Perception in general psychology is called the reflection of objects, situations or events in their integrity. It arises from the direct impact of objects on the senses. Since an integral object usually acts simultaneously on various senses, perception is a complex process. It includes in its structure a number of sensations - simple forms of reflection into which the composite process of perception can be decomposed.

Feelings in psychology, processes of reflection of only individual properties of objects of the surrounding world are called. The concept of sensation differs from the concept of perception not qualitatively, but quantitatively. For example, when a person holds a flower in his hands, admires it and enjoys its fragrance, then the holistic impression of the flower will be called perception. And separate sensations will be the aroma of a flower, the visual impression of it, the tactile impression of the hand holding the stem. However, at the same time, if a person with closed eyes inhales the fragrance of a flower without touching it, it will still be called perception. Thus, perception consists of one or more sensations that create the most complete idea of ​​the object at the moment.

Modern psychology recognizes that sensations are the primary form of human cognition of the surrounding world. . It should also be noted that although sensation is an elementary process, many complex mental processes are built on the basis of sensations, starting with perception and ending with thinking.

So, perception is a collection of sensations. For the emergence of sensations, an object of external influence and analyzers capable of perceiving this influence are necessary.

The physiological ability of sensation is the activity of analyzers

they are in three parts.

The first, peripheral part is the receptors. These are nerve endings located in our sense organs, directly perceiving external stimuli.

The second part is the conductive paths along which excitation is transmitted from the periphery to the center.

The third part is the central part of the analyzer. These are areas of the brain responsible for recognizing the appropriate stimulus (visual, gustatory, olfactory, etc.). It is here that the impact of the stimulus is transformed into a mental process, which in psychology is called sensation.

So, the classification of sensations is built on the basis of a list of receptors, with the help of which these sensations become available.

The main source of information about the outside world is the visual analyzer. With its help, a person receives up to 80% of the total amount of information. The organ of visual sensation is the eye.

The auditory analyzer is next in importance in obtaining information.

sense of smell

Of great importance in people's lives is the development of the kinesthetic (motor) analyzer.

taste analyzer

Many people have an interesting feature - the combination of sound and visual sensations into one general sensation. In psychology, this phenomenon is called synesthesia. These are stable associations that arise between the objects of auditory perception, such as melodies, and color sensations. Often people can tell "what color" a given melody or word is.

Perception is the result of the activity of the system of analyzers. The primary analysis that takes place in the receptors is supplemented by the complex analytical and synthetic activity of the brain sections of the analyzers.

The physiological basis of perception is the conditioned reflex activity of the intra-analyzer and inter-analyzer complex of nerve connections that determine the integrity and objectivity of the reflected phenomena.

Perception differs by type depending on the predominant role of one or another analyzer in reflective activity. Each perception is determined by the activity of the perceptual system, i.e. not one, but several analyzers. Their meaning may be unequal: one of the analyzers is leading, others complement the perception of the subject.

Perception proposes the selection of the main and most significant features from the complex of inactive features, while simultaneously distracting from the non-essential. It requires combining the main essential features and comparing what is perceived with past experience.

Any perception includes a motor (motor) component (in the form of palpation of an object, eye movement, pronunciation, etc.). Therefore, the process of perception is considered as a perceptual activity.

Perceptual Properties

Objectivity is a property of perception, which is expressed in obtaining information from the outside world, to this world.

Structure - perception is not a simple sum of sensations. We perceive a generalized structure actually abstracted from these sensations.

Meaningfulness - a person's perception is closely connected with thinking, with understanding the essence of an object.

Integrity - perception is always a holistic image.

1. Constancy - thanks to constancy, we perceive the surrounding objects as relatively comparable in shape, color and size, etc.

   Selectivity - is manifested in the preferential selection of some objects in comparison with others.

The process of purposeful perception of an object consists of the following steps:

Search for an object;

Identification of its most characteristic features;

Object identification, i.e. assigning it to a certain category of things or phenomena.

Perception always affects the personality of the perceiver, his attitude to the perceived, the needs, interests, desires and feelings of a person.

Memory and thinking.

Thinking- the highest level of human knowledge of reality. Sensual basis of thinking are sensations, perceptions and representations.

Thinking is not only closely connected with sensations and perceptions, but it is formed on the basis of them. The transition from sensation to thought is a complex process, which consists primarily in isolating and isolating an object or its attribute, in abstracting from the concrete, individual and establishing the essential, common to many objects.

Thinking is inextricably linked with speech mechanisms, especially speech-auditory and speech-motor.

Thinking is also inextricably linked with the practical activities of people. Any type of activity involves thinking, taking into account the conditions of action, planning, observation. By acting, a person solves any problems. Practical activity is the main condition for the emergence and development of thinking, as well as a criterion for the truth of thinking.

Thinking is a function of the brain, the result of its analytical and synthetic activity. It is provided by the operation of both signaling systems with the leading role of the second signaling system. When solving mental problems in the cerebral cortex, a process of transformation of systems of temporary neural connections takes place. Finding a new thought physiologically means closing the nerve connections in a new combination.

Analysis is the mental decomposition of the whole into parts or the mental separation of its aspects, actions, relations from the whole.

Synthesis is the reverse process of thought to analysis, it is the unification of parts, properties, actions, relations into one whole. Analysis and synthesis are two interrelated logical operations. Synthesis, like analysis, can be both practical and mental.

Analysis and synthesis were formed in the practical activity of man. In labor activity, people constantly interact with objects and phenomena. Practical development of them led to the formation of mental operations of analysis and synthesis.

Comparison is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena. The comparison is based on analysis. Before comparing objects, it is necessary to select one or more of their features, according to which the comparison will be made.

The comparison can be one-sided, or incomplete, and multi-sided, or more complete. Comparison, like analysis and synthesis, can be of different levels - superficial and deeper. In this case, a person's thought goes from external signs of similarity and difference to internal ones, from the visible to the hidden, from the phenomenon to the essence.

Abstraction is a process of mental abstraction from certain signs, aspects of the concrete in order to better understand it. A person mentally highlights some feature of an object and considers it in isolation from all other features, temporarily distracted from them. An isolated study of individual features of an object, while simultaneously abstracting from all the others, helps a person to better understand the essence of things and phenomena. Thanks to abstraction, a person was able to break away from the individual, concrete and rise to the highest level of knowledge - scientific theoretical thinking.

Concretization is a process that is the opposite of abstraction and is inextricably linked with it. Concretization is the return of thought from the general and abstract to the concrete in order to reveal the content.

Thinking activity is always aimed at obtaining some result. A person analyzes objects, compares them, abstracts individual properties in order to reveal what is common in them, in order to reveal the patterns that govern their development, in order to master them.

Generalization, therefore, is a selection in objects and phenomena

general, which is expressed in the form of a concept, law, rule, formula, etc.

Memory.

Memory- one of mental functions and types of mental activity, designed to preserve, accumulate and reproduce information. The ability to store information about the events of the external world and the reactions of the body for a long time and repeatedly use it in the sphere of consciousness to organize subsequent activities.

Memory structure

Most psychologists recognize the existence of three levels of memory, differing in how long information can be stored on each of them. Accordingly, there are direct or sensory, memory, short-term memory and long-term memory.

sensory memory

As its name implies, sensory memory is a primitive process carried out at the level of receptors. Spelling showing what traces; only a very short time is stored in it - about ¼ second, and during this time the question is decided whether the reticular formation will attract the attention of the higher parts of the brain to the signals received. If this does not happen, then in less than a second the traces are erased and the sensory memory is filled with signals.

A special case of sensory memory is successive images. They occur when the retina is exposed to a strong or prolonged stimulus.

short term memory

In the event that the information transmitted by the receptors has attracted the attention of the brain, it can be stored for a short period of time, and during this time the brain processes and interprets it. At the same time, the question of whether this information is important enough to be transferred for long-term storage is decided.

Short-term memory is characterized not only by a certain duration information retention, but also capacity, those. the ability to simultaneously store a certain number of heterogeneous elements of information.

duration. It was found that short-term memory lasts for about 20 seconds, during which time very little information is stored - for example, some number or several syllables of three or four letters.

If the information is not re-entered or is not "scrolled" in memory, it disappears after this interval, leaving no noticeable traces.

long term memory

It is from those few elements that are briefly retained in short-term memory that the brain selects what will be stored in long-term memory. Short-term memory can be compared to the shelves in a large library: books are removed from them, then put back, depending on momentary needs. Long-term memory, on the other hand, is more like an archive: in it, certain elements selected from short-term memory are divided into many rubrics, and then stored for a more or less long time.

Capacity and Duration Long-term memory is basically limitless. They depend on the importance of the memorized information for the subject, as well as on the way it is coded, systematized and, finally, reproduced.

memorization - it is the process of capturing and then storing the perceived information. According to the degree of activity of this process, it is customary to distinguish two types of memorization: unintentional (or involuntary) And intentional (or arbitrary).

unintentional memorization is memorization without a predetermined goal, without the use of any techniques and the manifestation of volitional efforts. This is a simple imprint of what has affected us and has retained some trace of excitation in the cerebral cortex. It is best to remember what is of vital importance for a person: everything that is connected with his interests and needs, with the goals and objectives of his activity.

Unlike involuntary memory arbitrary (or intentional) memorization is characterized by the fact that a person sets himself a specific goal

Individual features of memory

First, the individual features of memory are associated with personality traits. Even people with a good memory do not remember everything, and people with a bad memory do not forget everything. This is because memory is selective. What corresponds to the interests and needs of a person is remembered quickly and firmly. Secondly, individual differences are found in the qualities of memory. It is possible to characterize a person's memory depending on how developed his individual memory processes are. We say that a person has a good memory if he is different:

1) speed of memorization,

2) durability of preservation,

3) fidelity

4) the so-called readiness of memory.

But memory can be good in one respect and bad in another. Separate qualities of memory can be combined in different ways.

