Higher mental functions.
1. The concept of higher mental functions. The meaning of the sign in the development of the HMF
The concept of "higher mental functions" - central to neuropsychology - was introduced into general psychology and neuropsychology by L.S. Vygotsky, and then developed in detail by A.R. Luria and other authors.
In neuropsychology, as in general psychology, higher mental functions are understood as complex shapes conscious mental activity, carried out on the basis of appropriate motives, regulated by appropriate goals and programs and subject to all laws of mental activity.
The fundamental theory of the origin and development of higher mental functions was developed by Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (1896-1934). Based on the ideas of comparative psychology, L.S. Vygotsky began his research at the point where comparative psychology stopped before questions that were insoluble for it: it could not explain the phenomenon of human consciousness. Vygotsky's fundamental idea is about the social mediation of human mental activity. The instrument of this mediation is, according to Vygotsky, the sign (word).
The first version of his theoretical generalizations concerning the patterns of development of the psyche in ontogenesis, Vygotsky outlined in the work "Development of the HMF". In this work, a scheme was presented for the formation of the human psyche in the process of using signs as a means of regulating mental activity.
In the mechanisms of brain activity L.S. Vygotsky saw dynamic functional complexes.
Higher mental functions arose with the help of a sign. A sign is an instrument of mental activity. It is an artificially created human stimulus, a means to control one's own behavior and the behavior of others.
The history of the development of mankind is the history of the development of the sign. The more powerful the development of signs in generations, the more developed the HMF. A sign can be called gestures, speech, notes, painting. The word, both oral and written speech is also a sign. Young children are already beginning to master the signs that are expressed in the pattern.
Vygodsky believed that a person has 2 lines of development:
) natural;
) cultural (historical).
The natural line of development is the physical, natural development of the child from the moment of birth. With the appearance of communication with the outside world, a cultural line of development arises.
In accordance with this, he singled out mental functions - natural - these are sensations, perception, children's thinking, involuntary memory and higher mental functions - cultural - abstract thinking, speech, voluntary memory, voluntary attention, imagination.
The use of a sign, a word as a specifically human mental regulator restructures all the higher mental functions of a person. Mechanical memory becomes logical, the associative flow of ideas - productive thinking and creative imagination, impulsive actions - arbitrary actions.
Explanatory principles of L.S. Vygotsky provide answers to a number of theoretical questions:
What is distinguishing feature development of the human psyche from the development of the psyche of animals. Between a person and the world there is a social (cultural) environment through which all external interactions of a person with the world and all forms of organization of his behavior are refracted. In the ontogenetic formation of the human psyche, biological maturation and cultural development constitute a unity. The cultural development of a person is the formation and development in joint activity and communication of higher mental functions.
HMFs are formed as the subject masters cultural and historical experience by including instrumental and sign-symbolic means in the organization of natural mental functions. HMF provide arbitrary, reflexive and conscious forms of organization by the subject of behavior and psyche.
What is the main source of formation and development of higher mental functions. The source of the development of the human psyche is in the external " perfect shape» - in the means and methods of activity and communication fixed in human culture, which must be mastered. The formation of the HMF distinguishes a person from the animal world and consists in the appropriation of the cultural and historical experience of mankind, which ensures a change in the structure of activity and the human psyche. The development of the human psyche necessarily involves:
mastering the ways of using objects of human culture.
mastering the methods of using and making tools that increase the capabilities of natural organs and act as a means of transforming the objective world.
mastering the methods of active use of linguistic (sign-symbolic) means, which increase the possibilities of natural mental functions and ensure the organization of consciousness and arbitrary control of mental processes.
mastering the ways of arbitrary organization of one's own behavior and mental processes based on the use of instrumental and sign-symbolic means.
mastering the means and methods of implementing interpersonal and social relations.
How higher mental functions are formed and developed in a person. Initially, new mental functions of a person are formed in the external world, and not inside the brain or body. Therefore, the mental development of a person is determined external conditions interactions with people and the objective world. And the richer and more saturated with various forms of communication, behavior, actions the conditions for the development of the child, the more intensively and comprehensively his individual mental development will proceed.
Wherein special meaning in the development of the human psyche, it has mastery of the ways and means of using sign-symbolic means: first, it is the mastery of gestures, later, the methods of using language, and even later, various artificial sign-symbolic systems and ways of using them to solve a wide variety of problems.
How linguistic and other sign-symbolic means are included in the organization of higher mental functions. The signs of the language (as well as other signs and symbols), as the subject masters them, acquire two the most important characteristics: a) subject relatedness - designate and replace objectively existing objects and phenomena; b) meaning - they actualize similar ideas, generalizations, concepts fixed in the psyche of people. Meanings initially exist outside the subject - in objects involved by humanity in the sphere of its activity.
The sign reminds a person of the need to perform a certain system of operations, in which all mental functions can participate in a certain combination.
The correct use of linguistic and other sign-symbolic means is a necessary condition for the formation and development of cognitive mental functions of a person, as well as for mastering modern scientific knowledge. Exactly various ways the use of language, signs, symbols provide a person with the opportunity to arbitrarily and deliberately fix various representations and concepts in the mental plane, perform all kinds of transformations on them and fix the results obtained.
2. Properties of higher mental functions
Higher mental functions are complex systemic formations that are qualitatively different from other mental phenomena. They are "psychological systems" that are created "by building new formations over the old ones, while preserving the old formations in the form of subordinate layers within the new whole." The main characteristics of higher mental functions:
complexity;
sociality;
mediation;
arbitrariness.
These main characteristics are systemic qualities that characterize higher mental functions as “psychological systems”.
Let's consider them in more detail.
The complexity is manifested in the fact that the higher mental functions are diverse in terms of the features of formation and development, in terms of the structure and composition of conditionally distinguished parts and the connections between them. In addition, the complexity is determined by the specific relationship of some results of human phylogenetic development (preserved in contemporary culture) with the results of ontogenetic development at the level of mental processes. During the historical development, man has created unique sign systems that allow comprehending, interpreting and comprehending the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world. These systems continue to evolve and improve. Their change in a certain way affects the dynamics of the very mental processes of a person. Thus, the dialectic of mental processes, sign systems, phenomena of the surrounding world is carried out.
