example: “Some students are excellent students”, “All buildings are architectural monuments”.

inference- this is a form of thinking, by means of which a new judgment is derived from two or more judgments - a conclusion. Inference, like new knowledge, we get by deriving from existing knowledge.

For example: "All fish breathe with gills"

"Perch is a fish" "Perch breathes with gills."

The following qualities of the mind are considered to be individual features of thinking: depth, criticality, flexibility, breadth of mind, speed, originality and inquisitiveness.

How do you understand each of these properties?

5. Imagination- this is a mental process of creating new images of objects and phenomena, by transforming existing ones. This is a leading reflection of reality in new, unexpected and unusual combinations and connections.

Like thinking, imagination is an analytical and synthetic activity that is carried out under the influence of a consciously set goal, or feelings and experiences that possess a person in this moment.

Most often, imagination occurs in problem situation when a quick solution is required. However, unlike thinking, anticipatory reflection (anticipating specific practical actions) in the imagination occurs in the form of vivid representations. Thanks to the imagination, even before starting work, we can imagine finished result labor.

Allocate two kinds imagination: active and passive.

active imagination characterized by the arbitrariness of occurrence, with the active participation of consciousness and will. A person sets a goal: to invent, present something in the form of an image, and, controlling the whole process, solves a certain problem (creativity of writers, artists).

Active imagination is recreating, in which the image of an object or phenomenon is created from words, according to a description; and creative.

creative imagination- this is imagination, in which completely new images are created, in general and in parts different from everything known.

passive imagination characterized by the involuntary appearance of images without the participation of consciousness and will (dreams, hallucinations, images that arise in delirium).

Imagination has a psychotherapeutic function. Through imagination, it is possible to have a positive impact on the mental state and behavior of a person. By arbitrarily invoking certain images in himself, a person can change his own physical and mental state. For example, imagining a hot summer, we may feel warm; imagining that we are in the cold, we will feel the cold. Often there are facts of suggestion of various diseases. So, medical students in the first years of study, find themselves in many different diseases. This is especially evident in impressionable persons with a rich imagination.

Finally, imagination allows a person to satisfy his needs to some extent. If, for example, someone offended a person, then, imagining what he would say to the offender, the person, to a certain extent, will satisfy the need to take revenge and this will calm him down.

There are cases when a doctor’s careless statement caused the patient to think that he was ill. dangerous disease. In this case, the corresponding symptoms may develop, and there will be a so-called. iatrogenic disease. Thus, in medical institutions, when communicating with a patient, a health worker must always clearly weigh and think over every word.

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1. Sensory-perceptual cognitive processes. Feeling and Perception

2. Integrative cognitive processes. Memory, representation, attention, imagination.

Mental processes, with the help of which images of the environment are formed, as well as images of the organism itself and its internal environment, are called cognitive mental processes.

Cognitive processes - sensation, perception, thinking, imagination and memory - form the information base, the orienting basis of the psyche. It is cognitive mental processes that provide a person with knowledge about the world around him and about himself.

Cognizing and transforming the world, a person reveals stable, regular connections between phenomena. Patterns, internal connections of phenomena are reflected in our minds indirectly - in external signs phenomena, a person recognizes signs of internal, stable relationships. Noticing the connections between phenomena, establishing the universal nature of these connections, a person masters the world, rationally organizes his interaction with it, he carries out mental activity - a generalized orientation in the world.

1. Sensory-perceptual cognitive processes. Feeling and perception.

FEELING

Sensation is a mental cognitive process of reflection in the human mind of individual properties, qualities of objects and phenomena that directly affect our senses.

Sense organ - anatomical and physiological apparatus located on the periphery of the body or in the internal organs; specialized for receiving exposure to certain stimuli from the external and internal environment.

Analyzer - complex neural mechanism, which produces a subtle analysis of the surrounding world, that is, highlights its individual elements and properties. Analyzers are external and internal. In external analyzers, receptors are brought to the surface of the body - the eye, ear, etc. Internal analyzers have receptors located in internal organs and tissues.

TYPES OF SENSATIONS

Visual sensations are sensations of light and color. Visual sensations arise as a result of the action of light rays (electromagnetic waves) on the retina, in which there are two types of cells - rods and cones, so named for their outer shape. In daylight, only the cones are active. In low light (at dusk), cones stop working and a person sees mostly gray (achromatic) colors.

A disease in which the work of the rods is disrupted and a person sees poorly or does not see anything at dusk and at night, and during the day his vision remains relatively normal, is called " night blindness”, since chickens and pigeons do not have sticks and at dusk they see almost nothing. The most common is red-green blindness, called color blindness (after the English scientist D. Dalton, who first described this phenomenon). Colorblind people cannot distinguish between red and green color, therefore, they cannot be drivers, pilots, firefighters, artists, etc.

Auditory sensations arise with the help of the organ of hearing. There are three types of auditory sensations: speech, music and noise. In these types of sensations, the sound analyzer distinguishes four qualities: the strength of the sound (loud - weak), the height (high - low), the timbre (the peculiarity of the voice or musical instrument), sound duration (sounding time), as well as the tempo-rhythmic features of successively perceived sounds.

