The memory functions due to the sequential change of various processes. The main memory processes include memorization, preservation, forgetting, reproduction and recall.

Memorization is a process of memory, as a result of which new information is consolidated by linking it with information learned earlier. Memorization is short-term, long-term, operational, voluntary and involuntary.

Numerous factors affect the productivity of memorizing information. Conventionally, we can talk about objective (independent of the individual) and subjective (associated with the characteristics of the individual) reasons for effective memorization (see "Psychology in Schemes").

In the experimental studies of V.D.Shadrikov and L.V. Cheremoshkina, the following techniques were identified that increase the effectiveness of memorization (sometimes they are called mnemonic techniques) (cited from: A.I. Rogov. Psychology. M, 2004):

grouping - dividing the material into groups for some reason (meaning, associations, gestalt laws, etc.);

highlighting support points - fixing a short point that serves as a support for a broader content;

plan - a set of control points;

classification - the distribution of any objects, phenomena, concepts by classes, groups, categories based on certain common features;

structuring - establishing the mutual arrangement of the parts that make up the whole, the internal structure of the memorized;

schematization - images or description of something in basic outline or in the form of a simplified representation of stored information;

analogy - the establishment of similarity, similarity in certain relations of objects, phenomena, concepts;

mnemonic techniques - a set of ready-made, well-known methods of memorization;

recoding - verbalization, or pronunciation, naming, presentation of information in a figurative form, transformation of information based on semantic, phonemic and other features;

completing the memorized material and bringing it into the memorized by the subject: using verbal mediators, combining and introducing something according to situational signs;

serial organization of the material - the establishment or construction of various sequences: distribution in volume, distribution in time, ordering in space, etc.;

associations - establishing links by similarity, contiguity or opposition;

repetition - consciously controlled and uncontrolled information circulation processes that are universal and fundamental.

Memorization as one of the processes of memory is associated with the imprinting in the psyche of that information that affects our senses or is a product of mental activity. For the subsequent use of this information, it is necessary that it be stored in the psyche. Preservation is a memory process aimed at keeping information about the world in the psyche. The duration, quality and other characteristics of preservation depend on the significance and volume of the memorized material, on its meaningfulness in perception and other factors.

Reproduction is a memory process, as a result of which the information previously fixed in the psyche is updated. During playback, information is retrieved from long-term memory. Reproduction can be unintentional (involuntary) and intentional (arbitrary). Unintentional reproduction occurs regardless of the desire and will of a person, and deliberate - as a result of a conscious goal. In a situation where a person has to make significant and long-term efforts to extract the necessary information from memory, the concept of recall is used.

Difficulties in reproduction can be associated either with a fragile memorization, or with a long period of time elapsed from the moment of memorization.

Sometimes other concepts are used to describe reproduction (recognition - arises when the object is re-perceived; reminiscence is a more complete and accurate reproduction of the material in comparison with the originally imprinted one. Reminiscence is often explained by the existence of processes of hidden, unconscious processing of memorized material, especially if it has great importance for a person).

Forgetting is a process indicating the impossibility or incorrectness of reproducing the necessary information. Forgetting has both positive and negative aspects. The negativity of forgetting is manifested in the fact that a person, not being able to use previously perceived information, solves the tasks at hand worse, may be inadequate, poorly adaptable to the situation. The positiveness of forgetting is due to the fact that if a person over time kept all the information he perceived, he could "overload" the psyche with unnecessary data, which would lead to overstrain. Other positive role forgetting is associated with the "erasure" in the memory of unpleasant life situations, events, etc. If we always remembered the unpleasant moments of our life, “got stuck” and “played” them over and over again, then our life would turn into a continuous nightmare. According to Z. Freud, thoughts and feelings that cause us suffering are often repressed into the unconscious (repression, as one of the methods of psychological defense, otherwise it is also called “motivated forgetting”). Repression makes the person unaware of or remembering past traumatic events. At the same time, unpleasant memories repressed into the unconscious, accumulating, can give rise to states of anxiety and tension. In these situations, it is necessary for the person to realize the true cause of their experiences.

Forgetting largely depends on the nature of the activity immediately preceding memorization and occurring after it. The negative influence of the activity preceding memorization is called proactive (forward directed) inhibition. The negative influence of the activity following the memorization is called retroactive (backward directed) inhibition. A number of studies have found that the effectiveness of memorization teaching material higher when learning activities organized in a variety of ways, when, following memorization, the students either rested or did physical exercises.

The rate of forgetting information different people different. At the same time, the German scientist Hermann Ebbinghaus found that forgetting unintelligible material occurs especially intensively immediately after memorization (see "Psychology in Schemes"). Therefore, one should remember about the advisability of meaningful memorization, and when it is impossible, it is necessary to organize the repetition of the material after memorization.

Patterns of memory functioning

Numerous studies of memory have led to the identification of laws and patterns in the functioning of memory. In the last century, the German researcher G. Ebbinghaus deduced a whole series of patterns of memorization:

Life events that make a strong emotional impression on a person can immediately be remembered firmly and for a long time.

Insufficiently interesting events can be experienced dozens of times and not be remembered.

Close attention improves memorization.

A person can very accurately reproduce events and not be aware of it and, conversely, make mistakes, but be sure that he reproduces them correctly. There is no direct relationship between fidelity and confidence in accuracy.

The increase in the memorized row reduces the amount of memorized information. To memorize an enlarged row, you need more repetitions to memorize. For example, a person reproduces 6 syllables after memorizing once. He is given a row of 12 syllables, in this case it is possible to reproduce 6 only after 14-16 repetitions (26 syllables - 30 repetitions).

When memorizing a long row, the beginning and end are best reproduced ("edge effect").

Repetitions in a row of memorized material are less productive for memorizing it than the distribution of such repetitions over a certain period of time (several hours, days).

What a person is especially interested in is remembered without any difficulty.

Rare, strange, unusual impressions are remembered better than familiar, frequent ones.

The founder of psychoanalysis 3. Freud described the mechanism of forgetting, which is based on the motive of unwillingness to remember. An example of motivated forgetting, according to Freud, are cases when a person involuntarily loses, puts things somewhere related to what he wants to forget, and forgets about these things so that they do not remind him of psychologically unpleasant events. The tendency to forget unpleasant things is widespread in life.

Within the framework of Gestalt theory, such a pattern of memory has been identified as memorizing unfinished actions. If people are offered a series of tasks and allow some of them to be completed, and others to interrupt unfinished, it turns out that the subjects subsequently recall unfinished tasks 2 times more often than completed ones. This is explained by the fact that when receiving a task, the subject has a need to complete it. If the task is not completed, the need is not satisfied. Motivation affects memory, keeping track of unfinished actions in it. When recalling tasks, unfinished ones are named first of all, therefore, what meets current and not completely satisfied needs is remembered more firmly and reproduced faster.

When organizing the memorization of material, memorizing the necessary information, it is necessary to take into account the existing patterns in the functioning of memory.

Development of memory in human ontogenesis

Like any mental function a person, memory develops as the individual is socialized. From early childhood, the process of memory development follows several directions:

first, mechanical memory is gradually replaced and supplemented by meaningful or logical memory;

secondly, in the beginning, direct memorization over time turns into mediated, associated with the active and conscious use of various mnemonic techniques and means for memorizing and reproducing material;

Third, involuntary memorization and reproduction, which dominates in childhood, in an adult is transformed into voluntary processes (self-regulating, subordinate to will and self-control).