The social nature of higher mental functions is determined by their origin. They can develop only in the process of interaction of people with each other. The main source of occurrence is internalization, i.e. transfer ("rotation") social forms behavior to the inner plane. Internalization is carried out in the formation and development of external and internal relations of the individual. Here the HMF goes through two stages of development. First, as a form of interaction between people (interpsychic stage). Then as an internal phenomenon (intrapsychic stage). Teaching a child to speak and think is a vivid example of the process of internalization.
The mediation of higher mental functions is visible in the ways of their functioning. The development of the capacity for symbolic activity and mastery of the sign is the main component of mediation. The word, image, number and other possible identification signs of a phenomenon (for example, a hieroglyph as a unity of a word and an image) determine the semantic perspective of comprehending the essence at the level of unity of abstraction and concretization. In this sense, thinking as operating with symbols, behind which there are representations and concepts, or creative imagination as operating with images, are the corresponding examples of the functioning of the HMF. In the process of functioning of the HMF, cognitive and emotional-volitional components of awareness are born: meanings and meanings.
Arbitrary higher mental functions are according to the method of implementation. Thanks to mediation, a person is able to realize his functions and carry out activities in a certain direction, anticipating possible result, analyzing your experience, correcting behavior and activities. The arbitrariness of HMF is also determined by the fact that the individual is able to act purposefully, overcoming obstacles and making appropriate efforts. A conscious desire for a goal and the application of efforts determines the conscious regulation of activity and behavior. We can say that the idea of the HMF comes from the idea of the formation and development of volitional mechanisms in a person.
Higher mental functions develop only in the process of education and socialization. They cannot arise in a feral person (feral people, according to K. Linnaeus, are individuals who grew up in isolation from people and were brought up in the community of animals). Such people lack the main qualities of HMF: complexity, sociality, mediation and arbitrariness. Of course, we can find some elements of these qualities in the behavior of animals. For example, the conditionality of the actions of a trained dog can be correlated with the quality of the mediation of functions.
However, higher mental functions develop only in connection with the formation of internalized sign systems, and not at the level reflex activity even if it becomes conditional. Thus, one of the most important qualities of the HMF is the mediation associated with the general intellectual development of a person and the possession of numerous sign systems.
3. The main components of higher mental functions
The highest mental functions include: memory, thinking, perception, speech. They are social in origin, mediated in structure and arbitrary in the nature of regulation.
Let's consider them in more detail.
) Perception. Perception is the mental process of reflecting objects and phenomena of reality in the aggregate of their various properties and parts with their direct impact on the senses. Perception is a reflection of a complex stimulus.
Perception includes four, as it were, four stages: detection, discrimination or actual perception, identification, recognition.
Depending on the extent to which the activity of the individual will be purposeful, perception is divided into: unintentional (involuntary) and intentional (arbitrary).
Unintentional perception can be caused both by the features of the surrounding objects (their brightness, unusualness), and by the correspondence of these objects to the interests of the individual.
Intentional perception from the very beginning is regulated by the task - to perceive this or that object or phenomenon, to get acquainted with it. So, for example, intentional perception would be looking at electrical circuit the machine being studied, listening to a report, viewing a thematic exhibition, etc.
Distinguish the following types perception: perception of objects, time, perception of relationships, movements, space, perception of a person.
Different kinds perceptions have specific patterns.
First of all, this is integrity, i.e. perception is always a holistic image of an object, and secondly, the constancy of perception - thanks to it, we perceive the surrounding objects as relatively constant in shape, color, size, etc. Thirdly, the structure of perception - perception is not a simple sum of sensations. We perceive a generalized structure actually abstracted from these sensations. Fourthly, the meaningfulness of perception - perception is closely connected with thinking, with understanding the essence of objects. And fifthly, the selectivity of perception is manifested in the preferential selection of some objects in comparison with others. Sixth, it is apperception, that is, the dependence of perception on experience, knowledge, interests and attitudes of the individual.
) Thinking. In the process of sensation and perception, a person cognizes certain properties of the surrounding world as a result of direct sensory reflection of these properties. However, the essence of things cannot be reflected in consciousness directly, the world is always reflected indirectly: by comparing facts. Thus, the first sign of thinking is that it is a process of mediated comparative reflection of reality. Thinking is the indirect identification of stable essential connections and relationships between things.
Another essential feature of thinking is that it is a generalized knowledge of reality. Thus, thinking is a mental process of indirect and generalized reflection of stable, regular connections of reality that are essential for solving problematic problems.
In modern psychology, there are mainly three types of thinking: 1) visual-effective; 2) visual-figurative; 3) abstract (theoretical) thinking.
Visual-effective (objective) thinking is manifested in practical life person. It accompanies him at all stages of development: a person, as it were, physically “hands” analyzes and synthesizes the objects of his activity, his behavior.
Visual-figurative thinking appears in situations where a person begins to think in visual images that have arisen earlier.
Abstract (theoretical) thinking appears most clearly where the performance of mental operations requires the use of abstract concepts, theoretical knowledge. Such thinking is carried out mainly on the basis of logical reasoning.
) Memory. Memory is one of the mental functions and types mental activity designed to store, accumulate and reproduce information. Ability to store information about events for a long time outside world and reactions of the body and repeatedly use it in the sphere of consciousness to organize subsequent activities.
Memory is one of the most important components of mental processes; it is closely connected with the whole complex of human mental processes, and especially with perception and thinking.
There are different forms of memory: arbitrary and involuntary. Arbitrary memory - is characterized by the obligatory presence of a special goal when memorizing. And involuntary memory is memorization and reproduction, in which there is no special purpose for memorization.
Types of memory are divided into:
figurative - memory for representations; memorization, preservation and reproduction of images of previously perceived objects and phenomena of reality.
emotional - this is a memory for various emotions and feelings, its content is emotional states experienced by the person in the past.
verbal-logical memory - truly human species memory. It is the memory of thoughts expressed in concepts. It is thanks to the verbal-logical memory that knowledge becomes the property of a person, that which is not just memorized, but deeply thought out, accepted.
motor memory - memory for movement. It forms the basis for mastering motor actions in any kind of activity.
