SECOND SIGNAL SYSTEM
In the process of evolution of the animal world at the stage of development species Homo sapiens, a qualitative modification of the signaling system occurred, ensuring adaptive adaptive behavior. It is due to the emergence of a second signaling system - the emergence and development of speech, the essence of which is that in the second signaling system of a person, signals acquire a new property of convention - they are transformed into signs in the literal sense of the word.
In the United States and elsewhere outside the Soviet sphere, Pavlov influenced all concepts of modifiable behavior or learning—the so-called vertical dimensions of the mind. However, in the Soviet Union itself, his influence also extended to the horizontal dimensions of the mind - through the doctrine of types of nervous systems, based on supposed genotypic individual differences in five phases of neural action. Roughly speaking, the doctrine states that individual variations in unconditioned and conditioned effector responses - in last years also in electroencephalographic and biochemical reactions - demonstrate that the nervous system of humans and animals is divided into several specific genetic types that most clearly distinguish all phases of life and behavior: from susceptibility to disease and life expectancy, working styles, motor dexterity, ways of thinking and , of course, temperament, personality and emotional balance.
In the first signaling system, all forms of behavior, including methods and means of mutual communication, are based solely on the direct perception of reality and reactions to natural stimuli. The first signaling system provides forms of concrete sensory reflection. In this case, the body first develops a sensation of individual properties, objects, and phenomena perceived by the corresponding receptor formations. At the next stage, the nervous mechanisms of sensations become more complex, and on their basis other, more complex forms of reflection - perception - arise. And only with the emergence and development of the second signaling system does it become possible to implement an abstract form of reflection - the formation of concepts and ideas.
Even a variation of general intelligence - " general ability"in Russian - considered a type function nervous system. Recent exciting advances in neural recording techniques and interpretation of the information thus obtained highlight the need to integrate neural and behavioral data and link the latter to the former. The earlier American view that the neuron has no information relevant for behavioral analysis no longer holds. Modern psychology requires that the neural level has and continues to have an important role in behavioral analysis, as neo-behaviorism is gradually being replaced by brain-based behaviorism, which is essentially identical with Pavlovian higher nervous activity.
Unlike the conditioned reflexes of animals, which reflect the surrounding reality with the help of specific auditory, visual and other sensory signals, stimuli of the second signaling system reflect the surrounding reality with the help of generalizing, abstract concepts expressed in words. While animals operate only with images formed on the basis of directly perceived signal stimuli, a person with his developed second signal system operates not only with images, but also with thoughts associated with them, meaningful images containing semantic (notional) information. Stimuli of the second signaling system are largely mediated by human mental activity.
There is also strong evidence that Pavlov was on the right track when he gave true verbal conditioning or language acquisition - what he called the second signal system - a higher ontological status, and when he refused to classify it as a mere conditioned vocal response, so thereby upholding the qualitative distinctness of man. Let us consider clinical and neurological data that the human speech area is located in the associative cortex, while the mechanisms of simple vocalization - animal and human - are introduced into the deep mesencephalion.
The physical structure of a sign is independent of the object it denotes. The same phenomenon, object, thought can be expressed using different sound combinations and in different languages. Verbal signals combine two properties: semantic (content) and physical (sound in oral speech, outline of letters and words in written). With the help of a word, a transition is made from the sensory image of the first signaling system to the concept, representation of the second signaling system.
Having set off from anthropomorphizing animals, psychology should not bounce off another extreme-human zoomorphism. He did not specifically attempt to extend his principles to any system—or even to any analysis—of social and social behavior in which social science would be embryonic. But Pavlov's students and, in particular, Bekhterev and his students, thus used conceptual concepts. These two fields are being revived and, to all intents and purposes, are Marxist-Leninist and Pavlovian approaches to them.
Significant difference verbal signals from natural signals of the first signaling system is due to the characteristics of the underlying unconditioned stimuli. In animals biological significance perceived signals is determined only by the nature of subsequent reinforcement, while the connection between the new signal stimulus and the stimulus that reinforces it is developed anew each time. The signal meaning of a word is determined by the entire collective experience of people using a given system of verbal signs. Thus, the information contained in the words themselves is not related to the nature of the signaling of phenomena and objects of real reality, but to the reflected, refracted activity of human consciousness.
However, there can be no doubt that ultimately, as in the case of psychopathology, social and individual changes in socially are closely related to learning processes and learning principles. Thus, Pavlovian social Psychology and a sociology that is critical, comprehensive, and well-systematized may well emerge from the continued rapid development of psychophysiology in the United States.