1. The best combination is fast memorization with slow forgetting.

2. Slow memorization is combined with slow forgetting.

3. Fast memorization is combined with fast forgetting.

4. The lowest productivity is characterized by memory, characterized by slow memorization and quick forgetting.

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FEELING AND PERCEPTION

Feeling and perception are closely related. Both are so-called sensory reflections of objective reality that exists independently of consciousness and as a result of its influence on the sense organs: this is their unity. But perception- awareness of a sensual given object or phenomenon; in perception, we usually have a world of people, things, phenomena that are filled with a certain meaning for us and are involved in diverse relationships. These relationships create meaningful situations, witnesses and participants of which we are. Feeling on the other hand, it is a reflection of a separate sensory quality or undifferentiated and unobjectified impressions from the environment. In this last case sensations and perceptions are distinguished as two different forms or two different relations of consciousness to objective reality. Sensations and perceptions are thus one and different. They constitute the sensory-perceptual level of mental reflection. At the sensory-perceptual level, we are talking about those images that arise from the direct impact of objects and phenomena on the senses.

Feel

The main source of our knowledge about the external world and about our own body is sensations. They constitute the main channels through which information about the phenomena of the external world and about the states of the body reaches the brain, giving a person the opportunity to navigate in the environment and in his body. If these channels were closed and the sense organs did not bring the necessary information, no conscious life would be possible. There are known facts that a person deprived of a constant source of information falls into a sleepy state. Such cases occur when a person suddenly loses sight, hearing, smell, and when his conscious sensations are limited by some pathological process. A result close to this is achieved when a person is placed for some time in a light and soundproof chamber that isolates him from external influences. This state first induces sleep and then becomes intolerable for the subjects.

Numerous observations have shown that impaired information flow in early childhood, associated with deafness and blindness, causes severe delays in mental development. If children born deaf-deaf or deprived of hearing and sight at an early age are not taught special techniques that compensate for these defects due to touch, their mental development will become impossible and they will not develop independently.

The development of philosophical views on the nature of sensations

Sensations allow a person to perceive signals and reflect the properties and signs of things in the external world and the states of the body. They connect a person with the outside world and are both the main source of knowledge and the main condition for his mental development. However, despite the obviousness of these provisions, in the history of philosophy they have been repeatedly questioned. Philosophers-idealists often expressed the idea that the true source of our conscious life is not sensations, but the internal state of consciousness, the ability of rational thinking, inherent in nature and not dependent on the influx of information coming from the outside world. These views formed the basis of the philosophy of rationalism. Its essence was that mental processes are not the product of complex historical development, and its adherents erroneously interpreted consciousness and reason not as the result of complex historical evolution, but as a primary, further inexplicable property of the human spirit. Idealist philosophers and many psychologists who share the idealistic concept have often made attempts to reject the seemingly obvious proposition that a person's sensations connect him with the external world, and to prove the opposite, paradoxical proposition that sensations separate a person from the external world, being an insurmountable wall between him and the outside world.

This position was put forward by idealist philosophers (D. Berkeley, D. Hume, E. Mach), and psychologists Müller and G. Helmholtz formulated the theory of “specific energy of the sense organs” on its basis. According to this theory, each of the sense organs (eye, ear, skin, tongue) does not reflect the influence of the external world, does not provide information about the real processes occurring in the environment, but only receives shocks from external influences that excite their own processes. According to this theory, each sense organ has its own "specific energy" excited by any influence coming from the outside world. So, it is enough to press on the eye, to act on it with an electric current, in order to get a sensation of light; mechanical or electrical stimulation of the ear is sufficient to produce the sensation of sound. From these provisions, it was concluded that the sense organs do not reflect external influences, but are only excited by them, and a person perceives not the objective influences of the outside world, but only his own subjective states, reflecting the activity of his sense organs. In other words, this means that the sense organs do not connect a person with the outside world, but, on the contrary, separate a person from him. It is easy to see that this theory led to the statement: a person cannot perceive the objective world and the only reality is subjective processes that reflect the activity of his sense organs, which create the subjectively perceived “elements of the world”.

These conclusions formed the basis of the philosophy of subjective idealism, which boiled down to the fact that a person can only know himself and has no evidence of the existence of anything other than himself. This theory is called solipsism (from lat. Solus -- one, ipse -- myself; "There is only one I myself").

The theory of subjective idealism is completely opposed to materialistic ideas about the possibility of an objective reflection of the external world. A careful study of the evolution of the sense organs convincingly shows that in the process of long historical development, the following were formed: special perceiving organs (sense organs or receptors) that specialized in reflecting special types of objectively existing forms of motion of matter (or energy); skin receptors that reflect sound vibrations; visual receptors that reflect certain ranges of electromagnetic oscillations; etc. The study of the evolution of organisms shows that in fact we have not “specific energies of the sense organs themselves”, but specific organs that objectively reflect various types of energy. The fact that when the eye or ear is exposed to irritants that are inadequate to these organs, a “specific” (visual or auditory) sensation arises, speaks only of the high specialization of these perceiving devices and the inability to reflect those influences for which they are not specialized.

As will be described below, the high specialization of various sense organs is based not only on the structural features of the peripheral part of the analyzer - "receptors", but also on the highest specialization of neurons that make up the central nervous apparatus, which reach the signals perceived by the peripheral sense organs.

The reflex nature of sensations

So, sensations are the initial source of all our knowledge about the world. Objects and phenomena of reality that affect our sense organs are called stimuli, and the effect of stimuli on the sense organs is called irritation. Irritation, in turn, causes excitation in the nervous tissue. Sensation arises as a reaction of the nervous system to a particular stimulus and, like any mental phenomenon, has a reflex character.

The physiological mechanism of sensations is the activity of special nervous apparatuses called analyzers. Each analyzer consists of three parts: 1) a peripheral section called the receptor (the receptor is the perceiving part of the analyzer, its main function is the transformation of external energy into a nervous process); 2) afferent or sensory nerves (centripetal), conducting excitation to the nerve centers (the central section of the analyzer); 3) the cortical sections of the analyzer, in which the processing of nerve impulses coming from the peripheral sections takes place. The cortical part of each analyzer includes an area that is a projection of the periphery in the cerebral cortex, since certain areas of the cortical cells correspond to certain cells of the periphery (receptors). For a sensation to arise, the work of the entire analyzer as a whole is necessary. The analyzer is not a passive energy receiver. This is an organ that reflexively rebuilds under the influence of stimuli.

Physiological studies show that sensation is not at all a passive process, it always includes motor components in its composition. So, observations with a microscope of a skin area, carried out by the American psychologist D. Neff, made it possible to make sure that when it is irritated with a needle, the moment the sensation occurs is accompanied by reflex motor reactions of this skin area. Subsequently, numerous studies found that each sensation includes movement, sometimes in the form of a vegetative reaction (vasoconstriction, galvanic skin reflex), sometimes in the form of muscle reactions (eye rotation, neck muscle tension, hand motor reactions, etc. .). Thus, sensations are not passive processes at all - they are active. The indication of the active character of all these processes constitutes the reflex theory of sensations.

Classification of sensations

It has long been customary to distinguish five main types (modalities) of sensations: smell, taste, touch, sight and hearing. This classification of sensations according to the main modalities is correct, although not exhaustive. A.R. Luria believes that the classification of sensations can be carried out according to at least two basic principles - systematic and genetic (in other words, according to the principle of modality, on the one hand, and according to the principle of complexity or level of their construction, on the other).

Systematic classification sensations. Singling out the largest and most significant groups of sensations, they can be divided into three main types: interoceptive, proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensations. The former combine signals that reach us from the internal environment of the body; the latter provide information about the position of the body in space and the position of the musculoskeletal system, provide regulation of our movements; finally, others provide signals from the outside world and provide the basis for our conscious behavior. Consider the main types of sensations separately.

Interoceptive sensations, signaling the state of the internal processes of the body, bring to the brain irritations from the walls of the stomach and intestines, the heart and circulatory system and other internal organs. This is the oldest and most elementary group of sensations. Interoceptive sensations are among the least conscious and most diffuse forms of sensation and always retain their proximity to emotional states;

Proprioceptive sensations provide signals about the position of the body in space and form the afferent basis of human movements, playing a decisive role in their regulation. Peripheral receptors for proprioceptive sensitivity are found in muscles and joints (tendons, ligaments) and have the form of special nerve bodies (Paccini bodies). The excitations that arise in these bodies reflect the sensations that occur when muscles are stretched and the position of the joints changes. In modern physiology and psychophysiology, the role of proprioception as the afferent basis of movements in animals was studied in detail by A.L. Orbeli, P.K. Anokhin, and in humans - N. A. Bernstein. The described group of sensations includes a specific type of sensitivity, called a sense of balance, or a static sensation. Their peripheral receptors are located in the semicircular canals of the inner ear.

The third and largest group of sensations are exteroceptive sensations. They bring information from the outside world to a person and are the main group of sensations that connects a person with the external environment. The whole group of exteroceptive sensations is conventionally divided into two subgroups: contact and distant sensations.

Contact sensations are caused by an impact directly applied to the surface of the body and the corresponding perceived organ. Taste and touch are examples of contact sensation.

Distant sensations are caused by stimuli acting on the sense organs at some distance. These senses include the sense of smell and especially hearing. and vision.

Genetic classification allows us to distinguish two types of sensitivity: 1) protopathic (more primitive, affective, less differentiated and localized), which includes organic feelings (hunger, thirst, etc.); 2) epicritical (more subtly differentiating, objectified and rational), which includes the main human senses.

Epicritical sensitivity is genetically younger and controls protopathic sensitivity.

General properties of sensations

Different types of sensations are characterized not only by specificity, but also by properties common to them. These properties include: quality, intensity, duration and spatial localization.

Quality is the main feature of a given sensation, distinguishing it from other types of sensations and varying within a given type of sensation. The qualitative variety of sensations reflects the infinite variety of forms of motion of matter.

The intensity of sensation is its quantitative characteristic and is determined by the strength of the acting stimulus and the functional state of the receptor.

The duration of sensation is its temporal characteristic. It is also determined by the functional state of the sense organ, but mainly by the time of action of the stimulus and its intensity. When exposed to an irritant feelings sensation does not occur immediately, but after a while - the so-called latent (hidden) period of sensation. The latent period of various types of sensations is not the same: for example, for tactile sensations it is 130 ms, for pain - 370.