A. N. Leont'ev carried out special studies of the development of memory. He experimentally showed how one mnemonic process - direct memorization - with age fits into another, mediated. This is due to the child's assimilation of more and more perfect stimuli-means of memorizing and reproducing material. The use of aids for memorization transforms direct, direct memorization into mediated.

A variety of objects can act as stimuli-means: fingers, notches, nodules for memory, crosses on the hand. These items serve as a reminder. As the child develops, external stimulus objects are replaced by internal stimuli (images, feelings, associations, ideas, thoughts). In the process of forming internal means of memorization, speech plays a central role. There arises the ability to instruct oneself in memorization so that later, when the need arises, to be able to remember accurately. Memory becomes arbitrary and independent of external conditions.

The development of arbitrary logical memory requires not only a large amount of information baggage for its emergence, but also the mastery of a certain system of mental operations, with the help of which it is possible to generalize the input material in many stages and move on to the use of symbolic languages ​​of higher levels.

In the process of transition from external to internal stimuli and an increase in the variety of mental operations, higher voluntary logical memory develops (Fig. 7).

Ticket 23.

Memory training. Methods of memorization and techniques for improving memory.

To begin with, it is worth noting that we often train our memory and attention, using various everyday situations in Everyday life... We remember what we want to buy in the store, we try to remember the birthdays of relatives, friends and acquaintances, we retell the content of a recently read book or textbook - all this and much more is a good memory exercise. However, the use of special exercises allows us to concentrate on a specific goal of developing a certain ability of our memory.

When talking about memory training, it is important to understand that it is almost impossible to directly train a specific ability to memorize material. Memory always develops in close connection with our attention, perception, thinking, sense organs and other phenomena of human nature.

In order for memorization to be successful, one should adhere to the following provisions: 1) make a mindset for memorization; 2) show more activity and independence in the process of memorization (a person will better remember the path if he moves on his own than when he will be accompanied); 3) group the material by meaning (drawing up a plan, tables, diagrams, graphics, etc.); 4) the repetition process when memorizing should be distributed over a certain time (day, several hours), and not in a row. 5) new repetition improves memorization of previously learned; 6) arouse interest in the memorized; 7) the unusualness of the material improves memorization.

Auditory memory training

Exercise 1. Reading aloud

Exercise 2. Poems

Exercise 3. Eavesdropping

Visual memory training

Exercise 1. Schulte tables

As you know, Schulte tables are useful for the development of speed reading. They perfectly train peripheral vision, attention and observation, and if you keep track of the time, then there will be an incentive to break your personal record, which will add additional excitement to the lesson with these tables.

Schulte tables are useful not only for skill development quick reading, but also for training visual memory. When looking for consecutive numbers in a table, our vision instantly captures several cells. As a result, the location of not only the desired cell is memorized, but also cells with other numbers.

Exercise 2. Training photographic memory (Aivazovsky method)

This method of training photographic memory is named after the famous Russian-Armenian marine painter Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Ayvazyan). Aivazovsky could mentally stop the movement of the wave for a moment, transferring it to the canvas so that it does not seem frozen. It was very difficult to solve this problem; it required a good development of visual memory from the artist. To achieve this effect, Aivazovsky watched the sea a lot, closed his eyes and reproduced what he saw from memory.

Exercise 3. Game of matches

The game of remembering matches is not only a useful, but also a convenient way to train visual memory. Throw 5 matches on the table, and within a few seconds, remember their location. After that, turn away and try with the other 5 matches to make the same picture on a different surface.

Exercises 4. The Roman Room

As already noted, the Roman room method is very useful for structuring memorized information. However, this famous technique can also be used to train visual memory. So when memorizing information by the method of the Roman room, try not only to remember the sequence of objects and the data assigned to them, but also the details, shapes and colors of these objects. Additional memorable images can also be assigned to these attributes. As a result, you will memorize more information, and at the same time train your visual memory.

Memorization methods are techniques that help to memorize certain new information.

Multiple repetition. For example, repeating a poem out loud many times.

A mnemonic trick is a little proverb or rhyme for the first letter of every word. For example, Every Hunter Wants To Know Where The Pheasant Sits.

Acronym - creates a new word from the first letters of each word. For example, SKIF, MAG, OKO.

Composition is memorization, which is based on some rule or principle. For example, alphabetically, by size, by color, by purpose, etc.

Or, for example, for the convenience of memorizing the tasks of the day, it makes sense to have private affairs, where you can collect, pack in the main Tasks of the day. It is difficult to put 30 things in one head in memory, but if you put them together correctly, everything becomes easier. The memory normally holds about seven objects, so it is optimal if the daily schedule contains up to 7 main tasks, and each task can consist of several (up to 7) tasks. You even have a supply ...

The associative method of memorization is visual association, consonant association, or other psychological clues.

Abbreviation - USSR, MosKomPechat

Using sounds, colors, etc. For example, a siren in case of fire, yellow handles for the operator, etc.

Ticket 24

The concept and functions of attention. Connection of attention with other mental processes, consciousness and behavior.

General understanding of attention. Types and properties of attention.

Definition and basic properties of attention. Classification of types of attention

Basic definitions of attention. W. Wundt: attention is the subjective side of the phenomena of consciousness, apperception is their objective result. Attention is a process of apperception accompanied by a sense of inner effort. E. Titchener: attention - sensory clarity. James: attention - biased, carried out through mental activity, the possession in a clear and distinct form of one of several simultaneously possible series of thought (selection). Attention - essential universal mental process, it is everywhere, but it is very difficult to single out its content and specifics. To do this, it must be considered at the level of the activity as a whole. 2 main characteristics of attention: 1) the need for selection of material, 2) the formation of past experience (to preserve it, you need to keep it for some time in consciousness, the subject's activity is necessary). Attention as an effort of consciousness that has a limited resource. Attention - the presence of a special activity of the subject, equipped with special means and associated with the effort of the subject. V. always implies activity, B - active selection; it is the formation and manifestation of a receptive attitude towards one object while ignoring others .; this is a state of clarity and distinctness of the content of consciousness; it is a willingness to notice something. in the behavior of another and react to it; it is the focus and focus of psychoactivity. orientation (orientation - the choice and maintenance of this activity; focus - distraction from other activities and deepening in this activity); this person. control activity (ideal, abbreviated, automated); phenomenal and product manifestation of the work of the Vedas. organizational level activity ÞÞ in - it is always a choice, selection and selectivity., as well as concentration and the fight against distractions.

Holy Island. Attention as a state (fixed position in a cat. Ch-t or k-t nah.) And as a process (in the aggregate sequential stages, which is brought to a k-t state) to them. diff. Holy Island. At attention as states 4 properties:

2.degree (intensity)

3 volume (the number of simple impressions or ideas realized clearly at the moment)

4. Concentration (concent) here is the volume and degree of nah. in reverse dependencies. Attention. as a process: 1. fluctuations - non-production. changes attention 2. distraction is not a problem. change of direction, 3. shifts - cont. rev. volume, 4. switch. - deliberate change in directionality, 5 stability - def. frequency of vibrations. and shifts, 6. distribution - possible. direction v. at the same time. for several. objects. 7. mobility - fast change. direction, degree, volume.