Hearing for speech sounds is called phonemic. It is formed depending on the speech environment in which the child is brought up. Mastering a foreign language involves the development of a new system of phonemic hearing. The developed phonemic hearing of the child significantly affects the accuracy of written speech, especially in elementary school. Musical ear is brought up and formed, as well as speech ear.

Noises can cause a certain emotional mood in a person (the sound of rain, the rustle of leaves, the howling of the wind), sometimes they serve as a signal of approaching danger (the hissing of a snake, the menacing barking of a dog, the rumble of a moving train) or joy (the clatter of a child’s feet, the steps of an approaching loved one, the thunder of fireworks). ). In teaching practice, one often encounters negative influence noise: it tires the human nervous system.

Vibration sensations reflect vibrations of an elastic medium. A person receives such sensations, for example, when touching the lid of a sounding piano with his hand. Vibratory sensations usually do not play an important role for a person and are poorly developed. However, they reach very high level development in many deaf people, with which they partially replace the missing hearing.

Olfactory sensations. The ability to smell is called the sense of smell. The organs of smell are special sensitive cells that are located deep in the nasal cavity. Individual particles of substances enter the nose along with the air that we inhale. At modern man olfactory sensations play a relatively minor role. But deaf-blind people use their sense of smell, as sighted people use their sight with hearing: they identify familiar places by smells, recognize familiar people, etc.

Taste sensations arise with the help of the taste organs - taste buds located on the surface of the tongue, pharynx and palate. There are four basic taste sensations: sweet, bitter, sour, salty. Human taste sensations are highly dependent on the feeling of hunger and smell. With a severe cold, any, even the most beloved, dish seems tasteless. The tip of the tongue feels sweet best. The edges of the tongue are sensitive to sour, and its base to bitter.

Skin sensations - tactile (sensations of touch) and temperature (sensations of heat or cold). On the surface of the skin there are different types nerve endings, each of which gives a sensation or touch, or cold, or heat. Temperature sensations have a very pronounced emotional tone. So, average temperatures are accompanied by a positive feeling, character emotional coloring for heat and cold is different: cold is experienced as an invigorating feeling, warmth - as relaxing. The temperature of high indicators, both in the direction of cold and heat, causes negative emotional experiences.

Motor (or kinesthetic) sensations are sensations of movement and position of body parts. Thanks to the activity of the motor analyzer, a person gets the opportunity to coordinate and control his movements. Receptors for motor sensations are located in the muscles and tendons, as well as in the fingers, tongue and lips, since it is these organs that carry out precise and subtle working and speech movements.

Visceral (organic) sensations tell us about the work of our internal organs - the esophagus, stomach, intestines and many others, in the walls of which the corresponding receptors are located. While we are full and healthy, we do not notice any organic sensations. They appear only when a failure occurs in their work or a disease develops. Organic sensations are closely related to the organic needs of man.

Tactile sensations are combinations of skin and motor sensations when palpating objects, that is, when a moving hand touches them. The combination of skin and motor sensations arising from the palpation of objects, i.e. when touched by a moving hand, is called touch. The organ of touch is the hand.

The sense of balance reflects the position occupied by our body in space. When we first sit on a two-wheeled bicycle, stand on skates, roller skates, water skis, the most difficult thing is to keep our balance and not fall. The sense of balance is given to us by an organ located in the inner ear. It looks like a snail shell and is called a labyrinth. When the position of the body changes, a special fluid (lymph) oscillates in the labyrinth inner ear called the vestibular apparatus.

Pain sensations have a protective value: they signal to a person about the trouble that has arisen in his body. Complete insensitivity to pain is a rare anomaly, and it brings a person serious trouble. Pain sensations are of a different nature. First, there are “pain points” (special receptors) located on the surface of the skin and in the internal organs and muscles. Secondly, sensations of pain arise under the action of a superstrong stimulus on any analyzer.

Basic laws of sensations

For a sensation to arise, the irritation must reach a certain level. Too weak stimuli do not cause sensations. The minimum value of the stimulus that gives a noticeable sensation is called the absolute threshold of sensation.

Each kind of sensation has its own threshold. The value of the absolute threshold characterizes the absolute sensitivity of the sense organs, or their ability to respond to minimal impacts. The lower the value of the sensation threshold, the greater the absolute sensitivity to these stimuli.

Another important characteristic of the analyzer is its ability to distinguish between changes in the strength of the stimulus. That smallest increase in the strength of the acting stimulus, at which there is a barely noticeable difference in the strength or quality of sensations, is called the threshold of sensitivity to discrimination.

Adaptation - with prolonged exposure to various stimuli, the sensation gradually decreases. This phenomenon is based on complex processes that occur both in the receptor apparatus and in the central parts of the nervous system. The interaction of sensations. The work of one analyzer can influence the work of another, strengthening or weakening it. For example, weak musical sounds can increase the sensitivity of the visual analyzer, while sharp or strong sounds, on the contrary, impair vision. Rubbing the face with cool water, weak sweet and sour taste sensations can sharpen vision.

A defect in the operation of one analyzer is usually compensated by increased work and improvement of other analyzers when one of them is lost. The analyzers that remained intact compensate for the activity of the “retired” analyzers (in the deaf-deaf) with their more precise work.