) Speech. Speech occupies a key place in the system of higher mental functions and is the main mechanism of thinking, conscious human activity. Outside of speech, the formation of personality is impossible. From what has been said, it follows that speech is not only the highest mental function itself, but also contributes to the transition to this category of other mental functions.
The merit of defining the specificity of speech as the highest mental function belongs to L.S. Vygotsky. “Vygotsky's contribution to ... subsequent progress was due to the appeal to a special non-psychological object - the word. Through the prism of the transformed and by virtue of this imprinted more high level comprehension of the mental reality of the categorical apparatus of L.S. Vygotsky was able to see in the non-psychological object - the word - the deep layers of the spiritual life of the individual, its invisible dynamics.
Speech, reading, writing, counting, drawing are included, according to L.S. Vygotsky, into the system of external higher mental functions along with all other higher mental processes. Practical intellect, perception, memory belong to their inner "line", representing the consequences of cultural and historical development.
Conclusion
Thus, having studied the concept and essence of higher mental functions, we can draw the following conclusions:
Higher mental functions are complex, lifelong systemic mental processes social in origin.
The higher mental functions, according to Vygotsky, were opposed to the lower, or natural (natural), mental functions that animals have and that a person has from birth. He acquires higher mental functions in the process of life as a result of training and education.
The sign acts as a psychological tool. A sign can be called gestures, speech, notes, painting. The word, like oral and written speech, is also a sign. The use of a sign, a word as a specifically human mental regulator restructures all the higher mental functions of a person.
Higher mental functions have four main characteristics: complexity, sociality, mediation, arbitrariness. These main characteristics are systemic qualities that characterize higher mental functions as “psychological systems”.
The main higher mental functions include: memory, perception, thinking and speech - they are the most important components of any human activity. Without the participation of mental processes, human activity is impossible; they act as its integral internal moments.
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Higher mental functions (English higher mental functions) - mental processes that are social in origin, mediated in structure, arbitrary in terms of the nature of regulation and systemically related to each other.
Higher mental functions are one of the basic concepts of modern psychology, introduced by L. S. Vygotsky and further developed by A. N. Leontiev, A. V. Zaporozhets, D. B. Elkonin, P. Ya. Galperin and others.
Higher mental functions are cultural, not natural mental processes; they are determined not by genetics, but by society and human culture.
Once again, the main points characterizing the HPF. These are the functions:
- Social in origin - suggests that this is not something innate, these processes are formed in vivo with the direct influence of culture (family, school, etc.). The main mechanism is the internalization of the external into the internal.
- Mediated by structure - cultural signs are the internal tool for their implementation. First of all, this is speech, in general - ideas about what is accepted and understandable in culture.
- Arbitrary in nature of regulation - a person can consciously control them.
WPF List
Memory, thinking, speech and perception are confidently attributed to the higher mental functions. Whether attention, will, motivation in general, internal feelings and social emotions should be attributed to higher mental functions is a moot point.
The main difficulty here is that, by definition, the WPF are arbitrary functions, and the arbitrariness of the second list is questionable. For a developed person, these are completely arbitrary functions; for a mass personality, these functions are involuntary.
The foundation of modern domestic developmental psychology is formulated by L. S. Vygotsky (1896-1934) fundamental ideas and a system of basic concepts. In the 1920-1930s. they developed the foundations of cultural - historical theory development of the psyche. Although Vygotsky did not have time to create a complete theory, the general understanding mental development in childhood, contained in the works of the scientist, was later significantly developed, concretized and refined in the works of A.N. Leontiev, A.R. Luria, A.V. Zaporozhets, D.B. Elkonina, L.I. Bozhovich, M.I. Lisina and other representatives of the Vygotsky school. The main provisions of the cultural-historical approach are set out in the works of Vygotsky: "The Problem of the Cultural Development of the Child" (1928), "The Instrumental Method in Psychology" (1930), "The Tool and the Sign in the Development of the Child" (1930), "The History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions" (1930-1931), in the most famous book of the scientist "Thinking and Speech" (1933-1934) and in a number of others.
Analyzing the causes of the crisis of psychology as a science in the first decades of the 20th century, L.S. Vygotsky discovered that in all contemporary concepts of the development of the psyche, an approach was implemented, which he called “biologising” or “naturalistic”.
Biological interpretation identifies, puts in one row psychological development animal and child development. Describing the traditional point of view on mental development (belonging to associative and behavioral psychology), Vygotsky identifies three main points:
- study of higher mental functions from the side of their constituent natural processes;
- reduction of higher and complex processes to elementary ones;
- ignoring specific features and patterns of cultural development of behavior.
He called this approach to the study of higher mental processes "atomistic", pointing out its fundamental inadequacy. Criticizing the traditional approach, Vygotsky wrote that “child psychology is alien to the very concept of the development of higher mental functions”, that it “limits the concept of a child’s mental development to one biological development elementary functions that proceed in direct proportion to the maturation of the brain as a function of the organic maturation of the child.
L.S. Vygotsky argued that a different, non-biological, understanding of the development of the higher mental functions of a person is needed. He not only pointed out the importance social environment for the development of the child, but sought to identify a specific mechanism of this influence.