Pavlov was the son of the priest Pyotr Dmitrievich Pavlov and his wife Varvara Ivanova. Kion was strongly stimulated by his interest in physiology, and he carried out experimental studies of the influence of nerves on blood circulation. To expand his knowledge of physiology, Pavlov entered the third year course at the Military Medical Academy after graduating from the university, his studies were aimed primarily at theoretical medicine. Subsequently, he organized and headed the physiological laboratory of the Botkin Clinic and conducted research on the physiology of blood circulation and digestion.
The ability to use the sign system of language allows a person to operate with conscious concepts about environment and represent any object, any situation in the form of mental models. The ability to operate with abstract concepts, expressed in spoken or written words, serves as the basis of mental activity and constitutes the essence of the highest form of abstractly generalized reflection of the surrounding reality. Operating with speech (oral or written) gives a person enormous advantages in adaptive behavior, in knowledge and rational use of the surrounding nature or artificial environment.
In Botkin's laboratory, Pavlov was exposed to an atmosphere of "nervism" that "extended the influence of the nervous system over the greatest possible amount of body activity." During this period, Pavlov wrote his doctoral dissertation on the efferent nerves of the heart, which he defended on May 21.
At the same time, he became director of the physiology section of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and conducted research on the physiology of digestion, which was summarized in the work published in Tarkhanov. Pavlov moved to the physiology department, to which he was assigned until he remained. His activities were concentrated in three institutes : Institute of Physiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which now bears his name, Institute of Existential Medicine and Biological Station in Koltushi near Leningrad.
The function of speech includes the ability not only to encode, but also to decode a given message using appropriate conventional signs, while maintaining its meaningful semantic meaning. In the absence of such information modeling isomorphism, it becomes impossible to use this form of communication in interpersonal communication. Thus, people cease to understand each other if they use different code elements ( different languages, inaccessible to all persons participating in the communication). The same mutual misunderstanding occurs when different semantic contents are embedded in the same speech signals.
Pavlov's scientific work received worldwide recognition. Pavlov enriched physiology and natural sciences with a new method and new methodology. The latter flowed from his general biological thought, which was aimed at studying the entire organism under conditions of its normal activity. For Pavlov, a living organism was a complex system, the study of which - like any system - required the use of both analytical and synthetic methods scientific research. The main problem He considered experimental research in physiology to be the study of mutual influence and mutual influence in the body, as well as the relationship of the organism to its environment.
The symbol system used by a person reflects the most important perceptual and symbolic structures in the communication system. It should be noted that mastering a language significantly complements its ability to perceive the surrounding world on the basis of the first signal system, thereby constituting that “extraordinary increase” that I. P. Pavlov spoke about, noting a fundamentally important difference in the content of the highest nervous activity humans compared to animals.
In his first study of the circulation, he emphasized that such work was only possible using a method that made it possible to systematically study “those relationships in which the individual components of a complex hemodynamic machine are found during their life activity.” Studies should be carried out under normal conditions on untrained animals.
By the end of the nineteenth century, a significant problem in physiology was the replacement of the traditional, vivissecretory method with a long-term, ecological one. This replacement was caused by the logic of the development of physiology; A huge amount of data had been accumulated using the vivisecretory method, but it became increasingly clear that the entire organism had to be studied in its natural conditions. Pavlov spoke about the limitations of vivisection.
Words as a form of transmission of thought form the only really observable basis of speech activity. While the words that make up the structure of a particular language can be seen and heard, their meaning and content remain beyond the means of direct sensory perception. The meaning of words is determined by the structure and volume of memory, the information thesaurus of the individual. The semantic (semantic) structure of the language is contained in the information thesaurus of the subject in the form of a certain semantic code that transforms the corresponding physical parameters verbal signal into its semantic code equivalent. At the same time, oral speech serves as a means of immediate direct communication, written language allows one to accumulate knowledge, information and acts as a means of communication mediated in time and space.
Pavlov conceived the method of long-term experimentation, which he introduced in the laboratory not only as a method of experimental research, but also as a way of thinking. Continuous method opened new era in the physiology of digestion and led to new job and concepts, especially in experimental surgery and brain physiology. In his first lecture on the physiology of digestion, Pavlov said: Science moves in discontinuity, depending on the progress made in its methods. With every advance in method we rise, so to speak, to a higher step, from which a wider horizon opens up, with objects hitherto unseen.
Neurophysiological studies of speech activity have shown that during the perception of words, syllables and their combinations, specific patterns with a certain spatial and temporal characteristic are formed in the impulse activity of neural populations of the human brain. Usage different words and parts of words (syllables) in special experiments makes it possible to differentiate in the electrical reactions (impulse flows) of central neurons both physical (acoustic) and semantic (semantic) components of brain codes of mental activity (N. P. Bekhtereva).