The development of sensations. The development of sensations occurs in connection with practical, labor activity human and depends on the requirements that apply to the work of the senses. A high degree of perfection is achieved, for example, by the olfactory and gustatory sensations of tasters who determine the quality of tea, wine, perfumes, etc. The accuracy of determining sounds in height is affected, for example, by the instrument on which a person plays. A feature of the sensory organization of a person is that it develops in vivo. Sensitivity is a potential property of a person. Its implementation depends on the circumstances of life and the efforts that a person will make to develop them.

PERCEPTION

Sensations and perceptions are links in a single process of sensory cognition. They are inextricably linked, but they also have their own distinctive features. In contrast to sensation, during perception, a person cognizes not individual properties of objects and phenomena, but objects and phenomena of the surrounding world as a whole.

Perception is a reflection of objects and phenomena, integral situations of the objective world in the totality of their properties and parts with their direct impact on the senses.

special bodies there is no perception. The physiological basis of perception is the complex activity of the system of analyzers. Any object or phenomenon of reality acts as a complex, complex stimulus. Perception is the result of the analytical and synthetic activity of the cerebral cortex: individual excitations, sensations are connected with each other, forming a certain integral system.

Types of perception. Depending on which analyzer plays the predominant role in perception, there are visual, tactile, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory perceptions. Complex types of perception are combinations, a combination of different types of perception. Unlike sensations, images of perception usually arise as a result of the work of several analyzers. Complex types of perceptions include, for example, the perception of space and the perception of time.

Perceiving space, i.e. the remoteness of objects from us and from each other, their shape and size, a person is based on visual sensations, and on auditory, skin and motor sensations.

In the perception of time, in addition to auditory and visual sensations, motor and organic sensations play an important role. Under the perception of time is understood the process of reflecting the duration and sequence of events occurring in the objective world. Only very short time intervals lend themselves to direct perception. When we are talking about longer periods of time, it is more correct to speak not about perception, but about the representation of time. The perception of time is characterized by a high degree of subjectivity. Periods of time filled with positively emotionally colored actions and experiences of a person are perceived as shorter. Unfilled or filled with negatively colored emotional moments are perceived as longer. Time filled interesting work proceeds much faster than being engaged in monotonous or boring activities.

Basic properties of perception

selective perception. Of the huge number of diverse influences, we single out only a few with great clarity and awareness. What is in the center of a person's attention during perception is called the object (subject) of perception, and everything else is called the background. The subject and the background are dynamic, they can change places - what was the object of perception can become for some time the background of perception. Perception is always selective and depends on apperception.

Apperception is the dependence of perception on the general content mental life a person, his experience and knowledge, interests, feelings and a certain attitude to the subject of perception. Sometimes a person perceives not what is, but what he wants. Visual illusions are well known to artists, architects, and tailors. For example, vertical stripes on a dress visually “make” a woman taller. Try to hold your hand in a very cold water and then place it in a warm place. It will seem to you that your hand has got almost into boiling water. If you eat a piece of lemon or herring and drink it with tea with a little sugar, the first sip will seem very sweet.

Individual features of perception. People are different:

1) by the nature of receiving information. Allocate a holistic (synthetic) type of perception. This type is characterized by a focus on the essence, meaning, generalization, and not on details and particulars. Detailing (analytical) type of perception is focused on details, details.

2) by the nature of the reflection of the information received. There are descriptive and explanatory types of perception. The descriptive type is focused on the factual side of the information: it reflects what it sees and hears, as close as possible to the original data, but often without delving into their meaning. The explanatory type tries to find the general meaning of the information.

3) by the nature of the characteristics of the personality itself. Here, an objective type of perception is distinguished, when a person is focused on the accuracy of perception, impartiality. Subjective type, when perception is subject to a subjective attitude to what is perceived, its biased assessment, pre-existing preconceived thoughts about it. This is the most common everyday type of perception.

Observation is a perception closely related to the activity of thinking - comparison, distinction, analysis. Observation is a purposeful, systematic perception of objects and phenomena in the knowledge of which we are interested. To observe means not just to look, but to consider, not just to listen, but to listen, listen, not just sniff, but sniff.

Observation implies a clear presentation of the tasks of observation and the development of a plan for its implementation. Clarity of the purpose and tasks of observation activate an important characteristic of perception - selectivity. Perception, attention, thinking and speech are combined during observation into a single process of mental activity. Observation is a property of a person, the ability to observe and notice characteristic, but little noticeable features of objects, phenomena, people. It is closely connected with the development of a person's professional interests, as it is improved in the process of systematic pursuit of the chosen business.

Thus, the variety of sensations is a reflection of the multitude of existing, significant for a person properties of the environment of his habitat and his interaction with this environment. Sensations and perceptions are links in a single process of sensory cognition. Perception is a reflection of objects and phenomena, integral situations of the objective world in the totality of their properties and parts with their direct impact on the senses.

2. Integrative cognitive processes. Memory, representation, attention and imagination.

Memory is the process of remembering, preserving, reproducing and forgetting past experience, making it possible to reuse it in activity or return to the sphere of consciousness.

Memory is the main condition for the mental development of a person, it ensures the unity and integrity of the personality. The psychological basis of memory is consciousness. The physiological basis of memory is the formation, preservation and actualization (demand) of temporary nerve connections, through the flow of physico-chemical processes in the cortex and subcortex of the brain.