Vygotsky singled out lower, elementary mental functions (the phase of natural development) and higher mental functions (the phase of "cultural" development). The hypothesis put forward by Vygotsky offered a new solution to the problem of the correlation of mental functions - elementary and higher. The main difference between them is the level of arbitrariness, i.e. natural mental processes are not amenable to regulation by a person, and people can consciously control higher mental functions (HMF). Vygotsky came to the conclusion that conscious regulation is associated with the mediated nature of the HMF. The most convincing model of mediated activity, which characterizes the manifestation and implementation of higher mental functions, is the "situation of Buridan's donkey." This classical situation of uncertainty, or a problematic situation (a choice between two equal possibilities), interests Vygotsky primarily from the point of view of the means that make it possible to transform (solve) the situation that has arisen. The die cast by a person represents, according to Vygotsky, a means by which a person transforms and resolves a given situation. Between the influencing stimulus and the reaction of a person (both behavioral and mental), an additional connection arises through a mediating link - a stimulus-means, or a sign. Signs (or stimuli-means) are mental tools that, unlike labor tools, do not change physical world, but the consciousness of the subject operating them. A sign is any conventional symbol that has a specific meaning. Unlike the stimulus of the means, which can be invented by the person himself (for example, a knot on a handkerchief or a stick instead of a thermometer), signs are not invented by children, but acquired by them in communication with adults. The universal sign is the word. The mechanism of change in the child's psyche, which leads to the emergence of higher mental functions specific to a person, is the mechanism of internalization (growing) of signs as a means of regulating mental activity. Internalization is a fundamental law of the development of higher mental functions in phylogenesis and ontogenesis. This is Vygotsky's hypothesis about the origin and nature of higher mental functions. The higher mental functions of the child initially arise as a form of collective behavior, as a form of cooperation with other people, and only later, through interiorization, do they become proper individual functions, or, as Vygotsky wrote: “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears on the stage twice, on two planes, first - social, then - psychological, first between people, as an interpsychic category, then inside the child as an intrapsychic category. For example, if we talk about voluntary attention as the highest mental function, then the sequence of stages of its formation is as follows: first, an adult in communication attracts and directs the child's attention; Gradually, the child himself learns the pointing gesture and the word - there is a rotation, internalization of ways to organize someone else's and one's own attention. Speech is the same: initially acting as an external means of communication between people, it goes through an intermediate stage (egocentric speech), begins to perform an intellectual function, and gradually becomes an internal, internalized mental function. Thus, the sign appears first on the outer plane, on the plane of communication, and then passes into the inner plane, the plane of consciousness.
The problems of interiorization were developed in the same years by the French sociological school. Some forms of social consciousness (E. Durkheim) are instilled into the initially existing and initially asocial individual consciousness from the outside, or elements of external social activities, social cooperation (P. Janet) - this is the representation of the French psychological school. For Vygotsky, consciousness is formed only in the process of internalization - there is no initially asocial consciousness either phylogenetically or ontogenetically. In the process of internalization, human consciousness is formed, such actually human mental processes arise as logical thinking, will, speech. The internalization of signs is the mechanism that forms the psyche of children.
AT general concept Vygotsky’s “development of higher mental functions” includes two groups of phenomena that together form the process of “development of higher forms of child behavior”:
- the processes of mastering the language, writing, counting, drawing as external means of cultural development and thinking,
- processes of development of special higher mental functions (voluntary attention, logical memory, concepts, etc.).
Distinctive features of higher mental functions: mediation, arbitrariness, consistency; are formed in vivo; are formed by interiorization of samples.
Singling out two historical stages in the development of mankind, biological (evolutionary) and cultural (historical) development, Vygotsky believes that it is important to distinguish and contrast them in a peculiar way as two types of development and in ontogeny. Under the conditions of ontogenetic development, both of these lines - biological and cultural - are in complex interaction, merged, actually form a single, albeit complex process. As pointed out by A.M. Matyushkin, for Vygotsky the main problem and the subject of research is to understand the "interlacing" of two types of processes, to trace their specific originality at each stage of development, to reveal the age-related and individually typological picture of development at each of the stages and in relation to each higher mental function. The difficulty for Vygotsky is not to trace and understand a separate process of cultural development, but to understand its features in a complex interweaving of processes.
A person cannot exist separately from society, this was once again proved by the studies of L.S. Vygotsky, as a result of which the higher mental functions of a person were identified, which have special features and are formed in the conditions of socialization. Unlike natural functions that are realized in spontaneous response, the development of higher mental functions of a person is possible only with social interaction.
The main higher mental functions of a person
As mentioned above, the concept of higher mental functions was introduced by Vygotsky, later the theory was finalized by Luria A.R., Leontiev A.N.,. Galperin P. Ya and other representatives of the Vygotsky school. Higher functions are social processes in origin, arbitrary in the nature of regulation, mediated in their structure and systemically connected with each other. The social nature of these functions is expressed in the fact that they are not innate, but are formed under the influence of culture (school, family, etc.). The mediation in structure suggests that cultural signs are the instrument of implementation. Most of all, this applies to speech, but in general, these are ideas about what is accepted in culture. The arbitrariness of regulations means that a person is able to control them consciously.
The highest mental functions include: memory, thinking and. Also, some authors tend to attribute here the will, attention, social emotions and inner feelings. But this is a moot point, since higher 
functions are by definition arbitrary, and it is difficult to attribute this quality to the second list. If speak about developed person, then he is able to control emotions, feelings, attention and will, but for a mass personality these functions will not be arbitrary.
Mental functions can be disturbed due to damage to various parts of the brain. It is interesting that the same function is impaired due to damage to different brain areas, but its impairments are of a different nature. That is why, in case of violations of higher mental functions, a diagnosis of the brain is carried out, since it is impossible to make a diagnosis only on the basis of a violation of a particular function.
Higher mental functions
Introduction.
The inner world of a person, that is, his mental life, is images, thoughts, feelings, aspirations, needs, etc., the totality of a person’s mental reflection of reality, the world around him.
The psyche, representing the inner world of man, arose at the highest stage of development of the material world. The psyche is absent in plants and inanimate objects. The psyche reflects the surrounding reality, thanks to the mental reflection of reality, a person cognizes it and in one way or another it affects the world around.
Psyche- this is a special property of highly organized matter, which consists in reflecting the objective world.
The psyche is a general concept that unites many subjective phenomena studied by psychology as a science. There are two different philosophical understandings of nature and the manifestation of the psyche: materialistic and idealistic. According to the first understanding, psychic phenomena are a property of highly organized living matter of self-management by development and self-knowledge (reflection) 1 .
The dependence of mental processes on the personality as an individuality is expressed in:
individual differences;
depending on general development personality;
transformation into consciously regulated actions or operations.
Studying the problems of personality development, L.S. Vygotsky singled out the mental functions of a person, which are formed in specific conditions of socialization and have some special features. He defined these functions as the highest, considering them at the level of idea, concept, concept and theory. In general, he defined two levels of mental processes: natural and higher. If natural functions are given to an individual as a natural being and are realized in spontaneous response, then higher mental functions (HMF) can be developed only in the process of ontogenesis in social interaction.
- Higher mental functions.
1.1. Theory of WPF.
The concept was developed Vygotsky and his school Leontiev, Luria etc.) in the 20-30s. 20th century One of the first publications was the article "The problem of the cultural development of the child" in the journal "Pedology" in 1928.