Kinds:

1) James identified 3 types: 1. by the object of consciousness (sensory and mental);

2 affective (not prior - if the object is interesting in itself and derivative - in connection with another object.);

3. liabilities. (we drew attention to him rather due to his nature than to the force of influence. on the inborn aspiration and because of this acquired. attractiveness) and active. \ arbitrary

Opaque in: the main motive. power is not in the subject, but in the object and the person. attention independent from otsoznat. goals and their frequency. passive ... Types: a. forced (congenital), call. objects with defin. har-kami (intensity, rhythm of repetition, unexpected); b. involuntary (depending on ind. experience and arising in the process of adjusting, and objects come into attention during the period when the need is actualized); v. habitual (head of purpose and education).

Free: excellent its sign is conscious. intent to turn to ch-t. attention a. volitional (conflict between the chosen object and the tendencies of non-production in. the feeling of tension); b. expectant (if human warned and waits); v. spontaneous (volitional transformation into a new f.).

2) other classif.: 1 .. selective (analyzed in conditional. Action. Several objects. By modality - visual ....). Selective from focusing (we have adapted to the answer to what should be done with this stimulus), by the fact that we focus. at the exit to the complex. sign. 2. distributed (simultaneous action); 3.continuous (long and monotonous tasks)

3) Other classif. 1) by subject, 2) by function, as a process of solving a problem; 3) by genesis.

(1) the subject content of the activity requiring attention. W. James: types of attention in relation to cognition: a) perceptual attention - observation (perception); b) intellectual attention - insight (thinking). Any activity is involuntarily accompanied by a stream of consciousness, which allows you to control the execution of actions - executive attention. (2) A. Smirnov: any activity is accompanied by a mnemonic orientation. Objective: a) the goal and the effort to achieve it - involuntary and voluntary processes; b) means - direct and indirect processes; c) role in the process of information processing (cognitive information) - P. Ya. Galperin: attention function - control. Attention - movement of mental control, automated control. (3) N. F. Dobrynin: functional criteria for the levels of development: 1) the presence of a goal - involuntary and voluntary attention; 2) the availability of funds - direct and indirect. Levels: 1) passive (natural - following the object); 2) VPF (activity); 3) post-voluntary (personality activity).

.ATTENTION. TYPES AND PROPERTIES OF ATTENTION.

Attention- the direction and concentration of consciousness on any object, providing its clearest reflection.

In the nervous system, under the influence of an external or internal system, a focus of excitation arises, which for a certain time dominates over other areas, dominates. This dominant principle underlies the physiological mechanisms of attention.

1. According to a person's activity in organizing attention, there are 3 types:

· Arbitrary- it is controlled by a conscious goal, it is closely related to the will of a person, the main function is to actively regulate the course of mental processes;

· Involuntary- the most simple and genetically original, it arises and is maintained regardless of the goals a person faces;

· Post-voluntary- This is focusing on an object, due to its value for the individual.

2. By the location of the object:

· External

· Internal

Attention properties:

1. attention span- measured by the number of objects that can be captured by attention in a very limited period of time (4-6 objects);

2. distribution of attention- it is expressed in the fact that a person can keep several objects in the center of attention at the same time;

3. switching- deliberate transfer of attention from one object to another;

4. sustainability- the duration of attracting attention to the same object (15-20 minutes);

5. abstraction.

Attention-related personality traits:

• carelessness;

· attentiveness;

• absent-mindedness (imaginary and genuine);

· Observation.

.Attention theory.

Basic theories of attention.

V. can be defined as the readiness on the part of the organism to perceive the stimuli surrounding it. ... Historically, the concept of V. has taken a central place in the field of psychology. In the end of the XIX-beginning. XX centuries. Representatives of the functionalist and structuralist schools of psychology considered V. the central problem, although they emphasized various aspects of it.

Functionalists With put in the center the selective nature of V. as an active function of the body, DOS. on his motivational state. Thus, recognizing that V. sometimes m. passive and reflexive, they focused on its arbitrary aspects and on the fact that it is V. that determines the content of the experience received by the body.

Structuralists , against, considered V. as a state of consciousness, a cut consists in increased concentration and results in clarity of impressions. Thus, they made a choice in favor of studying the conditions that led to cmax, the emphasis on the object of consciousness or the clarity of perception.

Gestalt psychologists, associationists, behaviorists and psychoanalysts were tend to ignore V. altogether when constructing their theories, at best assigning him an insignificant role. Unfortunately, during all these years of irreconcilable struggle between theorists. directions in psychology for issled. V. relatively little has been done.

Many modern attention theories assume that the observer is always surrounded by many features. The capabilities of our nervous system are too limited to feel all these millions of external stimuli, but even if we detected all of them, the brain would not be able to process them, since our information processing capacity is also limited. Our senses, like other means of communication, work quite well if the amount of information processed is within their capabilities; overload fails. The British scientist Broadbent was the first to develop a holistic theory of attention in foreign psychology. This theory, calledmodel with filtration , was associated with the so-called single-channel theory and was based on the idea that information processing is limited by the bandwidth of the channel - as stated in the original theory of information processing by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver.

D. Broadbent wrote in his sensational book "Perception and Communication" that perception is the result of work information processing systems with limited bandwidth. In Broadbent's theory, an essential idea was that the world contains the possibility of receiving much more sensations than the perceptual and cognitive abilities of a person allow to embrace. Therefore, in order to cope with the flow of incoming information, people selectively direct their attention only to some signs and "detach" from the rest.

T. Ribot proposed the so-called"Motor theory of attention », according to which the main role in the processes of attention is played by movements. It is thanks to their selective and purposeful activation that the concentration and intensification of attention on the subject occur, as well as the maintenance of attention on this subject for a certain time. A. A. Ukhtomsky expressed a similar idea about the physiological mechanism of attention. He believed that the physiological basis of attention is the dominant focus of excitation, which intensifies under the influence of extraneous stimuli and causes inhibition of neighboring areas.

Modern Russian psychologists become the first to learn the orientation reflex, or an indicative reaction, edges consists of a cluster of physiological changes occurring in the body in response to changes in its environment. It is believed that these changes are physiological correlates of attention. These correlates include changes in brain electrical activity and skin electrical activity, pupil dilation, skeletal muscle tension, increased cerebral blood flow and changes in posture. The orientation reflex leads to increased stimulation reception and improved learning. The work started by Russian psychologists was continued in the United States. In particular, studies have been carried out devoted to individual differences in the strength of the orienting reaction and the accompanying circumstances of such differences.

In the result of workneurophysiologists and neuroanatomists , such as Hernandez-Peon et al., was found in the brain stem diffuse structure, called. reticular formation, edges, apparently, mediates processes of excitement, V. and selection of stimuli. Issled. reticular formation, to-ruyu also called. the reticular activating system, as well as its connections with other important regulatory systems of the brain, provided the basis for the physiologist. explanations of the influence of motivation, sleep, sensory input, learning, as well as endogenous and exogenous chem. substances for process B.

Voluntary and involuntary attention.

WARNING UNWANTED- the simplest and most genetically original. It has a passive character, for it is imposed on the subject by events external to the goals of his activity. It arises and is maintained regardless of conscious intentions, due to the peculiarities of the object - novelty, force of influence, correspondence to an actual need, etc. The physiological manifestation of this type of attention is an orientational reaction.

WARNING ARBITRARY- is directed and supported by a consciously set goal, and therefore is inextricably linked with speech. Voluntary attention is spoken of if the activity is carried out in line with conscious intentions and requires volitional efforts on the part of the subject. It is distinguished by an active character, a complex structure, mediated by socially developed methods of organizing behavior and communication; by origin is associated with labor activity... In conditions of difficult activity, it involves volitional regulation and the use of special methods of concentration, maintenance, distribution and switching of attention.