Types of memory can be divided into three groups:

1) what a person remembers (objects and phenomena, thoughts, movements,

the senses). Accordingly, motor, emotional, verbal-logical and figurative memory are distinguished;

2) how a person remembers (accidentally or intentionally). Here allocate

arbitrary and involuntary memory;

3) How long is the memorized. These are short-term, long-term and working memory.

Motor (motor) memory allows you to memorize skills, skills, various movements and actions. If this type of memory did not exist, then every time a person would have to re-learn how to walk, write, and perform various activities.

Emotional memory helps to remember the feelings, emotions, experiences that we experienced in certain situations. Emotional memory is of great importance in the formation of a person's personality, being essential condition his spiritual development.

Semantic, or verbal-logical memory is expressed in the memorization, preservation and reproduction of thoughts, concepts, reflections, verbal formulations. The form of thought reproduction depends on the level of human speech development. The less developed speech, the more difficult it is to express the meaning in your own words.

Image memory. This type of memory is associated with our sense organs, thanks to which a person perceives the world around him. In accordance with our senses, there are 5 types of figurative memory: auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile. These types of figurative memory are developed unevenly in a person, one of them is always predominant.

Arbitrary memory presupposes the presence of a special goal to remember, which a person sets and applies appropriate techniques for this, produces volitional efforts.

Involuntary memory does not imply a special goal to remember or recall this or that material, event, phenomenon, they are remembered as if by themselves, without the use of special techniques, without volitional efforts. In the development of memory, involuntary memorization precedes voluntary. A person involuntarily remembers not everything in a row, but what is connected with his personality and activities. First of all, we involuntarily remember what we like, what we paid attention to, what we actively and enthusiastically work on. Therefore, involuntary memory also has an active character. Animals already have involuntary memory. The best way to remember and keep in memory for a long time is to put knowledge into practice. In addition, memory does not want to keep in mind that which is contrary to the attitudes of the individual.

Short-term and long-term memory. These two types of memory differ in the duration of the preservation of what a person remembers. Short-term memory has a relatively short duration - a few seconds or minutes. It is sufficient for the exact reproduction of the events that have just occurred, the objects and phenomena that have just been perceived. After a short time, the impressions disappear, and the person usually finds himself unable to remember anything from what he has perceived. Long-term memory provides long-term storage of material. It is important to remember the installation for a long time, the need for this information, their personal significance for a person.

They also allocate RAM - storing some information for the time necessary to perform an operation, a separate act of activity. For example, in the process of solving any problem, it is necessary to keep in memory the initial data and intermediate operations, which can be forgotten in the future, until the result is obtained.

All types of memory are necessary and valuable in themselves, in the process of human life they are generalized, interact with each other.

Memory processes

The main processes of memory are memorization, reproduction, preservation, recognition, forgetting. By the nature of reproduction, the quality of the entire memory apparatus is judged. Memory begins with remembering.

Memorization is the imprinting of images of objective reality perceived by the human mind in a short period of time, which ensures the preservation of material in the memory for its subsequent reproduction.

With unintentional memorization, a person does not set a goal to remember and does not make any efforts for this. This is how one remembers what a person is keenly interested in or causes a strong and deep feeling in him. But any activity requires a person to remember many things that cannot be remembered by themselves. Then deliberate, conscious memorization comes into force, that is, the goal is set - to remember the material.

Mechanical memorization is based on fixing individual connections, associations. Semantic memorization is associated with the processes of thinking. If memorization has the character of specially organized work associated with the use of certain techniques for best assimilation knowledge, it is called memorization.

Learning depends: a) on the nature of the activity, on the processes of goal-setting: arbitrary memorization, based on a consciously set goal - to remember, is more effective than involuntary;

b) from the installation - remember for a long time or remember for a short time. We often start to memorize some material, knowing that, in all likelihood, we will use it only on a certain day, and then it will not matter. Indeed, after this period, we forget what we have learned by heart.

c) experienced emotions. It is better to memorize emotionally colored material, interesting, personally significant.

Ways of arbitrary or organized memorization:

1. Grouping - dividing the material into groups for some reason (by meaning, associations, etc.), highlighting strong points (abstracts, titles, questions, examples, etc., in this sense, compiling cheat sheets: useful for memorization), plan - a set of strong points; classification - the distribution of any objects, phenomena, concepts into classes, groups based on common features.

2. Structuring the material - establishing the relative position of the parts that make up the whole.

3. Schematization - description of information in general terms.

4. Analogy - the establishment of similarities, similarities between phenomena, objects, concepts, images.

5. Mnemic techniques - certain techniques or methods of memorization.

6. Recoding - verbalization or pronunciation, presentation of information in a figurative form.

7. Completing the memorized material, introducing something new into memorization (using words or intermediary images, situational signs).

8. Associations - establishing connections by similarity, contiguity or opposition.

9. Repetition - consciously controlled and uncontrolled processes of material reproduction. Memorization is carried out faster and is more durable when the repetitions do not follow each other directly, but are separated by more or less significant intervals of time (it is better to take breaks from two hours to a day).

Preservation is the assimilation by human consciousness of previously perceived images of objects and phenomena. The duration of the save depends on the time. 20 minutes after memorization, 58.2% of information is retained, after an hour - 44.2%, after 8 hours - 35.8%, after a day - 33.7%. Criteria for storing material in memory: reproduction and recognition.