Following the idea of the socio-historical nature of the psyche, Vygotsky makes a transition to the interpretation of the social environment not as a "factor", but as a "source" personality development. In the development of the child, he notes, there are, as it were, two intertwined lines. The first follows the path of natural maturation. The second is the mastery of cultures, ways behavior and thinking. Auxiliary means of organizing behavior and thinking that mankind has created in the process of its historical development are systems of signs-symbols (for example, language, writing, number system, etc.).
The child's mastery of the connection between sign to value, the use of speech in the use of tools marks the emergence of new psychological functions, systems underlying higher mental processes that fundamentally distinguish human behavior from animal behavior. The mediation of the development of the human psyche by "psychological tools" is also characterized by the fact that the operation of using a sign, which is at the beginning of the development of each of the higher mental functions, at first always has the form of external activity, i.e., it turns from interpsychic into intrapsychic.
This transformation goes through several stages. The initial one is related to the fact that a person (adult) with the help of a certain means controls the behavior of the child, directing the implementation of his any "natural", involuntary function. In the second stage, the child himself already becomes subject and, using this psychological tool, directs the behavior of another (assuming it to be an object). At the next stage, the child begins to apply to himself (as an object) those methods of controlling behavior that others applied to him, and he - to them. Thus, Vygotsky writes, each mental function appears on the stage twice - first as a collective, social activity, and then as the child's internal way of thinking. Between these two "outputs" lies the process of internalization, "rotation" of the function inside.
Being internalized, "natural" mental functions are transformed and "collapsed", acquire automation, awareness and arbitrariness. Then, thanks to the developed algorithms of internal transformations, the reverse process of internalization becomes possible - the process of exteriorization - bringing out the results of mental activity, carried out first as a plan in the internal plan.
The advancement of the principle "external through internal" in the cultural-historical theory expands the understanding of the leading role of the subject in various forms. activity- especially in the course of training and self-study. The learning process is interpreted as a collective activity, and the development of the internal individual properties of the child's personality has the closest source of his cooperation (in the broadest sense) with other people. Vygotsky's ingenious guess about the significance of the zone of proximal development in a child's life made it possible to conclude the dispute about the priorities of education or development: only that education is good, which forestalls development.
In the light of the systemic and semantic structure consciousness dialogue is the main characteristic of consciousness. Even turning into internal mental processes, higher mental functions retain their social nature - "a person, and alone with himself, retains the functions communication". According to Vygotsky, the word is related to consciousness as a small world is to a large one, as a living cell is to an organism, as an atom is to the cosmos. "A meaningful word is a microcosm of human consciousness."
In the views of Vygotsky personality is a social concept, it represents the supranatural, historical in man. It does not cover all features. individuality, but puts an equal sign between the personal child and his cultural development. Personality "is not innate, but arises as a result of cultures, development" and "in this sense, the correlate of personality will be the ratio of primitive and higher reactions." Developing, a person masters his own behavior. However, a necessary prerequisite for this process is the formation of a personality, because "the development of a particular function is always derived from the development of the personality as a whole and is conditioned by it."
In its development, a person goes through a series of changes that have a stage nature. More or less stable development processes due to the lytic accumulation of new potentialities, the destruction of one social situations development and the emergence of others are replaced by critical periods in the life of the individual, during which there is a rapid formation of psychological neoplasms. Crises are characterized by the unity of negative (destructive) and positive (constructive) sides and play the role of steps in the progressive movement along the path of the child's further development. The apparent behavioral dysfunction of a child in a critical age period is not a pattern, but rather evidence of an unfavorable course of the crisis, the absence of changes in the inflexible pedagogical system, which does not keep up with the rapid change in the child's personality.
Neoplasms that have arisen in a given period qualitatively change the psychological functioning of the individual. For example, appearance of reflection in an adolescent, it completely restructures his mental activity. This new formation is the third level of self-organization: "Along with the primary conditions of the individual, the personality's make-up (inclinations, heredity) and the secondary conditions of its formation (environment, acquired characteristics), here (at the time of puberty) tertiary conditions (reflection, self-formation) come into play." Tertiary functions form the basis self-awareness. Ultimately, they, too, are personal psychological relations that were once relationships between people. However, the connection between the socio-cultural environment and self-consciousness is more complicated and consists not only in the influence of the environment on the pace of development of self-consciousness, but also in determining the very type of self-consciousness, the nature of its development.
- Essence and components of VPF.
The development of the psyche at the human level, according to the materialistic point of view, is mainly due to memory, speech, thinking and consciousness due to the complication of activity and the improvement of tools that act as a means of studying the world around us, the invention and widespread use of sign systems. In a person, along with the lower levels of organization of mental processes that are given to him by nature, higher ones also arise.
Memory.
The presence of ideas in a person suggests that our perceptions leave some traces in the cerebral cortex that persist for some time. The same must be said about our thoughts and feelings. The memorization, preservation and subsequent reproduction or recognition of what was in our past experience is called memory .
In the process of memorization, a connection of one object or phenomenon with other objects or phenomena is usually established.
Through the connection between past states of the psyche, the present and the processes of preparing future states, memory communicates coherence and stability to a person's life experience, ensures the continuity of the existence of the human "I" and thus acts as one of the prerequisites for the formation of individuality and personality.
Speech.
Speech is the main means of human communication. Without it, a person would not be able to receive and transmit a large amount of information, in particular, one that carries a large semantic load or fixes something about itself that cannot be perceived with the help of the senses (abstract concepts, not directly perceived phenomena, laws, rules, etc.). . P.). Without written language, a person would be deprived of the opportunity to find out how people of previous generations lived, thought and did. He would not have had the opportunity to communicate his thoughts and feelings to others. Thanks to speech as a means of communication, the individual consciousness of a person, not limited to personal experience, is enriched by the experience of other people, and to a much greater extent than observation and other processes of non-verbal, direct cognition carried out through the senses: perception, attention, imagination, memory. and thinking. Through speech, the psychology and experience of one person become available to other people, enrich them, and contribute to their development.