Ticket 25.

Positive and negative effects of attention. Attention criteria.

The phenomenon of inattention. Poetic, professorial and student absent-mindedness. Super attention. Absorption. Stream experience. Negative effects of attention

The phenomena of inattention include: absent-mindedness, attention errors and the phenomena of selective (directed) inattention. Mistakes of inattention - an incorrectly performed or missed action, inability to notice an important event or object - can be the result of absent-mindedness or selective inattention. The phenomena of selective inattention, stable in time, like absent-mindedness, are distinguished by the fact that errors of attention are stably limited to one of the spheres of reality or a person's own behavior and are not observed in relation to other objects and events.

Poetic, professorial absent-mindedness. If you ask a physicist, he will remember Isaac Newton, who for tomorrow “cooked” a clock instead of an egg. A famous scientist, Ivan Kablukov, who always signed himself as Kabluk Ivanov, will come to mind of a chemist.

An example of poetic absent-mindedness is the writer Andrei Bely. The story is known when he, having come to one of the Petersburg editions, forgot to take off his galoshes. It would seem a trifle, but Bely could not resist and composed almost an ode to poetic absent-mindedness, where he shamed a certain N.V. Valentinov, who drew attention to this.

Let us single out the characteristic features of behavior and attention characteristic of these absent-mindedness. First of all, this is the lack of reaction or inadequate reaction to external influences due to excessive concentration on one's own thoughts or on the problem being solved. Habitual actions or even entire chains of actions are preserved, however, there is no feedback on the progress of their implementation and on possible changes in the environment.

Student distraction. One does not have to go far for an example of this absent-mindedness. Look into any class. There is necessarily a restless student who fidgets, tugs at his pigtails. The attention of such a student is distinguished by increased "noise immunity": it is excessively mobile, scattered, subject to distraction. As soon as the slightest stimulus appears, attention is immediately directed to it. Or a flying jackdaw, noise outside the window, the teacher's untied lace. This attention has two sides. First: high distractibility... Secondly weak concentration... This is perhaps the main problem of modern educational psychology.

Absorption (absorption) is the phenomenon of extreme attention, which was highlighted by Ribot. such attention is passive and reactive: a person does not control it, but only reacts to what is happening around. What is happening can be so exciting that he only has to open his mouth and "absorb" everything that he sees and hears. Attention to the type of absorption can lead to complete cessation of activity.

Stream experience. The phenomenon of utmost attention can also be attributed to the state of utmost involvement in activities, when a person is attentive to something that he had to work on without effort before. E.g. schoolboy completely immerses himself in the game, but once upon a time he had to spend a lot of time studying its rules and keys. And as soon as such a "immersion" has taken place, it will take a lot of work for parents to "reach out" to their child.

A similar phenomenon of Amer. psychologist Csikszentmihalyi designated as stream experience, in which we dive headlong and allow us to carry us in the right direction. It is observed when a person is not distracted from the outside and he can completely immerse himself in his favorite pastime.

Stream experience

V last years scientists were attracted by an extremely striking phenomenon associated with the phenomenon of all-encompassing total attention - flow experience... The experience of "flow" (M. Chikszentmihaya, 1990) is associated with the implementation of activities that give the subject pleasure in itself, regardless of direct dependence on its final result. Activities of this kind include play, meditation, inspiration, love experiences, etc. Many people who are asked why they waste time and money on practically useless activities, sometimes even associated with a risk to life (for example, climbers, divers, racers), answer that they do this precisely in order to achieve a state of complete immersion in the activity or, in other words, maximum intense attention.

Probably, like any normal person, I happened to go through the experience of a stream. This state for me was associated with falling in love and more than once! If I love, then strongly, if I feel, then fully. I am a maximalist in life, which is probably why I completely immerse myself in any process. In this process, my attention is focused as much as possible on one object. In my opinion, a favorite activity can also be attributed to the flow experience, which completely draws you into its depths, and you forget about time. This is of great interest to you. In my case, these are poems and paintings. Of course, I myself am not a great artist and poet! But, watching and feeling the creativity of other people, I also emotionally and strongly experience these emotions, get involved in the very essence and create something new, my own !!!

Negative effects of attention.

First of all it is de-automation- the destruction of previously automated activities when paying attention to individual components. Bernstein cited the parable of the centipede as an example. To which the malevolent toad turned and asked which foot it was starting to move with. Thinking about this, the centipede could not take a single step.

Another negative effect - semantic satiety effect... (James) if you look closely at the same word, repeat it, it will soon lose its meaning for us. It is the same with our feelings: trying to direct its attention to an emotion, it immediately disappears.

The next effect of inattention: Failure of Parallel Activities... Attention cannot be enough for everything, and if something requires more, then less is left for the rest. For example, if some question distracts a girl from knitting, which she is busy with, then knitting is definitely not enough for her.

Gippenreiter. Criteria (signs) of attention.

I. Classical psychology of consciousness: clarity and distinctness of the contents of consciousness in the field of attention (phenomenal, subjective criterion). There are also optional subjective criteria for attention: the experience of effort, the emotion of interest.

II. Productive criterion (objective). The quality of the cognitive (thinking, perception) or executive product increases in the presence of attention.

III. Mnemonic criterion. Refers to productive, but its peculiarity is that memorization is always there when there is attention (a by-product of any attentive action).

IV. External reactions. Facial expressions, posture, head rotation, eye fixation, etc. Psychophysiological correlates: EEG, GSR, pupillary reflex, etc.

V. Criterion of selectivity. Only relevant information is selected. When performing 2 or more actions, some are performed automatically.

Ticket 26 Studies of attention in classical psychology of consciousness (W. Wundt, E. Titchener, W. James). The problem of attention in gestalt psychology (K. Koffka, V. Kehler, P. Adams).

Attention in theoretical and empirical research by Wundt... The central problem of Wilhelm Wundt's research was the distinction between the phenomena of attention and consciousness. To do this, he used the metaphor of the visual field. The most clearly perceived content is in the focus of the visual field, less clearly - it is distributed on its periphery.

According to Wundt, attention is one of the characteristics or properties of consciousness. Wundt's merit is the measurement of the volume of consciousness. To measure the volume of consciousness, he used a melodic series, which includes a different number of measures. He invited the subjects to listen to a series. The bars could be of varying degrees of difficulty: two-beat, three-beat, etc. The rows were presented sequentially. The subjects were asked to determine if they were the same or not. At the same time, the subjects gave correct answers even for eight two-part rows. However, not all melodies were perceived by them clearly and distinctly. The beat perceived at the moment stood out with greater distinctness, the next one was less distinct, and so on until the sensation completely disappeared.

Wundt suggested that only the beat perceived at a given moment is in the focus of consciousness, and all the rest are held due to associative links with the focus. Presenting the subjects with matrices with a random set of letters or isolated sounds that they could not combine into measures, he determined that the amount of attention is equal to 6 complex elements. To describe the content of consciousness and attention, Wundt used the terms proposed by G. Leibniz: "perception" and "apperception". He called perception the entry of content into consciousness, apperception - concentration of attention on a certain object, i.e. its entry into the focus of consciousness. According to Wundt, our capacity for awareness is not constant and depends on the nature of the perceived material. If we perceive a set of random elements, the volume of consciousness and attention coincide. The border of consciousness becomes the border of attention (attention = consciousness). If we have before us a stimulus that consists of many interrelated elements, then the apperceived (in focus) and percept (that goes beyond attention) merge into a single whole. In this case, consciousness "expands" (consciousness> attention), and apperception carries out a connecting function between the elements of consciousness.