Reproduction is the actualization of the images of objects and phenomena, thoughts, actions and deeds fixed by the human consciousness. Reproduction can proceed at three levels: recognition, reproduction itself (voluntary and involuntary), recall (in conditions of partial forgetting, requiring volitional effort).

With unintentional reproduction of thoughts, words, etc. are remembered by themselves, without any conscious intention on our part. Associations may be the cause of unintentional reproduction. We say: "I remembered." Here thought follows association. In intentional reproduction, we say: "I remember." Here the associations follow the thought.

If reproduction is difficult, we speak of recall. Recall is the most active reproduction, it is associated with tension and requires certain volitional efforts. The success of recall depends on the understanding of the logical connection of the forgotten material with the rest of the material that is well preserved in the memory. It is important to evoke a chain of associations that indirectly help to recall the necessary.

Recognition is the simplest form of reproduction. Recognition is the appearance of a feeling of familiarity when re-perceiving something. This is a process that is characterized by the fact that the images fixed in the memory arise without relying on the secondary perception of objects. It is easier to learn than to reproduce.

Forgetting is the process of erasing previously imprinted images in a time interval. Forgetting begins shortly after memorization and at first proceeds at a particularly rapid pace. About 75% of the information is forgotten in the first 5 days, and another 4% in the next 25 days. 31 days after memorization, 21% of the original memorized information remains. Therefore, what has been learned should be repeated not when it has already been forgotten, but while forgetting has not yet begun. A cursory repetition is enough to prevent forgetting, but a lot of work is needed to restore what has been forgotten.

Qualities of memory: 1) speed of memorization; 2) strength of preservation; 3) accuracy of memory - the absence of distortions, omissions of essential, 4) readiness of memory - the ability to quickly retrieve from memory what is needed at the moment.

PERFORMANCE

Images of objects and phenomena that we do not perceive at the moment are called representations. Representations can be called by the mechanism of associations, with the help of a word, a description. The difference between representations and perceptions is that representations give a more generalized reflection of objects. Representations are very unstable, fickle and fragmented. Representations are the result of processing and generalization of past perceptions. The blind born have no ideas about colors and colors, the deaf from birth have no sound ideas. Representation is connected with the work of figurative memory.

Representation is a higher stage of cognition than perception, they are the stage of transition from sensation to thought, it is a visual and at the same time a generalized image that reflects the characteristic features of an object. In the formation of general ideas essential role plays a speech, naming a number of objects in one word. Representations are formed in the process of human activity, therefore, depending on the profession, one type of representations mainly develops.

ATTENTION

A huge amount of information constantly enters the human brain, from which it is necessary to choose the most necessary. The mechanism of choice is attention. Attention is a mental cognitive process of selective orientation and concentration of consciousness on certain objects and phenomena.

Attention is not an independent mental function. This is a special form of human mental activity; it enters as a necessary component in all kinds of mental processes. Attention is a characteristic of any mental process: perception, when we listen, consider; thinking when we solve a problem; memory, when we remember something or try to remember; imagination, when we try to visualize something clearly. Thus, attention is the ability to choose what is important for oneself and focus one's perception, thinking, imagination, etc. on it.

Mindfulness is an important quality of any profession. Types of attention:

1. involuntary - does not require volitional effort, attracts with novelty, unusualness, significance of the object (for example, advertising a product);

2. arbitrary - controlled by an effort of will and directed at a specific object, depending on the task;

Basic properties of attention. There are five properties of attention: concentration, stability, volume, distribution and switching.

1. Concentration is the retention of attention on one object or one activity while distracting from everything else. Concentration of attention is associated with a deep, effective interest in an activity, any event or fact. The degree or strength of concentration is the concentration or intensity of attention.

Concentration is the absorption of attention by one object or one activity. An indicator of intensity is the inability to divert attention from the subject of activity by extraneous stimuli. For example, a child assembles a new constructor. He is completely absorbed in business, is not distracted for a minute, does not notice how time passes, does not react to phone calls, you can call him, call him for dinner - he does not answer, and sometimes he does not even hear.

2. Sustainability is a long-term retention of attention on an object or some activity. Sustained attention is called attention, capable of remaining continuously focused on one subject or on the same work for a long time. Full stability lasts 15-20 minutes;

Attention is unstable periodically weakened or distracted.

3. Volume is the number of objects that are covered by attention at the same time, at the same time. The amount of attention usually ranges from 4 to 6 objects in adults. The amount of attention largely depends on the knowledge of objects and their relationships with each other.

4. The distribution of attention is the ability to perform two or more different activities, keeping your attention on them. Attention can be distributed simultaneously among several different activities. For example, a cadet at a lecture distributes attention between what he writes down and what he hears at the moment.

5. Switching attention is a conscious and meaningful movement of attention from one object or action to another, it is a restructuring of attention, its transition from one object to another in connection with a change in the tasks of the activity. Conscious switching of attention should not be confused with distractibility. Normally, switching occurs 3-4 times per second. Different activities require different forms of attention.

The development and strengthening of voluntary attention is facilitated by:

​ human awareness of the importance of the task: the more important the task, the stronger

the desire to fulfill it, the more attention is attracted;

 interest in the final result of the activity makes you remind

to yourself that you need to be careful;

 organization of activities.