Just as a sensation does not arise simultaneously with the beginning of the action of the stimulus, it does not disappear simultaneously with the termination of its action. This inertia of sensations is manifested in the so-called aftereffect. A visual sensation, for example, has a certain inertia and does not disappear immediately after the cessation of the action of the stimulus that caused it. The trace from the stimulus remains in the form of a consistent image. Distinguish between positive and negative sequential images. A positive consistent image in terms of lightness and color corresponds to the initial stimulus, consists in the preservation of a trace of light stimulus of the same quality as the acting stimulus. If in complete darkness we light a bright lamp for a while and then turn it off, then after that we see the bright light of the lamp against a dark background for some time. The presence of positive successive images explains why we do not notice the breaks between successive frames of the film: they are filled with traces of the frames that acted before - successive images from them. The sequential image changes in time, the positive image is replaced by a negative one. With colored light sources, the sequential image turns into a complementary color.

I. Goethe wrote in his “Essay on the Doctrine of Color”: “When one evening I went into a hotel and a tall girl with a dazzlingly white face, black hair and a bright red bodice came into my room, I gazed at her, standing in the semi-darkness at some distance from me. After she left there, I saw on the light wall opposite me a black face, surrounded by a bright glow, while the clothes of a completely clear figure seemed to me the beautiful color of a sea wave.

The occurrence of negative consecutive images is explained by a decrease in the sensitivity of a given area of ​​the retina to a certain color. Under normal conditions, we do not notice successive images, since the eye makes continuous movements and therefore no significant fatigue is observed in any one part of the retina.

And, finally, sensations are characterized by the spatial localization of the stimulus. The analysis carried out by spatial receptors gives us information about the localization of the stimulus in space. Contact sensations are related to the part of the body that is affected by the stimulus.

Threshold of sensations. Sensitivity

So far, we have been talking about the qualitative difference between the types of sensations. However, quantitative research, in other words, their measurement, is equally important. The human sense organs are wonderfully delicate apparatuses. So, the human eye can distinguish a light signal of 1/1000 of a candle at a distance of a kilometer. The energy of this stimulation is so small that it would take 60,000 years to heat 1 cm3 of water per gram with its help.

However, not every irritation causes a sensation. For a sensation to arise, the stimulus must reach a certain magnitude. The minimum value of the stimulus at which a sensation first occurs is called the absolute threshold of sensation. Stimuli that do not reach it lie below the threshold of sensation. So, we do not feel individual dust particles and small particles descending on our skin. Light stimuli below a certain brightness limit do not cause visual sensations.

The value of the absolute threshold characterizes the absolute sensitivity of the sense organs. The weaker the stimuli that cause sensations (i.e., the lower the absolute threshold value), the higher the ability of the senses to respond to these influences. Thus, absolute sensitivity is numerically equal to a value inversely proportional to the absolute threshold of sensations. If the absolute sensitivity is denoted by the letter E, and the value of the absolute threshold R, then the relationship between absolute sensitivity and absolute threshold can be expressed by the formula

E=1/R.

Different analyzers have different sensitivities. The threshold of one human olfactory cell for the corresponding odorous substances does not exceed 8 molecules. It takes at least 25,000 times as many molecules to produce a taste sensation as it does to produce an olfactory sensation. A person has a very high sensitivity of visual and auditory analyzers

The absolute sensitivity of the analyzer is limited not only by the lower, but also by the upper threshold of sensation. The upper absolute threshold of sensitivity is the maximum strength of the stimulus at which a sensation adequate to the acting stimulus still arises. A further increase in the strength of stimuli acting on our receptors causes a painful sensation (super-loud sound, blinding brightness). The value of absolute thresholds, both lower and upper, varies depending on various conditions: the nature of the activity and age of the person, the functional state of the receptor, the strength and duration of the action of irritation, etc.

It is necessary to distinguish relative, or difference, sensitivity from absolute sensitivity, i.e. sensitivity to a change in stimulus. In the first half of the XIX century. German scientist M. Weber, investigating the sensation of heaviness, came to the conclusion that when comparing objects and observing the differences between them, we perceive not the differences between the objects, but the ratio of the difference to the size of the compared objects. Similarly, we notice changes in the illumination of a room depending on the initial level of illumination. If the initial illumination is 100 lux (lux), then the increase in illumination, which we first notice, should be at least 1 lux. If the illumination is 1000 lux, then the increase should be at least 10 lux. The same applies to auditory, motor, and other sensations.

The minimum difference between two stimuli that causes a barely perceptible difference in sensations is called the discrimination threshold, or difference threshold. As already mentioned, the difference sensitivity is a relative value, not an absolute one. This means that the ratio of the additional stimulus to the main stimulus must be a constant value. At the same time, the greater the value of the initial stimulus, the greater should be the increase to it.

The discrimination threshold is characterized by a relative value that is constant for a given analyzer. For the visual analyzer, this ratio is approximately 1/1000, for the auditory - 1/10, for the tactile - 1/30.

Based on the experimental data of Weber, another German scientist, G. Fechner, expressed the dependence of the intensity of sensations on the strength of the stimulus by the formula

S = K lg j+ C,

(Where S -- intensity of sensation; j - the strength of the stimulus; TO And WITH-- constants). According to this provision, which is called the basic psychophysical law, the intensity of sensation is proportional to the logarithm of the strength of the stimulus. In other words, with an increase in the strength of the stimulus exponentially, the intensity of sensation increases in an arithmetic progression (Weber-Fechner law).

Difference sensitivity, or discrimination sensitivity, is also inversely related to the difference threshold value: the higher the discrimination threshold, the lower the difference sensitivity.

The phenomenon of adaptation

It would be wrong to think that both the absolute and relative sensitivity of our sense organs remains unchanged and its thresholds are expressed in constant numbers. Studies show that the sensitivity of our senses can vary, and within very large limits. So, it is known that in the dark our vision becomes sharper, and in strong light its sensitivity decreases. This can be observed when you move from a dark room to light or from a brightly lit room to darkness. In the first case, a person's eyes begin to experience pain, the person temporarily "blinds", it takes some time for the eyes to adapt to bright lighting. In the second case, the opposite occurs. A person who has moved from a brightly lit room or an open place with sunlight into a dark room does not see anything at first, and it takes 20-30 minutes for him to become sufficiently well oriented in the dark. This suggests that, depending on the environment (illumination), the visual sensitivity of a person changes dramatically. As studies have shown, this change is very large and the sensitivity of the eye during the transition from bright light to darkness is aggravated by 200,000 times.

The described changes in sensitivity, which depend on environmental conditions and are called the adaptation of the sense organs to environmental conditions, exist both in the auditory sphere and in the sphere of smell, touch, and taste. The change in sensitivity, which occurs according to the type of adaptation, does not occur immediately, it requires a certain time and has its own temporal characteristics. It is essential that these temporal characteristics are different for different sense organs. So, in order for vision in a dark room to acquire the necessary sensitivity, about 30 minutes should pass. Only after that a person acquires the ability to navigate well in the dark. The adaptation of the auditory organs is much faster. Human hearing adapts to the surrounding background after 15 seconds. Just as quickly, there is a change in sensitivity in touch (a slight touch on the skin ceases to be perceived after a few seconds).

The phenomena of thermal adaptation (getting used to temperature changes) are well known. However, these phenomena are clearly expressed only in the middle range, and getting used to intense cold or intense heat, as well as to pain stimuli, almost does not take place. The phenomena of adaptation to smells are also known. In the textbook edited by A.V. Petrovsky distinguishes three varieties of the phenomenon of adaptation.

1. Adaptation as the complete disappearance of sensation during prolonged action of the stimulus.

2. Adaptation as a dulling of sensation under the influence of a strong stimulus.

(These two types of adaptation are combined by the term "negative adaptation", since as a result of it the sensitivity of the analyzers decreases.)

3. Adaptation is also called an increase in sensitivity under the influence of a weak stimulus. This type of adaptation is defined as positive adaptation. In the visual analyzer, the dark adaptation of the eye, when its sensitivity increases under the influence of darkness, is a positive adaptation. A similar form of auditory adaptation is silence adaptation.

The phenomenon of adaptation is explained by peripheral changes in the functioning of the receptor or prolonged exposure to a stimulus. So, for example, it is known that under the influence of light, visual purple, located in the rods of the retina, decomposes (fades). In the dark, on the contrary, visual purple is restored, which leads to an increase in sensitivity. The phenomenon of adaptation is also explained by the processes taking place in the central sections of the analyzers. With prolonged stimulation, the cerebral cortex responds with internal protective inhibition, which reduces sensitivity. The development of inhibition causes increased excitation of other foci, contributing to an increase in sensitivity in new conditions. In general, adaptation is one of the most important types of changes in sensitivity, indicating a greater plasticity of the organism in its adaptation to environmental conditions.

Interaction of sensations

The intensity of sensations depends not only on the strength of the stimulus and the level of adaptation of the receptor, but also on the stimuli currently affecting other sense organs. A change in the sensitivity of the analyzer under the influence of irritation of other sense organs is called the interaction of sensations.

Research carried out by S.V. Kravkov showed that no sense organ can work without affecting the functioning of other organs. So, it turned out that sound stimulation (for example, whistling) can sharpen the work of visual sensation, increasing its sensitivity to light stimuli. In the same way, some odors also affect, increasing or decreasing light and auditory sensitivity. All our analyzer systems are capable of influencing each other to a greater or lesser extent. At the same time, the interaction of sensations, like adaptation, manifests itself in two opposite processes - an increase and a decrease in sensitivity. The general pattern is that weak stimuli increase and strong ones decrease the sensitivity of the analyzers during their interaction.

An increase in sensitivity as a result of the interaction of analyzers and exercise is called sensitization. A.R. Luria distinguishes two sides of increased sensitivity according to the type of sensitization: the first is long-term, permanent and depends mainly on stable changes occurring in the body; the second is temporary in nature and depends on emergency effects on the state of the subject - physiological and psychological. The age of the subject is clearly related to the change in sensitivity. Studies have shown that the acuteness of the sensitivity of the sense organs increases with age, reaching a maximum by the age of 20-30 in order to gradually decrease in the future.

The close interaction of individual forms of sensations opens the way for a more complex conditioned reflex increase in sensitivity. Domestic scientists conducted experiments showing this possibility. So, if the metronome is first turned on for the subject, its sound does not significantly affect the change in light sensitivity; however, if this sound is combined several times in a row with light directed into the eyes, after a while the sound of the metronome alone will cause a decrease in sensitivity. It is characteristic that such changes in sensitivity are also observed when a word is used as a conditioned stimulus. This effect is especially evident if, before the test of the sensitivity of the eye, one pronounces a word associated in the subject's past experience with the meaning of the word. It was experimentally proved that a change in sensitivity occurred when the subject uttered the word “flame” before measuring the sensitivity, but such an effect did not occur if the subject pronounced a word close in sound, but distant in meaning (for example, “tribe”).