Therefore, he developed synthetic physiology, designed to “precisely determine the actual course of individual physiological Phenomena in the whole and normal organism.” The object of Pavlov's research was both the organism as a system and any of its individual organs that performed a specific function. He was not interested in the basic principles and fundamentals of life, believing that they were the proper subjects not of physiological, but of physicochemical research. Describing his approach, he wrote:
However, his devotion to the synthetic approach did not prevent Pavlov from analytically studying the organism, “going into the depths of cellular and molecular physiology.” Emphasizing the problems and goals of physiological analysis, he noted his role in elucidating the functionality of organ mechanisms. He identified four levels or degrees of experimental physiological research - organismic, organic, cellular and molecular - all of which should ultimately reflect the properties of living matter. Pavlov was well aware of the need for a definite, regular connection between holistic and analytical approaches to scientific research.
The presence of an individual’s information thesaurus and its active influence on the processes of perception and processing of sensory information are a significant factor explaining the ambiguous interpretation of input information at different points in time and in different functional states of a person. To express any semantic structure, there are many different forms of representations, for example sentences. The well-known phrase: “He met her in a clearing with flowers,” allows for three different semantic concepts (flowers in his hands, in her hands, flowers in the clearing). The same words and phrases can also mean different phenomena and objects (bur, weasel, scythe, etc.).
As the founder of the organism, he clearly foresaw the emergence of cellular and molecular physiology, which would significantly change the course of organic physiology. Most of Pavlov's research is devoted to three main areas: the physiology of blood circulation, the physiology of digestion, the physiology of the brain and higher nervous activity. His early research in circulatory physiology focused on the mechanisms regulating blood pressure. He described the role of the nervous mechanism in the adaptive activity of blood vessels, indicating the role of the vagus nerve as a regulator of blood pressure.
The linguistic form of communication as the leading form of information exchange between people, the daily use of language, where only a few words have an exact, unambiguous meaning, largely contributes to the development of a person’s intuitive ability to think and operate with imprecise, vague concepts (which are words and phrases - linguistic variables) . Human brain in the process of developing his second signaling system, the elements of which allow for ambiguous relationships between a phenomenon, an object and its designation (a sign - a word), it acquired a remarkable property that allows a person to act intelligently and quite rationally in conditions of a probabilistic, “fuzzy” environment, significant information uncertainty. This property is based on the ability to manipulate, operate with imprecise quantitative data, “fuzzy” logic, as opposed to formal logic and classical mathematics, which deal only with precise, uniquely defined cause-and-effect relationships. Thus, the development of higher parts of the brain leads not only to the emergence and development of fundamentally new form perception, transmission and processing of information in the form of a second signal system, but the functioning of the latter, in turn, results in the emergence and development of a fundamentally new form of mental activity, the construction of conclusions based on the use of polysemantic (probabilistic, “fuzzy”) logic. The human brain operates with “fuzzy” , imprecise terms, concepts, qualitative assessments are easier than quantitative categories, numbers. Apparently, the constant practice of using language with its probabilistic relationship between a sign and its denotation (the phenomenon or thing it denotes) has served as excellent training for the human mind in the manipulation of fuzzy concepts. It is the “fuzzy” logic of human mental activity, based on the function of the second signaling system, that provides him with the ability to heuristically solve many complex problems that cannot be solved by conventional algorithmic methods.
Orbeli based his theory of the adaptive trophic role of the sympathetic nervous system. Pavlov's research on the physiology of digestion required him to develop new methods and thus marked a turning point in his work. His method of studying the action of the digestive organs involved surgical intervention on the entire digestive tract, performed under conditions of strict asepsis and antisepsis, which allowed him to observe the normal activity of a particular digestive gland in a healthy animal.
Thus, it allowed more or less direct investigation of the mechanisms regulating the salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, kidneys and intestines. Pavlov's experiments were based on modern ideas about the nervous and humoral regulation of the digestive process and its consequences in various parts digestive tract. He showed that there is a close relationship between the properties of salivary secretion and food intake. Shepovalnikov, discovered enterokinase, which he called the “enzyme of enzymes” in intestinal secretions.
The function of speech is carried out by certain structures of the cortex big brain. The motor speech center responsible for oral speech, known as Broca's area, is located at the base of the inferior frontal gyrus (Fig. 15.8). When this area of the brain is damaged, disorders of the motor reactions that provide oral speech are observed.
His theoretical conclusions have great biological significance. His theory of specific irritability had special meaning: While showing that the concept of general irritability is scientifically untenable, he demonstrated specific irritability in various parts of the digestive tract.