In terms of its vital significance, speech has a gtoli-functional character. It is not only a means of communication, but also a means of thinking, a carrier of consciousness, memory, information (written texts), a means of controlling the behavior of other people and regulating a person’s own behavior. According to its many functions, speech is polymorphic activity, i.e., in its various functional purposes, it is presented in different forms: external, internal, monologue, dialogue, written, oral, etc. Although all these forms of speech are interconnected, their vital purpose is not the same. External speech, for example, plays mainly the role of a means of communication, internal - a means of thinking. Written speech most often acts as a way of remembering information. The monologue serves the process of one-way, and the dialogue serves the two-way exchange of information.
Thinking.
First of all, thinking is the highest cognitive process. It is the product of a newknowledge, an active form of creative reflection and transformation of reality by a person. Thinking generates such a result, which in no way onereality, neither the subject onthemomenttimeexists. Thinking (in elementary formsitalso found in animals) alsocan be understoodhowgetting newknowledge,creative transformation of existing ideas.
The difference between thinking and other psychological processes also lies in the fact that it almost alwaysrelatedwith problemssituation, the problem to be solved, andactivechangeignoranceconditions under which this task is set. Thinking in contrastfromperceptiontranscends the sense-givenbreaks the boundariesknowledge.In sensory based thinkingtions certain theoretical and practical conclusions are made. It reflects being not only in the form of separate things, phenomena and their properties, but also determines the connections that exist between them, which most often directly, in the very perception of a person are not given. The properties of things and phenomena, the connections between them are reflected in thinking in a generalized form, in the form of laws, entities.
In practice, thinking as a separate mental process is notexists, it is invisibly present in allotherscognizernyhprocesses: in perception,attentionimaginationmemory,speech.The highest forms of these processes are necessarily associated with thinking, and the degree of its participation inthesecognitive processes determines the level of development.
Thinking is the movement of ideas, revealing the essence of things. Its result is not an image, but some thought, an idea. specific the result of thinking can beconcept - generalized reflection of a class of objects in their most general and essential featuresfeatures.
Thinking is a special kind of theoretical and practical activity, which involves a system of actions and operations included in it of an orienting-research, transformative and cognitive nature.
Attention.
Attention in human life and activity performs many different functions. It activates the necessary and inhibits currently unnecessary psychological and physiological processes, promotes an organized and purposeful selection of information entering the body in accordance with its actual needs, provides a selective and long-term focus of mental activity on the same object or activity.
Directivity and selectivity of cognitive processes are connected with attention. Their setting directly depends on what at a given time seems to be the most important for the body, for the realization of the interests of the individual. Attention determines the accuracy and detail of perception, the strength and selectivity of memory, the direction and productivity of mental activity - in a word, the quality and results of the functioning of all cognitive activity.
For perceptual processes, attention is a kind of amplifier that allows you to distinguish the details of images. For human memory, attention acts as a factor capable of retaining the necessary information in short-term and short-term memory, as a prerequisite for transferring memorized material into long-term memory storage. For thinking, attention acts as an obligatory factor in the correct understanding and solution of the problem. In the system of interpersonal relations, attention contributes to better mutual understanding, adaptation of people to each other.
Perception.
Perception is a sensual reflection of an object or phenomenon of objective reality that affects our senses. Human perception - not only a sensual image, but also the awareness of an object that stands out from the environment and opposes the subject. Awareness of a sensuously given object is the main, most essential distinguishing feature of perception. The possibility of perception implies the ability of the subject not only to respond to a sensory stimulus, but also to realize, accordingly, a sensory quality as a property of a particular object. To do this, the object must stand out as a relatively stable source of influences emanating from it on the subject and as a possible object of the actions of the subject directed at it. The perception of an object therefore presupposes on the part of the subject not only the presence of an image, but also a certain effective attitude, arising only as a result of a rather highly developed tonic activity (cerebellum and cortex), which regulates motor tone and provides a state of active rest necessary for observation. Perception, therefore, as has already been pointed out, presupposes a fairly high development of not only the sensory, but also the motor apparatus.
Living and acting, resolving in the course of his life the practical tasks that confront him, a person perceives the environment. The perception of objects and people with whom he has to deal, the conditions in which his activity takes place, constitute a necessary prerequisite for meaningful human action. Life practice makes a person move from unintentional perception to a purposeful activity of observation; at this stage, perception is already transformed into a specific "theoretical" activity. The theoretical activity of observation includes analysis and synthesis, comprehension and interpretation of what is perceived. Thus, initially associated as a component or condition with some specific practical activity, perception eventually passes in the form of observation into a more or less complex activity of thinking, in the system of which it acquires new specific features. Developing in a different direction, the perception of reality turns into the creation of an artistic image associated with creative activity and the aesthetic contemplation of the world.
Perceiving, a person is not only sees, but also looks, not only hears, but also listening, and sometimes he not only looks, but considers or peeringetsya, not only listening, but also listens, he often actively chooses a setting that will provide an adequate perception of the subject; perceiving, he thus performs a certain activity aimed at bringing the image of perception in line with the object, which is ultimately necessary due to the fact that the object is an object not only of awareness, but also of practical action that controls this awareness.
- HPF signs.
Modern research has significantly expanded and deepened the general ideas about the patterns, essence, structure of the HMF. Vygotsky and his followers singled out four main features of the HMF - complexity, sociality, mediation, and arbitrariness.
Complexity It manifests itself in the fact that HMFs are diverse in terms of the features of formation and development, in terms of the structure and composition of conditionally distinguished parts and the connections between them. In addition, the complexity is determined by the specific relationship of some results of human phylogenetic development (preserved in modern culture) with the results of ontogenetic development at the level of mental processes. During the historical development, man has created unique sign systems that allow comprehending, interpreting and comprehending the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world. These systems continue to evolve and improve. Their change in a certain way affects the dynamics of the very mental processes of a person. Thus, the dialectic of mental processes, sign systems, phenomena of the surrounding world is carried out.
sociality HMF is determined by their origin. They can develop only in the process of interaction of people with each other. The main source of occurrence is internalization, i.e. transfer ("rotation") of social forms of behavior into the internal plan. Internalization is carried out in the formation and development of external and internal relations of the individual. Here the HMF goes through two stages of development. First, as a form of interaction between people (interpsychic stage). Then as an internal phenomenon (intrapsychic stage). Teaching a child to speak and think is a vivid example of the process of internalization.