In another experiment, the facts of changes in the electrical sensitivity of the eyes and tongue were obtained in response to the presentation of the words "sour as a lemon" to the subjects. These changes were similar to those observed when the tongue was actually irritated with lemon juice. Knowing the patterns of changes in the sensitivity of the sense organs, it is possible, by selecting side stimuli, to sensitize one or another receptor, i.e. increase its sensitivity. Sensitization can also be achieved through exercise. It is known, for example, how pitch hearing develops in children who study music.

The interaction of sensations is also manifested in a phenomenon called synesthesia - the appearance under the influence of irritation of one analyzer of a sensation characteristic of other analyzers. In psychology, the facts of “colored hearing” are well known, which occurs in many people, and especially in many musicians (for example, in Scriabin). So, it is widely known that we regard high sounds as “light”, and low ones as “dark”.

It is characteristic that the phenomenon of synesthesia is not distributed equally among all people. In some cases, the phenomena of synesthesia are manifested with exceptional clarity. One of these subjects with an exceptional severity of synesthesia, the famous mnemonist Sh., was studied in detail by A.R. Luria. This person perceived all voices as colored and often said that the voice of a person addressing him, for example, was “yellow and crumbly.” The tones he heard caused him visual sensations of various shades (from bright yellow to purple). Perceived colors were perceived by him as "sonorous" or "deaf", as "salty" or "crunchy". Similar phenomena in more obliterated forms occur quite often in the form of a direct tendency to "color" numbers, days of the week, names of months in different colors.

The phenomena of synesthesia are yet another evidence of the constant interconnection of the analyzer systems of the human body, the integrity of the sensory reflection of the objective world.

Improvement of sensations in the course of exercises

We have already mentioned that sensitization of the sense organs is possible through exercise. Two ways usually lead to such sensitization: firstly, the need to compensate for sensory defects (blindness, deafness); secondly, the specific requirements of certain professions. Thus, the loss of sight or hearing is compensated to a certain extent by the development of other types of sensitivity. There are cases when people deprived of sight were engaged in sculpture, which indicates a highly developed sense of touch. The development of vibrational sensations in the deaf belongs to the same group of phenomena. Some deaf people develop vibrational sensitivity to such an extent that they can even hear music. To do this, they put their hand on the instrument or turn their backs to the orchestra. The deaf-blind O. Skorokhodova, holding her hand to the throat of the speaking interlocutor, could thus recognize him by his voice and understand what he was talking about. Many deaf-blind and blind people have a well-developed olfactory sensitivity. They can recognize people they know by smell.

The phenomena of sensitization of the sense organs are observed in persons who have been engaged in certain special professions for a long time. So, it has been established that dyers can distinguish up to 50-60 shades of black; steelmakers distinguish the finest shades of a hot metal stream, indicating the presence of impurities. It is well known what subtleties can be achieved by the taste nuances of tasters, or the ability of musicians to detect differences in tones that are completely unperceivable to the average listener.

All these facts show that under the conditions of the development of complex forms of conscious activity, the sharpness of absolute and difference sensitivity can change significantly, and that the inclusion of one or another feature in a person's conscious activity can change the sharpness of this sensitivity to a significant extent.

Perception

When we talked about sensations, we saw that their content does not go beyond the elementary forms of reflection. However, the real processes of reflection of the external world go far beyond the most elementary forms. A person does not live in a world of isolated light or color spots, sounds or touches, he lives in a world of things, objects and forms, in a world of complex situations, i.e. no matter what a person perceives, he invariably deals not with individual sensations, but with whole images. The reflection of these images goes beyond isolated sensations, relying on the joint work of the senses, the synthesis of individual sensations into complex complex systems. This synthesis can proceed both within one modality (when looking at a picture, we combine individual visual impressions into a whole image), and within several modalities (perceiving an orange, we actually combine visual, tactile, taste impressions, add to them our knowledge of him). Only as a result of such a combination, isolated sensations turn into a holistic perception, move from the reflection of individual features to the reflection of entire objects or situations.

It would be deeply erroneous to think that such a process (from relatively simple sensations to complex perceptions) is a simple summation of individual sensations or, as psychologists often said, the result of simple associations of individual features. In fact, the perception (or reflection) of whole objects or situations is much more complicated. It requires the selection of the main leading features from the whole complex of influencing features (color, shape, tactile properties, weight, taste, etc.) with simultaneous distraction (abstraction) from non-essential ones. It requires combining a group of basic essential features and comparing the perceived set of features with previous knowledge about the subject. If, in such a comparison, the hypothesis about the proposed object coincides with the incoming information, the recognition of the object occurs and its perception occurs. If the hypothesis does not agree with the information actually reaching the subject, the search for the desired solution continues until the subject finds it, i.e. until he recognizes the item or assigns it to a certain category.

When perceiving familiar objects (a glass, a table), their recognition occurs very quickly - it is enough for a person to combine two or three perceived signs in order to come to the desired decision. When perceiving new or unfamiliar objects, their recognition is much more difficult and proceeds in much more developed forms. The complete perception of such objects arises as a result of complex analytic-synthetic work, highlighting some essential features, inhibiting Other, non-essential ones and combining the perceived details into one meaningful whole.

There are theories about the process of pattern recognition. In these theories, the main attention is paid to the question: how are external signals that act on the senses transformed into meaningful perceptual impressions? As a rule, we recognize the objects and events around us easily and quickly; therefore, one may get the impression that the operations associated with recognition are simple and straightforward. The experience of engineers shows that such a representation is very far from the truth. There are no machines that would be able to recognize the symbols and sounds common to our environment. The perceptual systems of animals, even the most primitive ones, are far ahead of such machines in terms of their capabilities.

Perception is a very complex and active process that requires significant analytical and synthetic work. This complex, active nature of perception is manifested in a number of features that require special consideration. First of all, the process of information is by no means the result of a simple stimulation of the sense organs and bringing to the cerebral cortex of excitations from peripherally perceiving organs. The process of perception always includes motor components (feeling objects and moving the eyes, highlighting the most informative points; singing or pronouncing the corresponding sounds that play a significant role in determining the most significant features of the sound stream). Therefore, perception is most correctly designated as the perceiving (perceptual) activity of the subject.

Further, perception is closely connected with the revival of traces of past experience: the comparison of the information reaching the subject with previously formed ideas; comparing actual effects with them; highlighting essential features; creating hypotheses about the intended meaning of the information reaching him; the synthesis of perceived features into whole complexes by “making a decision” about which category the perceived object belongs to. In other words, the perceived (perceptual) activity of the subject is close to the processes of visual thinking, and this proximity is the more obvious, the newer and more complex the perceived object.

It is natural, therefore, that the perceiving activity is almost never limited to the limits of one modality, but is formed in the joint work of several sense organs (analyzers), the result of which are the representations formed in the subject. Finally, it is also important that the perception of an object is never carried out at the elementary level: it captures the highest levels of mental activity, in particular speech. A person does not just look at objects and passively react to their signs. Highlighting and combining the most significant of them, he always designates perceived objects with a word, thereby deeper knowing their properties, and refers them to certain categories. Perceiving watches and mentally calling them by this name, he is distracted from such insignificant features as their color, size, shape, and singles out the main feature - the function of indicating time. At the same time, he refers the perceived object to a certain category, separates it from other objects that are similar in appearance, but belong to other categories (for example, a barometer). All this once again confirms that the perceiving activity of the subject in its psychological structure can approach visual thinking. The complex and active nature of man's perceiving activity determines a number of his features, equally related to all his forms.

So, perception is a visual-figurative reflection of the objects and phenomena of reality acting at the moment on the sense organs in the aggregate of their various properties and parts.

Perceptual Properties

The objectivity of perception is expressed in the so-called act of objectification, i.e. in referring information received from the outside world to this world. Objectivity, not being an innate quality, performs an orienting and regulating function in practical activity. THEM. Sechenov said that objectivity is formed on the basis of processes that, in the end, are always outwardly moving, ensuring contact with the object itself. Without the participation of movement, our perceptions would not have the quality of objectivity, i.e. relation to objects in the external world.

Objectivity as a quality of perception plays a special role in the regulation of behavior. Usually we define objects not by their appearance, but according to their practical purpose or their main property.

Integrity. Unlike sensation, which reflects the individual properties of an object, perception gives a holistic image of it. It is formed on the basis of generalization of knowledge about the individual properties and qualities of an object, obtained in the form of various sensations.

The components of sensation are so strongly interconnected that a single complex image of an object arises even when only individual properties or individual parts of the object (velvet, marble) directly affect a person. These impressions arise as a conditioned reflex due to the connection formed in life experience between visual and tactile stimuli.

With the integrity of perception is connected and its structure. Perception to a large extent does not correspond to our instantaneous sensations and is not a simple sum of them. We perceive a generalized structure actually abstracted from these sensations, which is formed over a period of time.

If a person listens to a melody, then the previously heard notes still continue to sound in his mind when a new note arrives. Usually the listener understands the piece of music, i.e. perceives its structure as a whole. It is obvious that the last of the heard notes in itself cannot be the basis for such an understanding - the whole structure of the melody with various interconnections of its elements continues to sound in the mind of the listener. The process of perceiving rhythm is similar.

The sources of integrity and structure of perception lie in the features of the reflected objects themselves.

The constancy of perception is the relative constancy of certain properties of objects when its conditions change. Due to the property of constancy, which consists in the ability of the perceptual system (a set of analyzers that provide a given act of perception) to compensate for these changes, we perceive the objects around us as relatively constant. To the greatest extent, constancy is observed in the visual perception of the color, size and shape of objects.

The constancy of color perception is the relative invariance of the visible color when the lighting changes (a piece of coal on a sunny summer afternoon sends about 8-9 times more light than chalk at dusk). The phenomenon of color constancy is due to the combined effect of a number of reasons, among which adaptation to the general level of brightness of the visual field, lightness contrast, as well as ideas about the actual color of objects and their illumination conditions are of great importance.