Attention and distraction. Usually attention is opposed to absent-mindedness. In our language, distraction is often understood as a synonym for inattention. However, these terms do not always coincide with each other.

Absent-mindedness can be the result of instability, weakness of attention. The person can't focus on anything. for a long time, his attention constantly jumps from one to another. For example, such attention is typical for children, it is also observed in adults, especially in a state of fatigue, during illness.

One of the causes of inattention is insufficient mental activity. A huge role in the development of attention is played by the orientation of the individual.

Imagination

Imagination is a mental cognitive process of creating new images, ideas, thoughts based on existing ideas and life experience. The material for the imagination is past impressions, sensations, life experience, knowledge. Psychological mechanisms imagination:

In the images that arise in the imagination, there are always features of images already known to man. But in the new image they are transformed, changed, combined into unusual combinations. The essence of imagination lies in the ability to notice and highlight in objects and phenomena specific signs and properties and transfer them to other objects. There are several imaging techniques.

Combination - a combination of individual elements of various images of objects in new, more or less unusual combinations. Combination is a creative synthesis, and not a simple sum of already known elements, it is a process of significant transformation of the elements from which a new image is built.

Emphasis - emphasizing certain features (for example, the image of a giant). This method underlies the creation of caricatures and friendly cartoons (smart - a very high forehead, lack of intelligence - low).

Individual features of the imagination are determined by:

1) the degree of ease and difficulty with which a person is given imagination;

2) characteristics of the created image (absurdity, original find);

3) in what area is it brighter, faster is the creation of new images (personal orientation).

Manifestations of the imagination: dream (images of the desired future associated with reality); fantasy (images partially connected with reality); dreams (complete separation from reality).

Thus, integrative cognitive processes include memory, representation, attention, imagination and memory. Integrative cognitive processes are the main conditions for the mental development of a person, they ensure the unity and integrity of the individual.

3. Higher mental cognitive processes. Thinking, intellect and speech.

THINKING

Thinking is a socially conditioned cognitive process inextricably linked with speech, which characterizes a generalized and indirect reflection of the connections and relations between objects in the surrounding reality.

The mental activity of people is carried out with the help of mental operations: comparison, analysis and synthesis, abstraction, generalization and concretization. All these operations are various parties the main activity of thinking - the disclosure of more significant objective connections and relationships between objects, phenomena, facts.

1. Comparison is a comparison of objects and phenomena in order to find similarities and differences between them. A successful comparison of objects and phenomena is possible when it is purposeful, i.e., occurs from a certain point of view. It can be directed either to establish the similarity of objects, or to establish differences, or both at the same time. Comparing things, phenomena, their properties, comparison reveals identity and difference. Revealing the identity of some and the differences of other things, comparison leads to their classification. Classification is carried out according to some feature that turns out to be inherent in each subject of this group. So, in a library, books can be classified by authors, by content, by genre, by binding, by format, etc. The attribute by which the classification is made is called the basis of classification.

2. Analysis and synthesis are the most important mental operations, inextricably linked. In unity, they give a complete and comprehensive knowledge of reality. Analysis provides knowledge of individual elements, and synthesis, based on the results of the analysis, combining these elements, provides knowledge of the object as a whole.

Analysis is the mental division of an object or phenomenon into its constituent parts or the mental separation of individual properties, features, qualities in it. Analysis can also be a mental selection as a whole of its individual properties, features, aspects. Analysis is possible not only when we perceive an object, but also when we remember it, imagine it to ourselves. It is also possible to analyze concepts, when we mentally single out their various features, analysis of the course of thought, proof, explanations, etc.

Synthesis is a mental combination of individual parts of objects or a mental combination of their individual properties. If analysis provides knowledge of individual elements, then synthesis, based on the results of analysis, combining these elements, provides knowledge of the object as a whole. There are two types of synthesis: as a mental union of parts of the whole and as a mental combination of various features, properties, aspects of objects and phenomena of reality.

3. Abstraction is the mental selection of essential properties and features of objects or phenomena while simultaneously abstracting from non-essential features and properties. The attribute or property of an object singled out in the process of abstraction becomes independent objects of thought. So, for all metals, we can distinguish one property - electrical conductivity.

4. Generalization and concretization.

Abstraction is the basis of generalization - the mental association of objects and phenomena into groups according to those common and essential features that stand out in the process of abstraction.

Concretization is a mental transition from the general to the singular, which corresponds to this general. Concretization plays an essential role in the explanation that we give to other people. In educational activity, to concretize means to give an example, an illustration, a specific fact that confirms a general theoretical position, a rule, a law (for example, a grammatical, mathematical rule, a physical, socio-historical law, etc.). The lack of concretization leads to the formalism of knowledge, the particular provides significant assistance in understanding the general.

Forms of thinking:

1. A concept is a form of thinking that reflects the general and essential properties of objects and phenomena. For example, the concept of "tree" includes all the features inherent in a tree, and does not include what is characteristic only for birch, or spruce, or oak, etc. Reflecting the general, essential, regular in objects or phenomena of reality, the concept acts as the highest level of reflection peace.

2. Judgments - the main form of thinking, reflecting the connections and relationships between objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, their properties and features. A judgment is a form of thinking that contains the assertion or denial of a position regarding objects, phenomena or their properties.