... Attention in Titchener's research. Edward Titchener basically shared Wundt's views, using the same phenomenological criterion - the criterion of clarity - to isolate attention as a phenomenon of consciousness. Determining the essence of attention is reduced to identifying it with the property of sensation to be clear. E. Titchener introduces the concept of "level of consciousness" and "wave of attention". The stream of consciousness flows on two levels: the upper one represents clear processes. the lower one is the “level of confusion” of consciousness. E. Titchener is credited with posing the problem of the genesis of attention. He was the first in the history of attention psychology to pose this problem and tried to solve it. They identified three stages of development of attention and three corresponding genetic forms of attention.

1) Primary attention is the earliest stage in the development of attention.

2) Secondary attention is active, voluntary attention, accompanied by volitional effort. 3) Derived primary attention - attention, in which the stimulus wins an undeniable victory over its competitors. This is a period of mature and independent activity. E. Titchener emphasizes that the three stages of attention development described by him and its corresponding genetic forms reveal differences in complexity, but not in the nature of the experience itself, which is one type of mental process. Thus, E. Titchener, like W. Wundt, singles out the criterion of clarity of consciousness as a phenomenological criterion of attention; the clarity of the sensation to which he reduces the essence of attention depends on the "predisposition" of the subject's NS, which he does not explain.

Attention as the selectivity of consciousness (W. James). William James. The central idea is the idea of ​​selectivity (selectivity) of consciousness associated with the limited volume of consciousness. Describing the phenomenon of "scattering of attention", he uses the definition of "dim background of consciousness" and clear consciousness - focused attention. At the same time, to the criterion of clarity in the description of the phenomenon of attention, he adds the criterion of selectivity (selectivity) of consciousness W. James made a significant contribution to the development of ideas about the forms of attention. He proposed several classifications of types of attention.

A. According to the object of attention: 1) sensory attention, the object of which is sensation; 2) intellectual attention - its object is the reproduced representation. B. By the mediation of the process of attention: 1) direct attention - its object itself is emotionally attractive, interesting directly; 2) indirect attention - its object itself is not interesting, but associated with an emotionally attractive object - this is apperceptive attention. C. By the presence of volitional effort: 1) passive, reflex, involuntary, not accompanied by volitional effort; 2) active, voluntary, accompanied by volitional effort. W. James's idea of ​​the diversity of forms of attention was a major turn in clarifying the issue of the main types (forms) of the existence of attention.

The problem of attention in gestalt psychology and associative psychology.

Attention is part of the perceiving process; some force within the integral field (K. Koffka, 1922). And our perception is determined by the laws of the sensory field organization: the laws of proximity, cohesion of space, pregnancies, good continuation, etc. In this description, there is absolutely no place for attention - everything happens without its participation, just as without the participation of the subject of perception. However, this understanding of attention and its place in the process of perception is not the only one in Gestalt psychology. E. Rubin questioned the very existence of attention (1925). And in 1958 W. Koehler and P. Adams published a work in which they analyzed the results of their experimental research, which led them to the conclusion that attention enhances, intensifies the process of perception, makes it selective. Representatives of English empirical psychology - associationists - did not at all include attention in the system of psychology, for them neither personality nor object existed, but only ideas and their associations; therefore, there was no attention for them.

Attention as "Ego Power" in Gestalt Psychology.

As the main characteristic of psychological processes, Gestalt psychology considers objectivity, which is clearly represented in the phenomenon of highlighting a figure or object from the background. The concept of a structure (gestalt), reflecting the objective integrity of an object and having an advantage over its elements, constitutes the main core of the concept. The formation of a gestalt obeys its own laws, such as the grouping of parts in the direction of maximum simplicity, proximity, balance, the tendency of any mental phenomenon to take on a more definite, distinct, complete form, etc.

Gestalt psychologists envisioned attention as one force factor influencing the psychological processes of the subject. "Attention is a force emanating from the Ego and directed to an object (a case of voluntary attention), or a force emanating from an object in the direction of the Ego (a case of involuntary attention)," K. Koffka wrote. Such attention to the process of attention presupposes its consideration as one of the factors included in the process of structuring the phenomenal field.

The human psyche was understood in gestalt psychologists as an integral phenomenal field (the totality of what the subject is experiencing at a given moment), which has certain properties and structure. The main components of the phenomenal field are figure and ground.

Experimentally, the influence of attention on the threshold of dismemberment of figures was shown in the experiment of W. Kehler and P. Adams. The subjects were shown a white shield with dots. In the case when the distance between the dots vertically and horizontally was equal, the shield was perceived as uniformly filled with dots. From sample to sample, the horizontal distance remained constant, while the vertical distance gradually decreased. One group was presented only with a shield (the condition of attention), while the other group was shown figures cut from paper against the background of the shield, which they had to describe (the condition of lack of attention).

After completing the task, the subjects were asked whether they saw dots or columns. It turned out that in the presence of attention, in order for the scattering of points to begin to be perceived as vertical columns, the distance between points along the vertical should become 1.7 times less than the distance between points along the horizontal. In the absence of attention, this distance should be three times less. In other words, under conditions of attentive perception, the threshold for dismemberment of the figure becomes significantly lower (the distance between the points at the moment when they are already perceived as “columns should be greater”) than when the shield is the background.

Thus, in that part of the field to which attention is directed, the principles of its organization described by Gestalt psychologists (in in this case the principle of proximity), act with weaker stimulation.

Katerina Nikitina 12.09.2016

The palaces of the mind
How memory works, what mechanisms help us remember and where our memories are stored

In 1953 young man Henry Mollison, who suffered from epilepsy from an early age, underwent surgery, as a result of which his life changed dramatically. During the operation, the surgeon completely removed the 27-year-old Mollison's hippocampus, since by that time epilepsy had passed into a rather severe stage and radical methods of treatment were needed. Observations of Mollison gave amazing results: the patient remembered everything that happened to him before the removal of the hippocampus, but he could not remember new things.

This case attracted much attention of scientists to the problem of memory and helped to take the first step towards global discoveries in neuroscience. The Fleming project figured out, together with scientists, how our memory can actually be arranged.

Memory plays extremely important role In human life. It is obvious that without memory we would not be able to fully exist in a society of people. Most likely, we would have died much earlier in the process of evolution: our ancestors could not remember, teach others and learn by themselves what is dangerous in the world around them and how it can be avoided.

From the ancient Greeks to the present day

For a long time people have been interested in such a phenomenon as memory. Even ancient Greek philosophers tried to answer the questions of where memory is located, what determines its volume and what it is. Parmenides believed that memory is a mixture of warmth and cold: if we shake this mixture, forgetting occurs, and if this mixture is at rest, then a person has an excellent memory. Diogenes assumed that memory is even distribution air in the body, and when this distribution changes, either memorization or forgetting occurs. Plato, on the other hand, put forward the theory that this is something similar to wax, in which all our impressions and emotions are imprinted. A student of Plato, Aristotle, believed that memorization is associated with the movement of blood through the body, and forgetting occurs as a result of slowing down its movement. He also formulated the idea of ​​associations as the main mechanism for the emergence of images without visible external stimuli.

Another ancient school, the Roman, was in solidarity with Plato and the "wax" theory. A new concept for that time was proposed by the Roman philosopher and physician Galen, who considered memory as a result of the movement of fluids. He suggested that memory is localized in the brain, where they are produced.