The constancy of perception of the size of objects is the relative constancy of the apparent size of objects at their different (but not very large) distances. For example, the dimensions of a person from a distance of 3.5 and 10 m are reflected by the retina in the same way, although the image on it changes, its apparent size remains almost unchanged. This is explained by the fact that at relatively small distances of objects, the perception of their size is determined not only by the size of the image on the retina, but also by the action of a number of additional factors, among which the tension of the eye muscles, which adapt to fixing the object at different distances, is of particular importance.

The constancy of the perception of the shape of objects lies in the relative invariance of its perception when their position changes in relation to the line of sight of the observer. With each change in the position of an object relative to the eyes, the shape of its image on the retina changes (looks straight, sideways) due to the movement of the eyes along the contour lines of objects and the selection of characteristic combinations of contour lines known to us from past experience.

What is the origin of the constancy of perception? Maybe it's an innate mechanism?

In a study of the perception of people living in a dense forest who did not see objects at a great distance, it was found that they perceive them as small, not as distant. Builders, on the other hand, constantly see objects located below, without distorting their size.

The real source of constancy of perception is the active actions of the perceptual system. Repeated perception of the same objects under different conditions ensures the constancy (invariance - an unchanged structure) of the perceptual image in relation to changing conditions, as well as the movements of the receptor apparatus itself. Thus, the property of constancy is explained by the fact that perception is a kind of self-regulating action that has a feedback mechanism and adapts to the characteristics of the perceived object and the conditions of its existence. Without the constancy of perception, a person would not be able to navigate in an infinitely diverse and changeable world.

Meaningfulness of perception. Although perception arises from the direct action of a stimulus on the sense organs, perceptual images always have a certain semantic meaning. Perception in humans is closely related to thinking. To consciously perceive an object means to mentally name it, i.e. attribute to a specific group, class, generalize it into a word. Even when we see an unfamiliar object, we try to establish in it a resemblance to familiar ones.

Perception is not determined simply by a set of stimuli affecting the sense organs, but is a constant search for the best interpretation of the available data.

Apperception. Perception depends not only on the stimulus, but also on the subject himself. It is not the eye and the ear that perceive, but a specific living person, and therefore the characteristics of a person’s personality always affect perception. The dependence of perception on the content of a person's mental life, on the characteristics of his personality, is called apperception.

When subjects are presented with unfamiliar figures, already in the first phases of perception, they are looking for standards to which the perceived object could be attributed. In the process of perception, hypotheses about the belonging of an object to a particular category are put forward and tested. Thus, in perception, traces of past experience will be activated. Therefore, the same object can be perceived differently by different people.

The content of perception is determined both by the task set before a person and by the motives of his activity; its process involves attitudes, emotions that can change the content of perception. This is a necessary condition for the orientation of a person in the environment.

Physiological basis of perception

Perception, like sensation, is a reflex process. Pavlov showed that perception is based on conditioned reflexes, temporary nerve connections formed in the cerebral cortex of the brain when objects or phenomena of the surrounding world act on the receptors. The latter act as complex stimuli. In the nuclei of the cortical sections of the analyzers, a complex analysis and synthesis of these complex stimuli proceed. I.P. Pavlov writes about this: “In harmony with the continuously and diversely fluctuating nature, agents as conditioned stimuli were either allocated by the hemispheres for the organism in the form of extremely small elements (analyzed), then merged into diverse complexes (synthesized).” The analysis ensures the selection of the object of perception from the background, on its basis all the properties of the object of perception are combined into a holistic image.

Compared with sensations, perception is the highest form of analytical and synthetic activity of the brain. Without analysis, meaningful perception is impossible. So, unfamiliar foreign speech is perceived as a continuous sound stream. For meaningful speech perception, i.e. understanding it, it is necessary to divide speech into separate phrases, words with their meanings. This means that when perceiving speech, synthesis takes place simultaneously with analysis, due to which we perceive not separate, disparate sounds, but words and phrases. Synthesis is based on the establishment of temporary neural connections. Perception is based on two types of neural connections: those formed within one analyzer, and interanalyzer connections. The first type occurs when the body is exposed to a complex stimulus of one modality. For example, such an irritant is a melody, which is a kind of combination of individual sounds that affect the auditory analyzer. This whole complex acts as one complex stimulus. In this case, nerve connections are formed not only in response to the stimuli themselves, but also to their relationship - temporal, spatial, etc. (the so-called reflex to the relationship). As a result, an integration process, a complex synthesis, takes place in the cerebral cortex.

The second type of neural connections formed under the influence of a complex stimulus are connections within different analyzers. Sechenov explained the perception of objects or space by associations of visual, kinesthetic, tactile and other sensations. To these associations, a person necessarily joins the auditory image of the word, which denotes a given object or spatial relationship. In the act of vision, when perceiving the size of objects, their distance, and other visual sensations, they are always associated with muscular ones. The action of certain medicinal substances can cause some disruption of these connections by strengthening or weakening the eye muscles. In this case, macronia (apparent increase in objects) or micronia (apparent decrease in the size of objects) is observed.

Temporary neural connections underlying perception are formed on the basis of objective connections of the properties of objects or phenomena of the external world. Thanks to the connections formed between analyzers, we reflect in perception such properties of objects or phenomena for which there are no specially adapted analyzers (for example, the size of an object, specific gravity, etc.). Therefore, in perception we know the world more deeply than in sensations.

Thus, the complex process of constructing a perception image is based on systems of intra-analyzer and inter-analyzer connections that provide the best conditions for seeing stimuli and taking into account the interaction of the properties of an object as a complex whole.

Classification of perceptions

The classification of perception, as well as sensations, is based on differences in the analyzers involved in perception. In accordance with which analyzer plays the predominant role in perception, there are visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory perceptions.

Usually perception is the result of the interaction of a number of analyzers. Motor sensations, to one degree or another, are involved in all types of perceptions. An example is tactile perception, which involves tactile and kinesthetic analyzers. Similarly, the motor analyzer also participates in auditory and visual perceptions. Different types of perception are rarely found in their pure form; usually they are combined, and as a result, complex types of perceptions arise. Thus, the student's perception of the text in the lesson includes visual, auditory and kinesthetic perception.

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GOU SPO

Sokol Pedagogical College

Essay

Subject: "Psychology"

Subject: "Sensation and Perception"

Plan

1. The concept of sensation and perception 3

2. Classification of sensations and perceptions 9

3. Basic properties of sensation and perception 20

4. Studying the features of perception 25

References 28

1. The concept of sensation and perception

Sensation and perception are cognitive processes by which a person receives and comprehends information, displays the objective world, transforming it into his own image.

1.1. The concept of sensation

Feeling this is the simplest mental process, which consists in reflecting the individual properties of objects and phenomena of the material world, as well as the internal states of the body with the direct impact of stimuli on the corresponding receptors.

Signals from the external world, the internal and the state of the organism itself are constantly flowing into the human brain. These signals reflect the properties and states of both the external world and the internal environment of the body. Thanks to these signals, a person learns the world around him and knows about his own internal state. But the flow of these signals is very wide. They need to be reworked and only respond to significant ones. For this, a person hassensory-perceptual systemresponsible for receiving and processing information, mnemonic system(memory), which is responsible for storing information,intelligent system(thinking and imagination), which is responsible for processing information.

A prerequisite for the emergence of sensation is the direct impact of an object or phenomenon on our senses.

Sense organ anatomical and physiological apparatus located on the periphery of the body or in internal organs; specialized for receiving the impact of certain stimuli from the external and internal environment and processing them into sensations.

I.P. Pavlov suggested calling them analyzers . Any analyzer consists of 3 departments: receptor (from the Latin word " rĕ ceptor » - receiving), converting the energy of external influence into nerve signals (primary analysis and signal coding); conducting nerve pathways (sensory nerves), through which the encoded signals are transmitted to the brain, andthink tanksin the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres and spinal cord, where the processing of nerve impulses (secondary processing) takes place.

Analyzers are external and internal.

For external analyzers receptors are brought to the surface of the body eyes, ears, etc. Internal analyzers have receptors located in internal organs and tissues. It occupies a peculiar position motor analyzer.

The main part of each sense organ sensory cells - receptors , sensory nerve endings. They perceive and transform stimuli (stimulus actions). Each receptor is adapted to receive only certain types of exposure (light, sound, etc.), i.e. has a specific excitability to certain physical and chemical agents.

Feeling occurs when stimulus (auditory, visual, etc.) affects the sense organs, resulting in nerve impulses (excitation in the sense organ), which are sent along the nerve pathways to the corresponding parts of the cerebral cortex or spinal cord, and are subjected to the finest analysis there. This is how the feeling arises.

Consequently, the process of perception and transformation of stimuli (actions of the stimulus) both from the external world and coming from the internal environment of the body, by sensory cells - receptors in psychology is described as sensation.

Thanks to this process, we learn the properties of the surrounding world: size, shape, color, density, softness, temperature, smell, taste of objects and phenomena around us, we catch various sounds, comprehend movement and space, etc. We also learn about changes in our own body: the position of the body in space, the state of the internal organs.

As a result of the impact of the stimulus, sensation images are born that performregulatory, educational And emotional function.Feeling is the basis for the formation of more complex images of the external world - images of perception.

The scheme of the mental process sensations is shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1. Scheme of the mental process sensations

1.2. The concept of perception

Perception a holistic reflection of objects, situations and phenomena of the objective world, emerging when exposed directly to physical stimulireceptor surfacessense organs. As a result of perception, a person has an image of perception, that is, an image of an object or phenomenon of the surrounding world at the moment of contact with it by a person.

The ability to feel is given to us and to all living beings with a nervous system from birth. The ability to perceive the world in the form of images is endowed only by man and higher animals, it develops and improves in their life experience.

Research by psychophysiologists shows that perception is a very complex process that requires significant analytical and synthetic work.

The image of perception is always based on sensations, however, the image of perception is not just the sum of sensations, the image of perception is holistic and meaningful. So, for example, a person hears noise outside the window. The image of perception will be based on sound sensations, but a person hears not just a set of sounds of a certain frequency, he can name the nature of the noise, based on his personal experience, what kind of noise it is: the sound of rain or the noise of foliage, the noise of a passing car or broken glass.

Perception (or perception) isset of processes, with the help of which a person forms his own model objectively existing external world. A person begins to receive knowledge about the surrounding object at the first contact with it, while first images of sensations are formed, and on their basis, images of perception. Sensation and perception are two links in the whole chain of cognition of the world, other links are memory, thinking, etc. All these processes are inextricably linked, but each has its own characteristics.