Mediation HMF is visible in the way they function. The development of the capacity for symbolic activity and mastery of the sign is the main component of mediation. The word, image, number and other possible identification signs of a phenomenon (for example, a hieroglyph as a unity of a word and an image) determine the semantic perspective of comprehending the essence at the level of unity of abstraction and concretization. In this sense, thinking as operating with symbols, behind which there are representations and concepts, or creative imagination as operating with images, are the corresponding examples of the functioning of the HMF. In the process of functioning of the HMF, cognitive and emotional-volitional components of awareness are born: meanings and meanings.
Arbitrary VPF are by way of implementation. Due to mediation, a person is able to realize his functions and carry out activities in a certain direction, anticipating a possible result, analyzing his experience, correcting behavior and activities. The arbitrariness of HMF is also determined by the fact that the individual is able to act purposefully, overcoming obstacles and making appropriate efforts. A conscious desire for a goal and the application of efforts determines the conscious regulation of activity and behavior. We can say that the idea of the HMF comes from the idea of the formation and development of volitional mechanisms in a person.
In general, modern scientific ideas about the HMF phenomenon contain the foundations for understanding personality development in the following areas. First, the social development of a person as the formation of a system of relations with people and phenomena of the surrounding reality. Secondly, intellectual development as the dynamics of mental neoplasms associated with the assimilation, processing and functioning of various sign systems. Thirdly, creative development as the formation of the ability to create a new, non-standard, original and original. Fourthly, volitional development as the ability to purposeful and productive actions; the possibility of overcoming obstacles on the basis of self-regulation and stability of the individual. At the same time, social development is aimed at successful adaptation; intellectual - to understand the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world; creative - on the transformation of the phenomena of reality and self-actualization of the individual; volitional - to mobilize human and personal resources to achieve the goal.
Higher mental functions develop only in the process of education and socialization. They cannot arise in a feral person (feral people, according to K. Linnaeus, are individuals who grew up in isolation from people and were brought up in the community of animals). Such people lack the main qualities of HMF: complexity, sociality, mediation and arbitrariness. Of course, we can find some elements of these qualities in the behavior of animals. For example, the conditionality of the actions of a trained dog can be correlated with the quality of the mediation of functions. However, higher mental functions develop only in connection with the formation internalized sign systems, and not at the level of reflex activity, even if it acquires a conditioned character. Thus, one of the most important qualities of the HMF is the mediation associated with the general intellectual development of a person and the possession of numerous sign systems.
The question of the internalization of sign systems is the most complex and poorly developed in modern cognitive psychology. It is in the context of this direction that the main problems of human intellectual development in the process of education and upbringing are studied. Following the identification of the structural blocks of cognitive activity 2 , the development of a cognitive theory of personality 3 , the study of experimental study of particular processes and functions of mental activity 4 , the creation of concepts of the cognitive structure of the personality associated with the development of intelligence in the learning process, critical information appears due to the lack of conceptual unity of numerous theories. Recently, we can find a fair amount of skepticism about research in the cognitive field. There are many reasons for that. One of them, in our opinion, is disappointment in the possibilities of social adaptability of intellectual activity and the lack of an accurate diagnosis of its level. The results of intelligence studies have shown that its high level is very weakly associated with a person's success in society. Such conclusions are quite obvious if we proceed from the theory of the WPF. After all, only a sufficiently high level of development of the intellectual sphere of the individual in combination with a no less high level of development of the emotional-volitional sphere allows us to talk about the possibility of social success. At the same time, there must be a certain balance between emotional, volitional and intellectual development. Violation of this balance can lead to the development of deviant behavior and social maladaptation.
Thus, it can be stated that interest in the problems of human intellectual development in the process of training and education is being replaced by interest in the general problems of socialization and adaptation of the individual. Modern cognitive psychology has settled on the study of general mental processes: memory, attention, imagination, perception, thinking, etc. The most successful training and education is associated with their development. However, today it is quite clear that only in elementary school such close attention to mental processes is fully justified, since it is determined by the age sensitivity of younger students. The development of the cognitive sphere in middle and high school students should be associated with the process of understanding the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world, since age is the most sensitive for the formation of social and gender-role identification.
It is very important to turn to the processes of understanding as comprehension of the essence of the surrounding world. If we analyze the majority of educational programs in a modern school, we can see that their main advantages are related to the selection of content and the peculiarities of the interpretation of scientific information. In recent years, new subjects have appeared at the school, the range of additional educational services has expanded, and new areas of education are being developed. The newly created textbooks and teaching aids amaze us with the possibilities of applying scientific data in the study of certain subjects at school. However, the developing possibilities of the content of the material remain outside the attention of the authors. It is assumed that these opportunities can be implemented at the level of pedagogical methods and technologies. And in the content of educational material, developing learning opportunities are simply not used. Students are offered an adapted quintessence of scientific knowledge. But is it possible use the content of educational material for the development of the cognitive sphere of the individual?
The origins of this idea can be found in the works of the Russian psychologist L.B. Itelson ("Lectures on Modern Problems of the Psychology of Education", Vladimir, 1972), as well as in numerous modern developments in the theory of argumentation by A.A. Ivin. The essence of their idea lies in the fact that during training, the content of information (which turns into knowledge with assimilation) should be selected in such a way that, if possible, all the intellectual functions of a person develop.
The main intellectual functions are identified, which (with a certain degree of conventionality) can be combined into five dichotomous pairs according to the principle of subordination:
analysis - synthesis;
abstraction - concretization;
comparison - comparison;
generalization - classification;
encoding - decoding (decoding).
All these functions are interconnected and interdependent. Together, they determine the processes of cognition and comprehension of the essence of phenomena. Obviously, modern education is aimed primarily at the development of such functions as concretization, comparison, coding. Concretization is determined by the ability of a person to abstract from the essence of the phenomenon and focus on particulars. So, for example, working with signs or facts in the study of any phenomena of reality contributes to the development of this function. Comparison as an intellectual function develops in students in almost all subjects at school, since so many tasks and questions on topics are given for comparison. And, finally, coding, which is associated with the development of speech, develops from childhood. Coding includes all intellectual operations that accompany the translation of images and ideas into words, sentences, text. Each person has his own coding features, which are manifested in the style, meaning formation of speech and the general structure of the language as a sign system.