Judgments are general, particular and singular. In general judgments, something is affirmed or denied about all objects and phenomena united by the concept, for example: "All metals conduct electricity."

Judgment reveals the content of concepts. To know an object or phenomenon means to be able to express a correct and meaningful judgment about it, that is, to be able to judge about it. The truth of judgments is verified by the social practice of man.

3. Inference is a form of thinking in the process of which a person, comparing and analyzing various judgments, derives a new judgment from them. A typical example of inference is the proof of geometric theorems. A person uses mainly two types of reasoning - inductive and deductive.

Induction is a method of reasoning from particular judgments to a general judgment, establishing general laws and rules based on the study of individual facts and phenomena. Induction begins with the accumulation of knowledge about the largest possible number of homogeneous objects and phenomena in something, which makes it possible to find similar and different things in objects and phenomena and omit the insignificant and secondary. Summarizing similar features of these objects and phenomena, they make general conclusion or conclusion, establish general rule or law.

Deduction is a way of reasoning from a general judgment to a particular judgment, the knowledge of individual facts and phenomena based on knowledge of general laws and rules. Deductive reasoning gives a person knowledge about the specific properties and qualities of an individual object based on knowledge of general laws and rules. For example, knowing that all bodies expand when heated, a person can foresee that railway rails will also expand on a hot summer day, and therefore, when laying a railway track, builders leave a certain gap between the rails.

4. Reasoning is the practical thought of a person, expressed in the unity of concepts, judgments, conclusions

The solution of a mental problem begins with a thorough analysis of the data, an understanding of what is given, what a person has. These data are compared with each other and with the question, correlate with the previous knowledge and experience of the person. A person tries to draw on principles that have been successfully applied earlier in solving a problem similar to a new one. On this basis, a hypothesis (assumption) arises, a method of action, a solution path is outlined. Practical verification of the hypothesis, verification of the solution path can show the fallacy of the intended actions.

Types of thinking

 In terms of form and content, specific-effective, visual-

figurative and abstract-logical thinking.

 According to the nature of the tasks to be solved, thinking can be theoretical and

practical.

 according to the degree of development and awareness, thinking can be

analytical (logical) and intuitive.

 according to the degree of novelty and originality, thinking can be attributed to

reproductive (reproducing) and productive creativity.

Concretely effective is thinking, which is reduced to real, practical actions of a person in a visually perceived situation (environment). Here, internal, mental actions are reduced to a minimum, and the task is mainly solved through external, practical actions with real material objects. This kind of thinking can already be observed in young children, starting from the 6th - 8th months of life.

Visual-figurative thinking is called thinking, in which problems are solved not by manipulating real, material objects, but with the help of domestic action with images of these objects. This thinking is very clearly manifested when understanding, for example, complex pictures, complex situations.

Abstract-logical thinking - supreme view human thinking, dealing with concepts of objects and phenomena, and not with the objects themselves, phenomena or their images and is expressed in words or other signs. This view takes place entirely on the inner, mental plane.

The division of thinking into theoretical and practical is very conditional and relative, we are talking only about the predominance of certain components and its direction. Theoretical and practical thinking are distinguished by the type of tasks being solved and the resulting structural and dynamic features.

Theoretical thinking is aimed at the knowledge of the most general laws and rules. It operates the most general categories and concepts. All kinds of scientific concepts, theories, methodological foundations of science are the product of this kind of thinking. Theoretical thinking is the basis of scientific creativity.

The main task practical thinking- preparation of physical transformations of reality, that is, setting a goal, creating a plan, project, scheme of actions and transformations. Its ability lies in the fact that it is often deployed in conditions of time pressure, and also in the fact that in the conditions of practical activity its subject has limited opportunities to test hypotheses.

It is important to distinguish between productive and reproductive thinking, based on the degree of novelty of the product obtained in the process of mental activity in relation to the subject's occupations.

Productive thinking generates new knowledge, a new material or ideal result. Productive, for example, is the thinking of a scientist making a new discovery, a writer creating a new work, an artist painting a new picture.

Reproductive is thinking that rediscovers already known knowledge or recreates what someone once already created. Reproductive thinking is characteristic of people who repeatedly solve typical problems. In such thinking, a person follows a well-known, traversed path, therefore this type of thinking is also called uncreative.

A distinction is also made between intuitive and analytical (logical) thinking. Three signs are usually used: temporal (time of the process), structural (division into stages), level of flow (consciousness or unconsciousness).

Analytical thinking is deployed in time, has clearly defined stages, and the process of thinking itself is conscious. In contrast to analytical, intuitive thinking is characterized by a rapid flow, there are no stages in it, and, finally, its process is realized to a minimal extent.

Realistic thinking is based on real knowledge about the world, is aimed at achieving goals determined by vital needs and circumstances, it is regulated by logical laws, and its course is consciously controlled and directed.

Autistic thinking is based on arbitrary, irrational assumptions while ignoring the real facts. Its main driving and guiding force is poorly realized or unconscious desires or fears. It has more to do with the fulfillment of desires.

Intelligence

Individual differences in the mental activity of people are manifested in various qualities of thinking. The most significant of them are independence, breadth, depth, flexibility, speed and criticality.