If the result of a sensation is some feeling (for example, sensations of brightness, loudness, salty, pitch, balance, etc.), then as a result of perception, a wholeimage of an object or phenomenon.For example, when perceiving a pear, a person receives not separate isolated visual, gustatory, olfactory and other sensations, but a single image of a pear, with its inherent shape, color, smell, taste, etc.

Perception is closely related to the activity that a person performs, therefore, motor components are an important part of the imagination (feeling objects and moving the eyes when perceiving specific objects; singing and pronouncing the corresponding sounds when reproducing speech, etc.).

Actions to identify objects or phenomena are called perceptual actions. Therefore, it is most correct to designate perception as the perceiving (perceptual) activity of the subject.

There are four levels of perceptual action: detection, discrimination, identification and identification. WITH detection development of any sensory process begins. This is a response to a stimulus. As a result of the following operation distinctions a preceptive image of the standard is formed. In parallel with the formation of a perceptual image, the implementation of identification begins. To do this, using identification there is a comparison of the directly perceived object with the image stored in memory. Identification involves the assignment of an object to a certain class of objects that were previously perceived. Perception is a whole system of perceptual actions, the mastery of which requires special training and development.

When perceiving, from the entire set of properties that an object possesses, the most significant ones are singled out and compared with the already existing past experience. The process of perceiving an object consists of the following perceptual actions:

Search for an object;

Identification of the most characteristic features of the object;

Object identification, i.e. assigning it to any class (piece of furniture, natural phenomenon, etc.).

As a result of perceptual actions, a so-called perceptual image is formed in a person. This image is the more complex, the more complex the perceived object, while the perceptual images of the same phenomena in different people can differ significantly. It depends both on the individual characteristics of people, their experience, and on the laws of the process of perception itself, the environment in which it occurs.

Modern ideas about the process of perception are rooted in two opposing theories. One of them is known astheory of gestalt (image).

Adherents of this concept believed that the nervous system of animals and humans perceives not individual external stimuli, but their complexes. So, for example, the shape, color and movement of an object are perceived as a whole, and not separately. Contrary to this theory behaviorists proved that there really are onlyelementary (single-modal) sensory functions,and attributed the ability to synthesize only the brain. Modern science is trying to reconcile these two extreme points of view. It is assumed that perception is initially quite complex, but the "integrity of the image" is still a product of the synthesizing activity of the cerebral cortex. In principle, we can talk about the gradual convergence of these two approaches.

2. Classification of sensations and perceptions

2.1. Types of sensations

Feelings can be grouped according to various criteria. There are several bases for classifying sensations:

• Classification by modality;
• By the participation of sensations in the construction of the image and the regulation of human behavior;
• Genetic classification.

It has long been customary to distinguish (by modality - the number of sensory organs) five main types of sensations: olfactory, gustatory, tactile, visual, auditory. This classification of sensations according to the main modalities is considered correct, although not exhaustive. B.G. Ananiev talks about 11 types of sensations, A.R. Luria believes that the classification of sensations can be carried out according to two main features - systematic and genetic.

Systematic classification of sensations, proposed by the English physiologist C. Sherrington, is shown in Fig.2. He divided sensations into three main types:interoceptive, proprioceptive And exteroceptive.

Fig.2. Classification of sensations

Interoceptive Feel signal the state of the internal processes of the body, thanks to receptors located on the walls of the stomach and intestines, heart, circulatory system and other internal organs.

proprioceptive sensationstransmit signals about the position of the body in space. These are a sense of balance, or a static sensation, as well as a motor or kinesthetic sensation. Peripheral receptors are located in muscles and joints (tendons, ligaments), and balance sensation receptors are located in the semicircular canals of the inner ear.

Exteroceptive Feel bring information from the outside world and are the main group of sensations that connects a person with the external environment. This subgroup is usually divided into two subgroups: contact and distant sensations.

contact sensationsare caused by the direct impact of the object on the senses (for example, taste and touch).

distant sensationsreflect the qualities of objects located at some distance from the senses (auditory and visual). Olfactory sensations occupy an intermediate position between contact and distant sensations.

Let us consider in more detail the main types of sensations.

visual sensationsare sensations of light and color. Visual sensations arise as a result of the action of light rays (electromagnetic waves in the range from 380 to 770 millimicrons) on the sensitive part of our eye (light waves are refracted in the lens and reflected in the retina of the eye).

Everything we see has some color.achromatic sensationsreflection of shades of black (white, black and gray).Chromatic sensationsReflection of colors with all shades. Color sensations can correspond to a certain emotional tone: green soothes; red excites, alarms; black oppresses.

auditory sensations occur with the help of the organ of hearing. Auditory sensations are the result of exposure to receptors of sound waves, which have an oscillation frequency (from 16 to 20,000 Hz), amplitude (range) and oscillation shape. Therefore, auditory sensations reflect the pitch of the sound (determined by the frequency of oscillations), loudness (determined by the amplitude) and timbre (determined by the form of sound vibrations), duration (sounding time) and the tempo-rhythmic pattern of reproduced sounds.

There are three types of auditory sensations:speech, music and noises.

Speech the ability to distinguish speech sounds, phonetic hearing, emotional mood.

Musical ability to distinguish sound quality. In these types of sensations, the sound analyzer identifies four qualities: sound power (loud-weak), height (high Low), timbre (the peculiarity of a voice or musical instrument),sound duration(playing time) andtempo-rhythmic featuressuccessive sounds.

Ear for musicis brought up and formed, as well as speech hearing.

Noises (rustle, knock, creak, etc.)they can cause a certain emotional mood in a person (the sound of rain, the rustle of leaves, the howling of the wind), sometimes they serve as a signal of approaching danger (the hissing of a snake, the menacing barking of a dog, the rumble of a moving train) or joy (the clatter of a child’s feet, the steps of an approaching loved one, the thunder of fireworks) .

Olfactory sensations. The ability to smell is called the sense of smell. Olfactory sensations arise as a result of particles of odorous substances entering the olfactory receptors located in the nasal cavity, along with the air that we inhale.

Olfactory sensations arise from a combination of six basic odors: fruity, floral, resinous, spicy, putrid, burnt.

In modern man, olfactory sensations play a relatively minor role. But deaf-deaf people use their sense of smell, as sighted people use their sight with hearing: they identify familiar places by smell, recognize familiar people, receive danger signals, etc.

Olfactory sensations help to recognize the quality of food, warn a person about an air environment dangerous for the body (the smell of gas, burning), the incense of objects has a great influence on the emotional state of a person.

Taste sensationsoccur when substances dissolved in water or saliva enter the receptors (taste buds of the tongue). There are four types of basic taste sensations:sweet, bitter, sour, salty.The variety of taste depends on the nature of the combinations of these sensations: bitter-salty, sour-sweet, etc. The areas of the tongue are sensitive in different ways: the tip of the tongue is best sensitive to sweet, the edges of the tongue are sensitive to sour, and its base is sensitive to bitter.

Taste sensations are related to the need for food. When hungry increases sensitivity (even tasteless food seems tastier in a state of hunger); when saturated, it decreases.

Taste sensations are closely related to olfactory ones. If you exclude the sense of smell, then the taste of tea, coffee and quinine seems to be the same.

Tactile sensations- (sensations of touch, pressure, texture, vibration). They cover the entire human body. On the surface of the skin there are different types of nerve endings, each of which gives the sensation of touch. The sensitivity of different parts of the skin to each type of irritation is different. The largest accumulations of tactile cells are observed on the palm, fingertips and lips.

Temperature sensations(sensation of heat or cold) are associated with the regulation of heat exchange between the body and the environment. The distribution of heat and cold receptors on the body is uneven. The back is most sensitive to cold, the chest is the least.

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

Without motor sensations, we could not normally perform movements, since the adaptation of actions to the external world and to each other requires signaling about every smallest detail of the act of movement.

tactile sensations- a combination of tactile and motor sensationswhen touching objectsthat is, when touched by a moving hand. The sense of touch reflects the shape and spatial arrangement of objects. The sense of touch is of great importance in human labor activity, especially when performing various operations that require accuracy.

In people deprived of sight, touch is one of the most important means of orientation and cognition. As a result of practice, it reaches great perfection. Such people can thread a needle, do modeling, simple design, even sewing, cooking.

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

The vestibular apparatus gives signals about the movement and position of the head. If the labyrinth is damaged, a person can neither stand, nor sit, nor walk, he will fall all the time.

Organic sensations (interoceptive)arise from receptors located in the internal organs, and signal the functioning of the latter. These sensations form the organic feeling (well-being) of a person. Organic sensations include hunger, thirst, satiety, as well as complexes of pain and sexual sensations. As a rule, they are not realized until there is a significant violation of the normal state of the body.

If they were not there, we could not recognize any disease in time and help our body cope. with her.

Pain(feeling of pain) have a protective meaning: they signal to a person about the trouble that has arisen in his body. If there was no sensation of pain, a person would not even feel serious injuries.

Pain sensations are of a different nature. First, there are “pain points” (special receptors) located on the surface of the skin and in the internal organs and muscles. Mechanical damage to the skin, muscles, diseases of internal organs give a feeling of pain. Secondly, sensations of pain arise under the action of a superstrong stimulus on any analyzer. Blinding light, deafening sound, intense cold or heat radiation, a very pungent odor also cause pain.

Genetic classification of sensations, proposed by the English neurologist H. Head, allows us to distinguish two types of sensitivity: 1)protopathic(more primitive), which includes organic feelings (thirst, hunger, etc.) and 2) epicretic (higher, more differentiated and localized), which includes the main types of human sensations.

2.2. Types of perception

Perceptions, like sensations, can be classified in a variety of ways.

So, according to the predominant role of one or another modality,visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory And taste perception.

There is a classification of types of perception according to the forms of existence of matter. Stand out:perception of time, space, movement, which are considered particularly complex forms of perception.

The classification of the main types of perception is shown in Fig.3.

Fig.3. Classification of the main types of perception

In addition, depending on the characteristics of the object of perception,perception of objects, speech perception (written and oral) or music and perception of a person by a person(This type of perception is called "social perception").

Consider complex types of perception.

Perception of spaceexists and functions in a person almost always, because the images themselves are oriented in space.