Pavlov's theory of digestion had great importance in clinical pathology of the stomach and intestines. After working on the physiology of digestion, Pavlov turned to the physiology of behavior. By the early twentieth century, many physiologists, zoologists and psychologists had already conducted experiments to study brain function, but collected only fragmentary data. Pavlov built on Darwin's theory of evolution, which emphasized psychological as well as physiological continuity - and Sechenov's reflexology to create his own theory behavior.
The acoustic speech center (Wernicke's center) is located in the posterior third of the superior temporal gyrus and in the adjacent part - the supramarginal gyrus (gyrus supramarginalis). Damage to these areas results in loss of the ability to understand the meaning of words heard. The optical center of speech is located in the angular gyrus (gyrus angularis), damage to this part of the brain makes it impossible to recognize what is written.
Left hemisphere responsible for the development of abstract logical thinking, associated with the preferential processing of information at the level of the second signaling system. Right hemisphere ensures the perception and processing of information, mainly at the level of the first signaling system.
Despite the indicated certain left hemisphere localization of speech centers in the structures of the cerebral cortex (and as a result - corresponding violations of oral and writing when they are damaged), it should be noted that dysfunction of the second signaling system is usually observed with damage to many other structures of the cortex and subcortical formations. The functioning of the second signaling system is determined by the functioning of the entire brain.
Among the most common dysfunctions of the second signaling system are agnosia - loss of word recognition (visual agnosia occurs when the occipital zone is damaged, auditory agnosia - when the temporal zones of the cerebral cortex are damaged), aphasia - speech impairment, agraphia - writing impairment, amnesia - forgetting words .
The word, as the main element of the second signaling system, turns into a signal signal as a result of the process of learning and communication between the child and adults. The word as a signal of signals, with the help of which generalization and abstraction are carried out, characterizing human thinking, has become that exclusive feature of higher nervous activity, which provides the necessary conditions for the progressive development of the human individual. The ability to pronounce and understand words develops in a child as a result of the association of certain sounds - words of oral speech. Using language, the child changes the way of cognition: sensory (sensory and motor) experience is replaced by the use of symbols and signs. Learning no longer necessarily requires one's own sensory experience; it can occur indirectly through language; feelings and actions give way to words.
As a complex signal stimulus, the word begins to form in the second half of the child’s first year of life. As the child grows and develops and replenishes his life experience the content of the words he uses expands and deepens. The main trend in the development of the word is that it generalizes a large number of primary signals and, abstracting from their concrete diversity, makes the concept contained in it more and more abstract.
Higher forms abstractions in the brain's signaling systems are usually associated with the act of art, creative activity person, in the world of art, where the product of creativity acts as one of the types of encoding and decoding of information. Even Aristotle emphasized the ambiguous probabilistic nature of the information contained in a work of art. Like any other sign signaling system, art has its own specific code (determined by historical and national factors), a system of conventions.. In terms of communication, the information function of art allows people to exchange thoughts and experiences, allows a person to join the historical and national experience of others, far people distant (both temporally and spatially) from him. The sign or figurative thinking underlying creativity is carried out through associations, intuitive anticipations, through a “gap” in information (P. V. Simonov). Apparently connected with this is the fact that many authors of works of art, artists and writers usually begin to create a work of art in the absence of preliminary clear plans, when the final form of a creative product that is perceived by other people is far from unambiguous seems unclear to them (especially if it is a work of abstract art). The source of the versatility and ambiguity of such a work of art is the understatement, the lack of information, especially for the reader, viewer in terms of understanding and interpretation of the work of art. Hemingway spoke about this when he compared piece of art with an iceberg: only a small part of it is visible on the surface (and can be perceived more or less unambiguously by everyone), a large and significant part is hidden under water, which provides the viewer and reader with a wide field for imagination.
In studying Second signaling system At first, the accumulation of facts characterizing the meaning of the generalizing function of verbal signals prevailed, and then the discovery of the neural mechanisms of the action of the word. It has been established that the process of generalization by word develops as a result of the development of a system of conditional connections (see. Conditioned reflexes ); In this case, not only the number of connections matters, but also their nature: connections developed during the child’s activities facilitate the process of generalization. Persistent changes are observed when exposed to verbal cues excitability , greater strength, frequency and duration of electrical discharges in nerve cells certain points of the cerebral cortex. Development Second signaling system- the result of the activity of the entire cortex cerebral hemispheres; it is impossible to associate this process with the function of some limited part of the brain.
Lit.: Pavlov I. P., Poly. collection works, vol. 1-5, M. - L., 1940-49; Krasnogorsky N. I., Proceedings on the study of higher nervous activity of humans and animals, vol. 1, M., 1954; Boyko E.I., Fundamentals of higher neurodynamics, in: Borderline problems of psychology and physiology, M., 1961; Koltsova M. M., Generalization as a function of the brain, Leningrad, 1967.
M. M. Koltsova.
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