As for analysis, synthesis, abstraction, comparison, generalization, classification and decoding, there are very few tasks for the development of these functions in modern textbooks, and the content of the educational material itself does not contribute to their formation.
Indeed, it is extremely difficult to form many functions due to their essential specificity. So, for example, the possibilities of developing the comparison function are limited, because this function involves the correlation of things not according to an essential feature (as in comparison), but according to the belonging of objects to a different class of phenomena. On the other hand, it is absolutely necessary to prepare children for the analysis of the realities of modern life. Here they will often have to make decisions and make choices based on the correlation of various phenomena. A good example of the selection of content for the development of the matching function is L. Carroll's fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland". Recently, interesting teaching aids for children have begun to appear, where the possibilities of implementing this approach are presented. However, there are still very few such publications, and many teachers do not quite understand how to use them. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary to deal with the problems of the development of the intellectual functions of children, since a person’s ability to correctly comprehend the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world depends on this.
1.4. VPF localization.
Localization (from lat. localis - local) - assignment higher mental functions to specific brain structures. The problem of HMF localization is being developed neuropsychology, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, etc. The history of the study of HMF localization dates back to antiquity (Hippocrates, Galen and others). Representatives of narrow localizationism considered psychological functions as unified, indecomposable into components “psychic abilities”, carried out by limited areas of the cerebral cortex - the corresponding brain “centers”. It was believed that the defeat of the "center" leads to the loss of the corresponding function. The logical conclusion of the ideas of naive localizationism was the phrenological map of F. Gall and the localization map of K. Kleist, representing the work of the cerebral cortex as a set of functions of various "centers" of mental abilities. Another direction - "antilocalizationism" considered the brain as a single undifferentiated whole, with which all mental functions are equally connected. It followed from this that damage to any area of the brain leads to a general dysfunction (for example, to a decrease in intellect), and the degree of dysfunction does not depend on localization and is determined by the mass of the affected brain. According to the theory of systemic dynamic localization of the HMF, the brain, the substratum of mental functions, works as a single whole, consisting of many highly differentiated parts, each of which performs its own specific role. Not the entire mental function and not even its individual links should be correlated directly with brain structures, but those physiological processes (factors) that are carried out in the corresponding structures. Violation of these physiological processes leads to the appearance of primary defects that extend to a number of interrelated mental functions.
2. The social nature of the HMF.
2.1. Development of HMF in humans.
Three main achievements of mankind contributed to the accelerated mental development of people: the invention of tools, the production of objects of material and spiritual culture, and the emergence knowledge of language and speech. With the help of tools, man received the opportunity to influence nature and to know it more deeply. The first such tools - an ax, a knife, a hammer - simultaneously served as both goals. Human made household items everyday life and studied the properties of the world, not given directly to the senses.
Improvement of tools and performedWith with their help, labor operations led, in turn, to the transformation and improvement functions of the hand, thanks to which it turned over time into the most subtle and accurate of all the tools of labor activity. On the example of the hand, he learned to cognize the reality of the human eye, it also contributed to the development of thinking and created the main creations of the human spirit. With the expansion of knowledge about the world, human capabilities increased, he acquired the ability to be independent of nature and change his own nature by reason (meaning human behavior and psyche).
The objects of material and spiritual culture created by people of many generations did not disappear without a trace, but were passed on and reproduced from generation to generation, improving. There was no need for a new generation of people to reinvent them, it was enough to learn how to use them with the help of other people who already knew how to do it.
The mechanism of transmission of abilities, knowledge, skills and abilities by inheritance has changed. Now it was not necessary to change the genetic apparatus, anatomy and physiology of the organism in order to rise to a new stage of psychological and behavioral development. It was enough, having a flexible brain from birth, a suitable anatomical and physiological apparatus, to learn how to humanly use the objects of material and spiritual culture created by previous generations. In the tools of labor, in the objects of human culture, people began to inherit their abilities and assimilate them to the next generations without changing the genotype, anatomy and physiology of the body. Man has gone beyond his biological limitations and has opened for himself the path to almost limitless improvement.
Thanks to the invention, improvement and widespread use of tools, sign systems, mankind has received a unique opportunity to preserve and accumulate experience in the form of various texts, products of creative work, to pass it on from generation to generation with the help of a well-thought-out system of teaching and educating children. The next generations assimilated the knowledge, skills and habits developed by the previous ones, and thus also became civilized people. Moreover, since this process of humanization begins from the first days of life and gives its visible results quite early (from the materials presented in the second book of the textbook, we will see that already a three-year-old child is not a biological being, but a small, completely civilized person), the individual the possibility remained to make one's personal contribution to the treasury of civilization and thereby multiply the achievements of mankind.
Thus, gradually, accelerating, from century to century, the creative abilities of people improved, their knowledge of the world expanded and deepened, raising man higher and higher above the rest of the animal world. Over time, man invented and improved many things that have no analogues in nature. They began to serve him to satisfy his own material and spiritual needs and at the same time acted as a source for the development of human abilities.
If for a moment we imagine that a worldwide catastrophe occurred, as a result of which people with the appropriate abilities died, the world of material and spiritual culture was destroyed and only small children survived, then in its development humanity would be thrown back tens of thousands of years, since there would be no one and nothing to teach children to become people. But perhaps the most significant invention of mankind, which had an incomparable impact on the development of people, was sign systems. They gave impetus to the development of mathematics, engineering, science, art, and other areas of human activity. The appearance of alphabetic symbols led to the possibility of recording, storing and reproducing information. There was no need to keep it in the head of an individual, the danger of irretrievable loss due to memory loss or the departure of the information keeper from life disappeared.
Particularly outstanding achievements in improving the methods of recording, storing and reproducing information that occurred in the last decades of this century have led to a new scientific and technological revolution, which is actively continuing in our time. This is the invention of magnetic, laser and other forms of information recording. Obviously, we are now on the threshold of a transition to a new, qualitatively higher stage of human mental and behavioral development, the first signs of which can already be seen. These include the availability to a single person of almost any information, if somewhere and sometime it was recorded by someone
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