Perception of spaceincludes as a starting point an assessment of the position of one's own body. Visual perception of the spatial properties of objects includes such spatial characteristics as direction, distance, size, depth, shape and volume. At remoteness objects of great importance is the relative position of chiaroscuro, which depend on the location of objects. Using chiaroscuro, a person determines the position of an object in space. When perceived volume or depth objects the main role is played by binocular vision (visual perception with two eyes). The most stable and informative is the form of the object. Perception forms requires the selection of an object from the background, for this it is necessary to select the contour (the boundaries of the spatial elements of the figure, which differ in brightness, color, texture).

The auditory, vestibular, olfactory and other sensory systems are also involved in the holistic perception of space in addition to the visual one.

Perception of timeis an extremely complex and permanent type of perception, because acts as one of the dimensions of any mental image. The complexity of studying the perception of time lies in the fact that time is not perceived by us as a phenomenon of the material world, it does not have an obvious physical stimulus (such as light for visual perception, sound for auditory).We judge its course only by certain signs.

The most elementary forms are the processes of perception of duration and sequence, which are based on elementary rhythmic phenomena known as the "biological clock". These include rhythmic processes occurring in the neurons of the cortex and subcortical formations. For example, the alternation of sleep and rest. On the other hand, we perceive time when doing some work, i.e. when certain neural processes take place that ensure our work. Depending on the duration of these processes, the alternation of excitation and inhibition, we obtain certain information about time.

From this we can conclude that in the study of time perception it is necessary to take into account two main aspects: the perception of time duration and the perception of time sequence.

Estimation of the duration of a time interval largely depends on what events it was filled with. If there are many events and they are interesting, time passed quickly. And, conversely, if there are few events and they are not interesting, then time dragged on slowly. Estimating the length of time also depends on emotional experiences. If events cause a positive attitude towards oneself, then time seems to go quickly. Conversely, negative experiences lengthen the time period.

A characteristic feature of time is its irreversibility. We can return to the place in space where we left, but we cannot return the time that has passed.

In addition to the established order or sequence of preceding and subsequent events, we use temporal localization, i.e. we know that such and such an event must occur at a given time. Time localization is possible because we use certain time intervals (day, week, month, year). The existence of these intervals is possible because a certain change of events alternates in them, for example, sunset and sunrise.

Since time is a directed value, a vector, its unambiguous definition implies not only a system of units of measurement (second, minute, hour, month, century), but also a constant starting point from which the count is kept. At this time, time is radically different from space. In space, all points are equal, in time there must be one privileged point. The natural starting point in time is the present, which divides time into the past that precedes it and the future that follows. The starting point for a particular person is his birth, and for mankind a certain generally accepted point, for example, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Movement perception- this is a reflection of changes in the position of an object in space and time, while the direction and speed of movement are perceived. When perceiving movement, one can distinguish the perception of the form of movement (rectilinear, circular, arcuate, etc.), amplitude (small, medium, large), direction (up, down, forward, backward, right, left), duration (short-term, long-term ), speed and acceleration (fast, slow, smooth, intermittent, etc.), the nature of the movement (turn, flexion, extension, etc.).

The perception of movement is possible only with the interaction of a complex of analyzers - visual, auditory, vestibular, motor, etc.

However, not every real movement is perceived, and vice versa, a person sees movement where it is not in reality (illusions of movement). An example is the stroboscopic movement, on the principle of which the impression of movement in the cinema is based, when, with a quick change of still pictures, reflecting the phases of the object's movements, an illusion of the movement of the object arises.

3. Basic properties of sensations and perception

3.1. Properties of sensations

All sensations can be characterized in terms of their properties. The main properties include:quality, intensity, duration, spatial localization, absolute And relative threshold.

Quality this is a property that characterizes the basic information reflected by this sensation, distinguishing it from other types of sensations and varying within this type of sensation. For example, taste sensations provide information about certain chemical characteristics of an object: sweet or sour, bitter or salty; the sense of smell also provides us with information about the chemical characteristics of the object, but of a different kind: a floral smell, the smell of almonds, the smell of hydrogen sulfide, etc .; auditory sensations provide information about the pitch, timbre and volume of sound, etc.

Feeling intensityis its quantitative characteristic and depends on the strength of the acting stimulus and the functional state of the receptor, which determines the degree of readiness of the receptor to perform its functions. For example, if you have a runny nose, the intensity of perceived odors may be distorted.

Duration of sensationis its temporal characteristic of sensation. It is also determined by the functional state of the sense organ, but mainly by the time of action of the stimulus and its intensity.

It should be noted that sensations have a so-called latent (hidden) period, i. when a stimulus is applied to the sense organ, the sensation does not occur immediately, but after some time. The latent period of various types of sensations is not the same, so for tactile sensations it is 130 ms, for pain 370 ms, and for taste only 50 ms.

Spatial localizationirritant. The analysis carried out by the receptors gives us information about the localization of the stimulus in space, i.e. we can tell where the light is coming from, where the heat is coming from, or what part of the body is affected by the stimulus.

These described properties of sensations to one degree or another reflectquality characteristicssensations. However, no less important arequantitative parametersbasic characteristics of sensations, in other words,degree of sensitivity.

There are two types of sensitivity:absolute sensitivity And sensitivity to difference.

Under absolute sensitivityimply the ability to sense weak stimuli, and bysensitivity to differencethe ability to sense differences between stimuli.

Sensitivity thresholdsthese are its limiting possibilities. Our sensitivity range is limited by the lower and upper absolute thresholds.

The minimum value of the stimulus at which a sensation first occurs is calledabsolute lower threshold of sensation.

Stimuli, the strength of which lies below the absolute threshold of sensation, do not give sensations, but this does not mean that they do not have any effect on the body. So sound stimuli lying below the absolute threshold of sensation can cause a change in the electrical activity of the brain and dilation of the pupil.

Along with the lower one, there is alsoupper absolute threshold, i.e. the maximum intensity of the stimulus at which sensation is still possible. Above the upper threshold, pain occurs or the sensation disappears.

The absolute lower threshold of sensation characterizesabsolute sensitivity level of this analyzer.

Different analyzers have different sensitivities.

There is an inverse relationship between absolute sensitivity and the threshold value: the lower the threshold value, the higher the sensitivity of this analyzer.

Another characteristic of sensitivity is sensitivity to discrimination. It is also called relative or differential, because. is sensitivity to a change in stimulus.

The smallest difference between two stimuli that causes a barely perceptible difference in sensations is calledthreshold of discrimination or difference threshold.

The threshold for distinguishing sensations is determined by the ratio

∆I / I = const (the Bouguer-Weber law),

where ΔI the amount by which the original stimulus that has already generated the sensation must be changed in order for the person to notice that he has really changed; I the size of the current incentive.

Moreover, the value characterizing the discrimination threshold is constant for a particular analyzer. For the visual analyzer, this ratio is approximately 1/1000, for the auditory - 1/10, for the tactile - 1/30.

3.2. Perceptual Properties

Activity, objectivity, integrity, constancy and structure, meaningfulness, selectivity - these are the main properties of the image that develop in the process and result of perception.

Activity consists, first of all, in the participation of effector components in the process of perception, acting in the form of movement of receptor apparatuses and movements of the body or its parts in space.

Subject - This is the ability of a person to perceive the world not as a set of sensations that are not connected with each other, but in the form of objects separated from each other, which have properties that cause these sensations.

Integrity. This means that perception always grasps the integral image of the object. However, this visual ability is not innate. This is indicated by data on the perception of people who were blind in infancy, who regained their sight in adulthood: in the first days after the operation, they see not objects, but only vague outlines, spots of varying brightness and size. In this case, single sensations are noted, but there is no perception: people do not see integral objects. After a few weeks, their visual perception was formed, but it remained limited to what they had previously learned through touch. Thus, perception is formed in the process of practice; it is a system of perceptual actions that must be mastered.

constancy is defined as the ability to perceive objects relatively constant in shape, color and size, a number of other parameters, regardless of the changing physical conditions of perception. The source of constancy is the active actions of the perceptual system (the system of analyzers that provide the act of perception). Repeated perception of the same objects under different conditions makes it possible to single out their permanent, invariant structure. Constancy is an acquired property, not an innate one. It is broken when a person enters an unfamiliar environment.

Structurality. Perception is not a simple sum of sensations. In fact, we perceive a generalized structure. For example, when listening to music, we perceive not individual sounds, but a melody, and recognize it when it is performed both by an orchestra, and on the piano, and vocally, although individual sound sensations are different.

Meaningfulness. Although perception arises from the direct action of a stimulus on the sense organs, perceptual images always have a certain semantic meaning.Perception is closely connected with thinking, with understanding the essence of objects.Consciously perceiving an object means mentally naming it, i.e. attribute to a specific group, class, generalize it into a word. Even when we see an unfamiliar object, we try to establish in it a resemblance to familiar ones.

Selectivity. It manifests itself in the preferential selection of some objects in comparison with others.

The described properties of perception from birth are not inherent in a person; they gradually take shape in life experience, partly being a natural consequence of the work of analyzers, the synthetic activity of the brain.

4. Studying the features of perception

As we found out, the reception of information by a person begins with a feeling. And, if sensation is a reflection of individual properties of objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality, then perception is a visual-figurative reflection of the objects and phenomena of reality acting at the moment on the senses in the aggregate of their various properties and characteristics. The product of perception is always a more or less complex image of an object or phenomenon.

Let's look at this with examples.

1. Glass with hot tea.

Let's see how perception happens.

From external stimuli in the receptors of the eye, nose, fingertips, nerve impulses arise, which enter the brain through sensory nerves, and visual sensations are formed there the color of strongly brewed tea, the transparency of a glass; olfactory sensations the smell of tea; temperature and tactile sensations smooth glass surface and high temperature (hot tea); tactile sensations- when feeling the object the shape of the glass.

The information provided is then evaluated. According to modern ideas, information in the central nervous system is evaluated according to two main features: the physical properties of the signals and the significance of the messages contained in them. The most significant features are selected. And there is a distinction, i.e. the image of a glass with tea is formed.

Then the object of perception is identifiedcomparison of a directly perceived object (a glass of tea) with"reference" images stored in memory, and object identification, i.e. assigning it to a certain class, previously perceived an item of dishes.

The final phase of the process of recognition (and perception) is decoding, which basically consists in the “translation” of perceived signs into those units of inner speech that are directly related to representations and thinking.