1. Independence of thinking is manifested in the ability of a person to put forward new ideas, tasks and find the necessary answers and solutions, without resorting to the opinion and frequent help of other people. Independence of thinking has always been considered one of the most important dimensions of personality. Anyone who does not have independent thinking focuses only on other people's knowledge, experience, opinion, and when solving any issues and problems, he relies on ready-made formulas, template solutions.

2. The breadth of the mind is manifested in a person's broad outlook, in active cognitive activity, covering the most diverse areas of science and practice.

3. Depth - the ability to penetrate into the essence of the most complex issues, the ability to see the problem where other people do not have questions.

4. Reasoning can be broad, which means that for someone it can also be narrow, the subject of which is some small (narrow) part of reality. Narrow thinking can be meaningful and deep (thinking of a “narrow specialist”), or it can be poor, shallow, superficial.

5. The flexibility of the mind is expressed in the ability to be free from the accepted template methods and methods for solving problems of any content and level, in the ability to quickly change one's actions when the situation changes, quickly switch from one method of solving, behavior to another, diversify attempts to solve a problem or task, and thereby finding new ways to solve them faster.

6. An important quality of the mind is the ability to foresee. The development of this quality allows a person to productively perform the function of managing activities, especially if many people are involved in this activity. “To manage is to foresee,” says the old adage.

Speech is the process of individual use of language in order to communicate with other people, the material carrier of thinking.

In order to speak and understand someone else's speech, you need to know the language and be able to use it.

Language is a system of conditional symbols, with the help of which combinations of sounds are transmitted that have a certain meaning and meaning for people. Language is developed by society and is a form of reflection in the public consciousness of people of their social existence.

Language is a rather complex entity. Every language has a specific system meaningful words, which is called the lexical composition of the language. In addition, the language has a certain system of various forms of words and phrases, which constitutes the grammar of the language, as well as a certain sound, or phonetic, composition, characteristic only of this particular language. The main purpose of the language is that, being a system of signs, it provides for the assignment of a certain meaning to each word. It is customary to refer to the main functions of speech as a message, designation, expression, impact. With the help of speech, we express our thoughts, express our attitude to the object or phenomenon we are talking about. But for successful military-professional activity, the influencing function of speech is the most significant.

The influencing function of speech is the motivation of a person to perform tasks with the help of a word. Speech influence can change the mental state, feelings and motives of people's behavior. The influencing function of speech is widely used in educational work, in leadership and command. There are several types of speech: oral, written and internal. In turn, oral speech is divided into dialogic and monologue. We use dialogic speech when we have a conversation. The presence of contact with the interlocutor helps to omit certain points in speech. In other cases, dialogic speech may be more detailed, for example, when there is a scientific dispute, the commander is talking with a subordinate on service issues, etc. In these cases, detailed sentences are used that provide more full achievement content and expressiveness of speech.

Monologue speech - a speech by one person, for example, a lecture, a report. Here the direct contact is weaker, it is more difficult to assess how the people listening to the speech perceive the speech. Monologue speech requires great knowledge, a common culture, correct pronunciation, self-control, active and systematic transmission of information, accurate descriptions, definitions, skillful handling of comparisons, etc.

The manifestation and use of oral speech in everyday communication is called the speech of communication: Its influence extends to all aspects of the life and activities of military personnel. It influences relationships, the formation of public opinion and relationships.

Written speech is the process of transmitting speech information using letter designations. This type of communication is the most difficult. For transmission mental state, emotions, thoughts, it is necessary to present information, facts in the most complete, consistent and understandable way.

Inner speech is pronounced mentally. It does not perform the function of communication, but serves to implement the process of thinking and is the basis for the formation of mental actions. Often we say to ourselves what we intend to say to other people. That's why inner speech provides the semantic side of external speech.

The depth of perception of command speech depends on a number of conditions. The clearer, more precise and definite the order, the requirement is formulated, the easier and fuller is its understanding and clarification by subordinates. The brevity, restraint of the order, along with the external calmness and respectful tone of the commander himself, inspire the subordinate with confidence in the successful completion of the task. The order, the demand of an authoritative commander is immediately internally accepted by subordinates, becomes the motive of their activity.

An individual approach to the formation of speech skills is needed. But in most cases, there is only one way: reading fiction, speaking at seminars and public events.

Thus, thinking is a socially conditioned cognitive process inextricably linked with speech, which characterizes the generalized and indirect reflection of the connections and relations between objects in the surrounding reality. Individual differences in the mental activity of people are manifested in various qualities of thinking. Speech is the process of individual use of language in order to communicate with other people, the material carrier of thinking.

So, the connection of speech and thinking not only allows you to penetrate deeper into the phenomena of reality, into the relationship between things, actions and qualities, but also has a system of syntactic constructions that make it possible to formulate a thought, express a judgment. Speech has more complex formations that provide a basis for theoretical thinking and that allow a person to go beyond direct experience and draw conclusions in an abstract verbal-logical way. Among the devices logical thinking also include those logical structures whose model is the syllogism. The transition to complex forms of social activity makes it possible to master those means of language that underlie the highest level of knowledge - theoretical thinking. This transition from the sensual to the rational is the main feature of man's conscious activity, which is a product of socio-historical development.

Questions for self-study:

1. Creativity.

2. Mnemic processes. Thinking, intellect and speech.