Over time, mankind accumulated scientific knowledge and discovered new ways to study memory, and, consequently, new theories appeared. English thinker David GartleeveXviiicentury suggested that there are vibrations in the brain and new impressions change them, after which the vibrations again become the same, but if the impression arises again, then it takes more time to return to the previous state. As a result, this leads to the fixation of vibrations in a new state - a memory trace is formed. In the twentieth century, this theory was partially confirmed in neurophysiological studies - the effect of reverberation of a nerve impulse in closed circuits of neurons. V XIX century, the French physiologist Pierre Jean Marie Flourens suggested that the brain acts as a whole, and memory is located in all its parts, and not in any one place.

The experimental study of memory at the end of the 19th century was initiated by the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. His work "On Memory" is the first attempt to apply experimental research methods to the study of memory. Ebbinghaus made experiments on memorizing and reproducing material, choosing for this meaningless rows of syllables. He conducted experiments for two years. Their most important result was the creation of a "forgetting curve", which shows how long information once memorized is stored in memory.

What is memory

There are many definitions of what memory is. From the point of view of psychology, memory is a trace form of mental reflection of the past, which consists in memorizing, preserving, and then replaying or recognizing what was previously perceived. Physiology considers memory as the retention of information about a stimulus after its termination. If we consider this concept more globally, then memory is one of the properties of the nervous system, which consists in the ability for some time to store information about events in the external world and the body's reactions to these events, as well as to reproduce and change this information many times. Memory is inherent in all living organisms that have a sufficiently developed central nervous system. Depending on the degree of development, various representatives In the animal kingdom, memory manifests itself in different ways: from simple reflexes characteristic of coelenterates to much more complex manifestations of nervous activity characteristic of birds and mammals.

The physiological basis of memory is the traces of neural processes preserved in the cortex. Any nervous process, be it excitement or inhibition, leaves its mark in the form of certain functional changes, which, in the event of repeated irritation, facilitate the course of the corresponding nervous processes.

Neurophysiologists call these traces “engrams”. An engram is a memory trail formed as a result of learning. From the point of view of science, engrams are biochemical and biophysical changes in the brain resulting from external influences; thanks to them we are able to store information. The existence of engrams is one of many modern theories related to memory mechanisms, but this theory has quite a lot of scientific foundations and, as a result, adherents among scientists.

On the basis of the theory of engrams, the hypothesis of memory trace consolidation is constructed. Consolidation is a process that leads to the consolidation of an engram, which is realized due to reverberation - repeated circulation of an impulse through closed circuits of neurons. The central concepts of this hypothesis are short-term and long-term memory. According to scientists, when fixing information, there is a transition from one form of engrams to another.

Previously, it was believed that the memory trail in its development goes through two stages: first, the stage short-term memory, then long-term. Due to the reverberation, the trace is stored in short-term memory for a short period of time (it was assumed not more than a few minutes). Neurophysiologist Donald Hebb suggested that only certain neurons are involved in the learning process, which, with repeated repetition of the same stimulus, form stable closed “cell ensembles”, through which an electrical impulse constantly passes, as a result of which morphofunctional and biochemical changes in synapses occur ( consolidation). With repeated use of the same synaptic contacts, impulse conduction is improved and specific proteins are formed.

In the event that the process of impulse reverberation is interrupted or prevented, the transition of the engram from short-term memory to long-term memory will be impossible.

This hypothesis finds experimental confirmation. In experiments using the methods of experimental retrograde amnesia (when a person forgets about what preceded the traumatic event), it was found that in the phase of short-term memory, the engram is unstable: it can be destroyed, for example, by electric shock. This is due to the fact that the reverberation process is interrupted and, as a result, the formation of the engram.

But this hypothesis also has its drawbacks.

The main such disadvantage is the phenomenon of memory recovery. Despite the effect of the electric shock, in some cases the destruction of engrams does not occur, but the phenomenon of spontaneous memory recovery appears. A person's memory begins to recover.

Scientists have been able to develop methods by which it is possible to restore a memory trace after exposure to an area of ​​the brain with an electric shock. They are based on the effect on the brain of electrical impulses of different strengths before and after the experimental retrograde amnesia. These experiments proved that there is another form of the existence of engrams, the third, which cannot be reproduced for some time after exposure to the amnestic agent. Thus, scientists came to the conclusion that the erasure of engrams does not occur, but only their temporary suppression is manifested.

Why are engrams so interesting to scientists? There are many carriers of information - paper, electronic - and they are all analogs of engrams. However, our brains are much more complex and much less studied than any of the existing processors. We are not only capable of storing information, but we are also able to reproduce the necessary memory at the right time. Thus, by studying the processes of coding information, scientists hope to get closer to understanding how our memory works.

For the first time, the theory that certain parts of the brain can store memories came about as a result of an experiment in which a patient with epilepsy was stimulated with electrical discharges in various parts of the brain. When the temporal lobe was stimulated, vivid memories began to appear in the patient. With repeated stimulation of this site, the memory was repeated, which led the researchers to the idea of ​​looking for similar areas of the cortex with memories.

When external stimuli are perceived, a complex interaction of many nerve cells occurs in various parts of the cerebral cortex, and connections are established between them. Thanks to these temporary connections, the memory process is possible.

Moreover, not only sounds, visual images, smells and tactile sensations (that is, stimuli of the first signaling system) can cause the described nervous processes. Words, stimuli of the second signaling system, are also capable of provoking the formation of connections between neurons. However, in both cases, the established temporary neural connections do not remain unchanged. In the process of life, they change, enter into new connections, rebuild under the influence of experience.

Memory includes three separate, but closely related processes: information coding, storage and reproduction. Information coding is necessary for the formation of the already mentioned "memory traces".

There is a division of memory into sensory, short-term and long-term. Sensory memory provides a brief retention of a stimulus so that we have time to capture and become aware of it. Short-term memory (CV) is a pantry with limited capacity that can be assessed using number memorization problems. Most people are able to retain about 5-9 elements in memory, and combining them allows you to remember even more. Without repetition, such information will be erased from memory in a few minutes. Long Term Memory (LRM) is more stable - undoubtedly a much larger pantry containing all our knowledge of the world and memories of the past. However, it is more difficult to reproduce memories from long-term memory: the same signal is needed as the one at which the information was encoded in the DP.

Where is memory stored

Until now, no one can give an exact answer to this question. It is believed that almost all brain structures are involved in the processes of memorization, however, scientists distinguish several zones in the brain that are especially important in relation to memory.

Various structures of the brain take part in the process of memorizing, which can be divided into a general cerebral level (it includes the reticular formation, hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus, and frontal cortex) and the regional level (all parts of the cortex, except for the frontal cortex).

There are many systems, each of which is responsible for its own kind of memory. It is known that the temporal cortex is responsible for memorizing and storing figurative information, because it is located next to the visual center. The hippocampus plays an important role. The hippocampus is a paired structure located in the center of the temporal hemispheres. The right and left hippocampus are connected by nerve fibers. The hippocampus belongs to one of the oldest brain systems - the limbic, which determines its multifunctionality. Most researchers agree that the hippocampus is associated with memory, but how it works is not yet clear.

There is a theory of "two-state memory" that the hippocampus keeps information awake and transfers it to the cerebral cortex during sleep. Another function of the hippocampus is memorizing and encoding the surrounding space (spatial memory). In 2014, a group of scientists received the Nobel Prize for the discovery in the rat hippocampus of cells responsible for spatial orientation. They are activated whenever it is necessary to keep the focus of attention on external reference points that determine behavior.

With damage to the hippocampus, Korsakov's syndrome occurs - a disease in which the patient, with comparatively preserved traces of long-term memory, loses his memory of current events. A decrease in the volume of the hippocampus is one of the earliest diagnostic signs in Alzheimer's disease.

The hippocampus serves as a meeting place for conditioned and unconditioned stimuli and participates in consolidation processes. He determines what needs to be remembered at the moment, and what is unimportant - this was proven in an experiment in which, when the hippocampus was removed, the patient lost the ability to memorize. Despite the inability to perceive new information, Henry Mollison was able to learn to play on musical instruments and some computer games, which is attributed to motor memory, since each time Mollison had to re-figure out how to play the game given to him. He was acquiring new motor skills, but did not remember how he acquired them. The man who allowed scientists to make discoveries in the field of neuroscience, and in particular to study the role of the hippocampus, died in 2008 at the age of 82, although he himself believed that he was still 27.

In addition to consolidation, the hippocampus is responsible for the reproduction of information under the influence of certain stimuli, promotes the formation of new connections between neurons.

In the brain, there are also structures of genetic memory localized in the thalamohypothalamic complex. Here are the centers of instincts - food, defensive, sexual, centers of pleasure and aggression, centers of emotions (fear, longing, joy, anger and pleasure). Postures, facial expressions, defensive and aggressive movements are recorded in the motor zone.

The limbic system is a zone of subconscious-subjective experience of a person. Emotional attitudes, stable assessments, habits are stored here. Long-term behavioral memory is localized in the limbic system.

The neocortex (new cortex) stores everything that is associated with voluntary activity. The frontal lobes of the brain are the area of ​​verbal-logical memory, where sensory information is transformed into semantic information.

The parietal lobes are responsible for memorizing simple tasks. The temporal lobes store long-term memories. The amygdala reproduces memories of emotional events.

Cellular memory

The main memory cell is a neuron. Until recently, scientists believed that the processes of nerve cells play a leading role in memory mechanisms, but now the body is considered the main part of the cell in memory processes.

For the past several decades, scientists have been using shellfish to study memory mechanisms.

Why did molluscs become the object of research? Some nerve cells in molluscs are very large, millimeter in size, that is, they are visible to the naked eye. This simplifies the conduct of experiments and opens up great opportunities for researchers. At the same time, for creatures with such a primitive nervous system, mollusks have rather complex behavior.

Thanks to the squid, John Eccles received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 for his discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms of excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central regions of nerve cells. Studying the activity of the cerebellum, which controls the coordination of muscle movements, Eccles came to the conclusion that inhibition plays a particularly important role in the cerebellum. In 2000, the Alysia snail helped Eric Kendal win an award for his discovery: short-term memory is due to the phosphorylation of proteins that form channels in cell membranes through which calcium ions and other ions involved in the transmission of nerve impulses can pass. Long-term memory is provided by the synthesis of new proteins triggered by strong stimuli. These proteins alter the structure of the synapse and its sensitivity to subsequent stimuli. After successful experiments on snails, Kendal decided to test his theory in mice and found exactly the same mechanism as for aplasia.

Kendal wasn't the only one who used aplysium for his research. Scientists at the University of California Los Angeles have questioned the widespread belief that long-term memory is stored in the brain at synapses. To confirm their guesses, they conducted a series of experiments on the famous snails.

Previously, it was believed that memory processes are due to synaptic communication between neurons using a special substance - serotonin, one of the main neurotransmitters, also called "the hormone of happiness." Serotonin performs many essential functions, however, participation in the mechanisms of memorization, according to the latest research, was not included in their list.

The researchers shocked the alysium with an electric current, thus inducing a flexion reflex in them, which is precisely the manifestation of long-term memory. The electrical shock triggered the release of serotonin, which in turn formed synaptic connections that generated and retained memories.

If the release of serotonin was impaired at the first stage of the experiment, then memory impairment also occurred.

The drifting stage of the experiment was carried out using a Petri dish, where the nerve cells of alysia were placed. With the addition of serotonin, new synaptic connections were formed, memory was preserved. If, however, immediately after serotonin, an inhibitor was added to the cup, which interfered with the secretion of proteins, then synaptic connections were not formed, memory was impaired. If the inhibitor was administered twenty-four hours later, the synaptic connections continued to develop and memory was not impaired.

Scientists continued to experiment with serotonin and found that if two servings of serotonin were added to neurons in a petri dish at intervals of 24 hours, and immediately after that they were injected with a protein inhibitor, synaptic connections and memories were erased. When calculating the remaining synaptic connections, it turned out that their number returned to the level that existed before the start of the experiment. It turned out that both the disappeared and the surviving connections were both new and old. Why this is happening and what determines the safety of ties, no one at the moment knows.

When conducting the same experiment with a live mollusk, it turned out that although some of the synaptic connections disappeared, the very memory of the electric shock in the mollusk was preserved. Hence the most important conclusion was made: memories are not stored at all in synapses, but in some other parts of the nervous system. Scientists cannot yet determine exactly where, but there is an assumption that neuronal nuclei are responsible for long-term memory. This gives great hope to people with Alzheimer's and their loved ones: if memories are stored not in synapses, but in neurons, then as long as nerve cells are alive, memories can be revived.

Another interesting phenomenon in the world of neurophysiology is the grandmother's neuron. The term was first used by neuroscientist Jerry Letwin in 1969 during a conversation with students. He said: "If the human brain consists of specialized neurons, and they encode the unique properties of various objects, then, in principle, somewhere in the brain there must be a neuron with the help of which we recognize and remember our grandmother." This term has taken root in science, but there are other variants of the name of this neuron - "Monroe neuron", "Halle Berry neuron", "Eiffel Tower neuron", etc.

The grandmother's neuron theory was backed up by a 2005 study in which neurologist Christoph Koch of the California Institute of Technology and neurosurgery professor Yitzhak Fried of the University of California at Los Angeles found that individual cells in the brain are in charge of recognizing a celebrity.

Neurons were activated not only when exposed to a corresponding visual stimulus, but also when the names of objects were pronounced aloud and if the subject was thinking about them himself. Despite the fact that the discovery of "grandmother's neurons" did not help much in understanding the mechanisms of recognition, their finding paved the way for new experiments, the results of which may allow scientists to answer the question "how does our memory work?"

Neuroscience is a vast interconnected network of disciplines that includes not only the sciences such as physiology and biochemistry, but also computer science, engineering, linguistics, medicine, physics, philosophy, and psychology. Developing from neuroscience, this scientific field is currently one of the most advanced and exciting. Thanks to scientists who have studied and study the neurons of mollusks, affect the brain with electrical impulses, as well as perform many other complex operations on the brain of experimental animals, in the near future there will be a lot of discoveries that will allow us to take a fresh look at our nervous system, to understand, how does our memory work, and maybe find out what other possibilities our brain hides.

Nowadays, a considerable amount of scientific knowledge has been accumulated, but there is still no single picture about the processes of memorization. Perhaps, as a result of the further development of science, scientists will be able to invent a way with which we will be able to understand this complex process.

In contact with

The riddle of human memory is one of the main scientific problems of the 21st century, and it will have to be solved by the joint efforts of chemists, physicists, biologists, physiologists, mathematicians and representatives of other scientific disciplines. And although it is still far from a full understanding of what happens to us when we “remember”, “forget” and “remember again”, important discoveries of recent years point the right way.

One of the main problems of neurophysiology is the impossibility of conducting experiments on humans. However, even in primitive animals, basic memory mechanisms are similar to ours.

Pavel Balaban

Today, even the answer to the basic question - what is memory in time and space - can consist mainly of hypotheses and assumptions. If we talk about space, then it is still not very clear how memory is organized and where exactly it is located in the brain. Science data suggest that its elements are present everywhere, in each of the areas of our "gray matter". Moreover, one and the same, seemingly, information can be written into memory in different places.

For example, it has been established that spatial memory (when we remember a certain environment for the first time - a room, a street, a landscape) is associated with an area of ​​the brain called the hippocampus. When we try to extract this setting from memory, say, ten years later, this memory will already be extracted from a completely different area. Yes, memory can move within the brain, and this thesis is best illustrated by an experiment once carried out with chickens. Imprinting plays an important role in the life of newly hatched chickens - instant learning (and placing in memory is learning). For example, a chicken sees a large moving object and immediately "imprints" in the brain: this is a mother-chicken, you need to follow her. But if, after five days, the part of the brain responsible for imprinting is removed from the chicken, it turns out that ... the memorized skill has not gone anywhere. It has moved to a different area, and this proves that there is one repository for immediate learning outcomes, and another for long-term storage.

We remember with pleasure

But it is even more surprising that the brain does not have such a clear sequence of movement of memory from operational to permanent, as it happens in a computer. Working memory, which records immediate sensations, simultaneously triggers other memory mechanisms - medium-term and long-term. But the brain is an energy-intensive system and therefore tries to optimize the use of its resources, including memory. Therefore, nature has created a multistage system. Working memory is quickly formed and just as quickly destroyed - there is a special mechanism for this. But for real important events are recorded for long-term storage, while their importance is emphasized by emotion, attitude to information. At the physiological level, emotion is the activation of the most powerful biochemical modulating systems. These systems release hormones-mediators that change the biochemistry of memory in the right direction. Among them, for example, are various pleasure hormones, the names of which remind not so much of neurophysiology as of criminal chronicle: these are morphines, opioids, cannabinoids - that is, drugs produced by our body. In particular, endocannabinoids are generated directly at synapses - the contacts of nerve cells. They influence the effectiveness of these contacts and, thus, “encourage” the recording of this or that information in memory. Other substances from among the hormones-mediators can, on the contrary, suppress the process of transferring data from working memory to long-term memory.

The mechanisms of emotional, that is, biochemical memory reinforcement are now being actively studied. The only problem is that laboratory research of this kind can only be carried out on animals, but how much can a laboratory rat tell us about its emotions?

If we have stored something in our memory, then sometimes it’s time to remember this information, that is, to extract it from memory. But is this word "extract" correct? Apparently, not very much. It seems that memory mechanisms do not retrieve information, but re-generate it. There is no information in these mechanisms, just as there is no voice or music in the "hardware" of a radio receiver. But everything is clear with the receiver - it processes and converts the electromagnetic signal received to the antenna. What kind of "signal" is processed when retrieving memory, where and how this data is stored, is still very difficult to say. However, it is already known that during recollection, memory is rewritten, modified, or at least this happens with some types of memory.

Not electricity, but chemistry

In search of an answer to the question of how to modify or even erase memory, important discoveries have been made in recent years, and a number of works have appeared on the "memory molecule."

In fact, they tried to isolate such a molecule or at least some material carrier of thought and memory for two hundred years, but without much success. In the end, neurophysiologists came to the conclusion that there is nothing specific to memory in the brain: there are 100 billion neurons, there are 10 quadrillion connections between them, and somewhere, in this cosmic-scale network, memory, thoughts, and behavior are uniformly encoded. Attempts have been made to block certain chemicals in the brain, and this has led to a change in memory, but also to a change in the entire functioning of the body. It was only in 2006 that the first works on the biochemical system appeared, which seems to be very specific for memory. Her blockage did not cause any changes in behavior or learning ability - only the loss of part of her memory. For example, memory about the situation if the blocker was injected into the hippocampus. Or emotional shock if a blocker was injected into the amygdala. The discovered biochemical system is a protein, an enzyme called protein kinase M-zeta, which controls other proteins.

One of the main problems of neurophysiology is the impossibility of conducting experiments on humans. However, even in primitive animals, basic memory mechanisms are similar to ours.

The molecule works at the site of synaptic contact - the contact between neurons in the brain. Here it is necessary to make one important digression and clarify the specifics of these very contacts. The brain is often likened to a computer, and therefore many people think that the connections between neurons, which create everything that we call thinking and memory, are purely electrical in nature. But this is not the case. The language of synapses is chemistry, here some secreted molecules, like a key with a lock, interact with other molecules (receptors), and only then do electrical processes begin. The efficiency and high throughput of the synapse depends on how many specific receptors will be delivered through the nerve cell to the site of contact.

Protein with special properties

Protein kinase M-zeta just controls the delivery of receptors to the synapse and thus increases its efficiency. When these molecules are turned on at the same time in tens of thousands of synapses, signal rerouting occurs, and the general properties of a certain network of neurons change. All this tells us little about how changes in memory are encoded in this rerouting, but one thing is known for certain: if the protein kinase M-zeta is blocked, the memory will be erased, because the chemical bonds that provide it will not work. The newly discovered "molecule" of memory has a number of interesting features.

First, it is capable of self-reproduction. If, as a result of learning (that is, obtaining new information) in the synapse, a certain additive is formed in the form of a certain amount of protein kinase M-zeta, then this amount can remain there for a very long time, despite the fact that this protein molecule decomposes in three to four days. Somehow, the molecule mobilizes the resources of the cell and ensures the synthesis and delivery of new molecules to the place of synaptic contact to replace the ones that have left.

Secondly, one of the most interesting features of the M-zeta protein kinase is its blocking. When the researchers needed to obtain a substance for experiments on blocking the memory "molecule", they simply "read" the section of her gene, which encodes her own peptide blocker, and synthesized it. However, this blocker is never produced by the cell itself, and for what purpose evolution left its code in the genome is unclear.

The third important feature the molecule consists in the fact that both it and its blocker have an almost identical appearance for all living beings with a nervous system. This indicates that in the person of protein kinase M-zeta we are dealing with the most ancient adaptive mechanism on which human memory is also built.

Of course, protein kinase M-zeta is not a "memory molecule" in the sense in which scientists of the past hoped to find it. It is not a material carrier of memorized information, but, obviously, acts as a key regulator of the effectiveness of connections within the brain, initiates the emergence of new configurations as a result of learning.

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Now experiments with the blocker of protein kinase M-zeta have in some sense the character of "shooting in the area." The substance is injected into certain parts of the brain of experimental animals with the help of a very thin needle and thus turns off memory immediately in large functional blocks. The boundaries of the blocker's penetration are not always clear, as well as its concentration in the area of ​​the site chosen as the target. As a result, not all experiments in this area bring unambiguous results.

A true understanding of the processes occurring in memory can be provided by work at the level of individual synapses, but this requires targeted delivery of a blocker into contact between neurons. Today this is impossible, but since such a task is facing science, sooner or later the tools for its solution will appear. Special hopes are pinned on optogenetics. It has been established that a cell in which the ability to synthesize a light-sensitive protein is built-in by genetic engineering methods can be controlled using a laser beam. And if such manipulations at the level of living organisms are not yet performed, something similar is already being done on the basis of grown cell cultures, and the results are very impressive.