Perception, thus, acts as a meaningful (including decision-making) and signified (associated with speech) synthesis of various sensations received from a holistic object.As a result, we get the perception of a glass of hot, strongly brewed tea.

2. A record of various sounds

When listening to a record, auditory perception arises. Auditory perception deals with the sequence of stimuli occurring over time. Our hearing perceives tones and noises.

Sounds, acting on the organ of hearing, cause irritation of the receptors and there are auditory sensations.

If, when listening to a record, we feel the correct rhythmic vibrations of the air, and the frequency of these vibrations determines the pitch, and the amplitude determines the intensity of the sound, then these are tones. These sensations of tones are transmitted to the brain, analyzed, compared with the rhythmic-melodic (musical) code system that has developed in the human mind, and we perceive these sounds as a melody, for example, of a song.

If we hear not rhythmic, but other sounds, then we feel different noises, while different loudness. Noise sensations are also transmitted to the brain, analyzed, compared with the phonemic system of codes (sound codes of the language), recognized and we perceive them, for example, as the noise of the sea, wind, tree leaves, thunder, etc.

3.Photography

When looking at a photograph, we have visual sensations of objects depicted in it, painted in different colors; when touched, tactile sensations arise the paper is smooth, and when felt tactile sensations the shape is rectangular.

Everything happens similarly to the previous examples. And as a result, we perceive it as a photograph with, for example, red roses depicted on it.

Photography as a way of depicting and as a means of fixing the reflection of real objects is objectively a planar image, and yet we are able to correctly perceive the image of an object - due to the fact that the spatial relationship of objects is captured in a photograph in a similar way to human vision.

When perceiving an object, its photograph without a functional background turns out to be the most effective; a soft image that retains all halftone transitions is perceived worse than a high-contrast photograph.

Bibliography

1. A.V. Antonov Information: perception and understanding. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 1988.

2. Maklakov A.G. General psychology: Textbook for universities. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008.

3. Nemov R.S. Psychology. General foundations of psychology: Proc. for stud. higher ped. textbook institutions.- M.: Humanit. ed. center VLADOS, 2000.

5. Psychology / ed. I.V. Dubrovina. - Moscow: Academy, 2002.

6. Psychology for university students / ed. E.I. Rogov. Moscow: ICC "MarT"; Rostov n / a: Publishing Center "Mart", 2004.

7. S.L. Rubinshtein Fundamentals of general psychology. - M., 2000.

8. L.D. Stolyarenko Psychology: Textbook for universities. St. Petersburg: Leader, 2007.

Nature endowed all living beings on earth with the ability to feel and sense, but the ability to perceive what is happening requires the presence of not only the nervous system, but also more highly developed functions. Psychology deals with the study of a wide range of mental processes, including human sensations and perceptions. These concepts are often used as equivalent and interchangeable in speech, but within the framework of a scientific approach, each of them has its own characteristics.

Definition

Sensation is the primary stage of the sensorimotor reaction. And it is connected with strong threads with perception. Both phenomena act as intermediaries in the transfer of the environment that exists independently of consciousness, based on the impact on the senses: this unites them.

But in psychology, perception is not just a sensual image of an object or phenomenon, but also its awareness. It characterizes a diverse range of relationships that result in meaningful situations. Thus, perception can be safely called a form of cognition of reality.

Formation of perception

The development of perception is inextricably linked with activity. Solving various problems, a person inevitably perceives the environment. And in this process, a person can not only see, but also look or even peer, not only hear, but also listen, and possibly listen. Thus, he performs certain actions aimed at correlating the image of perception with the object, which are necessary first for understanding the object itself, and then for its practical application.

This is the most significant difference between perception and sensations: the ability not only to respond to a sensory stimulus, but also to penetrate consciousness into one or another quality belonging to a particular object. Therefore, such a phenomenon provides for a fairly high development of not only sensory, but also motor functions.

Thus, on the example of the artist's creative work, the connection between perception and activity is especially vivid: the contemplation of the surrounding space by the artist and the subsequent image in the picture are components of a single process.

Feeling as the basis of perception

Any perception goes through an introductory stage of object recognition, which is based on sensory indicators of sensations transmitted by the senses. And they, in turn, react to external stimuli. This makes both phenomena related to each other.

But perception is not just a collection of sensations. It is a rather complex holistic process, qualitatively different from those initial feelings that form its basis. In addition, it includes accumulated experience, the thinking of the perceiver, as well as emotions.

So, in psychology, perception is the unity of sensory and semantic, sensation and thinking. But at the same time, the mind relies on the impression, using it as a starting point for its further development.

Feeling characteristics

To better understand what is the foundation of perception as a mental phenomenon, it is necessary to turn to the nature of the sensations themselves, which are dependent on external stimuli and, reflecting their individual features, have a number of specific properties:

Perceptual Properties

Unlike sensations, perception reflects the totality of all the properties of an object, that is, considering it as a whole, without splitting it into parts. And at the same time, it has a number of its own specific features:

Thus, the properties of perception and the properties of sensation, on the one hand, are heterogeneous in nature, and on the other hand, without accepting that foundation built from individual characteristics, it is impossible to form such a mental phenomenon as perception. This whole consists of transformed parts, passed through the prism of awareness and experience.

Classification of sensations

Since sensations are generated by a certain physical stimulus, they are divided according to the level and modality of impact on various receptors:

Varieties of perception

In contrast to sensation, perception is divided into the following types:

Types of sensations and types of perception are very tightly intertwined, but only the categories of the first phenomenon are precisely the basis for creating the second, that is, having sight and hearing, a person is capable of perceiving space, movement, etc.

Perceptual disturbance

Adequate perception of a person is determined by the fact that, perceiving any object or phenomenon, he, as a rule, is aware of it as a single case from general practice. For this reason, perception depends on mental operations. As far as a person understands the world around him, so he perceives it, that is, through the prism of his worldview and acquired experience.

With various kinds of mental disorders, there is a violation of the processes of sensation and perception described above, and, accordingly, a distortion in the reflection of reality. So, there is a disorder of the "body schema": a problem in understanding the shape, position of one's own body, its disintegration into parts, the feeling of extra limbs, and the like.

Violation of the integrity of sensations of different modality can lead to inadequate perception of reality, as, for example, the sounds of speech coming from a person do not correlate with the person himself, but are perceived as two independent objects.

There are a number of different deviations in perception: illusions, hallucinations, agnosias and others, but all of them initially represent the problem of accepting any feelings, emotions, unpleasant sensations, since it is on the basis of sensory data that a person reveals the meaning and significance of phenomena and events.

Synesthesia as a special way of perceiving the world

Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which an impression specific to one sense organ is combined with another complementary sensation or image.

So, for example, phrases like: "salty joke", "bitter rebuke", "stinging speech", "sweet lie" and the like - acquire a very specific tangible meaning. The most common type of synesthesia is considered to be letter-color and number-color associations, when, for example, "6" causes an image of a yellow tint or the letter "B" is perceived as purple.

The version of the origin of this phenomenon says that in infancy all people are synesthetes: certain neural connections initially maintain contact between the senses, and thus sounds and smells are intertwined in the mind, coloring, for example, the letters of the alphabet in different tones. For a certain group of people, a similar feature of feeling and perceiving the world around them persists all their lives.

Perception exercise

Fruits of various colors are laid out in front of the subject, they can be of different types and textures. A person with closed eyes tries to give the maximum description of each of them: first, simply fixing his sensations (cold, hot, smooth, rough, etc.), then trying to intuitively feel its color, and in the end, connecting thinking and experience, gives a complete description of the object.

Such an experiment helps to understand the blurred boundary between the two phenomena and to distinguish perception from sensations. So, in real life, this makes it possible to clearly realize when a person simply feels some phenomenon, event, without taking into account assessment and reasoning, and when thinking is included in the process.

Introduction

The topic of this work is very relevant and interesting to study. After all, perception and sensation are very complex positive processes that form a unique picture of the world, depicted perceived and felt in colors and sounds, which can differ significantly from reality. With the help of various kinds of illusions. Recognizing the difference between the perceived world and the real world is essential to understanding organizational behavior. Not for nothing scientists: Maklakov A.G.; Nemov R.S.; Stolyarenko L.D.; Nikolaenko A.I. and others, worked on the study of perception and sensation from similarities and differences

The purpose of writing the work is to reveal the essence of the difference between perception and sensation as cognitive processes, its components, as well as factors influencing the perception and sensations of a person. To study the theoretical material on the topic and apply it in practice. At the same time, my tasks were the following: to show the relationship between sensation and perception, to consider perception and sensation as a cognitive process of receiving and processing information from the environment, to show what a person’s perception and sensation are made of, to point out possible errors and distortions in perception and sensation.

1. Feeling as a cognitive mental process

1.1 The concept of sensation

Sensations are the simplest mental process, as a result of which a person has the simplest image of the external and internal world. It is a reflection of the individual properties of objects with their direct impact on the senses. Sensation is a reflection of the individual properties of objects that directly affect our senses. Feelings are the source of our knowledge about the world and ourselves. The ability to sense is present in all living beings with a nervous system. Conscious sensations exist only in living beings that have a brain and a cerebral cortex. On the one hand, sensations are objective, since they always reflect an external stimulus, and on the other hand, sensations are subjective, since they depend on the state of the nervous system and individual characteristics of a person.

Objects and phenomena of reality that affect our senses are called stimuli. Stimuli cause excitation in the nervous tissue. Sensation arises as a reaction of the nervous system to a particular stimulus and, like any mental phenomenon, has a reflex character.

The physiological mechanism of sensation is the activity of special nervous apparatuses called analyzers. Analyzers receive the impact of certain stimuli from the external and internal environment and process them into sensations. In the process of any cognitive activity, the starting point is sensation, and the leading process is perception. Information, on the basis of which a holistic image is formed, comes to us through various channels: auditory (perception of auditory images), visual (perception of visual images), kinesthetic (perception of sensory images ..

Psychophysiological characteristics of sensations

A person is born with a ready-made apparatus for all those types of sensations that an adult has. At present, it has been experimentally proven that already in the womb, he begins to reflect the world around him at the level of sensations. Therefore, after birth, there is only an expansion of the range of sensations. The work of the physiological apparatus responsible for the transmission of one or another type of sensation has a special influence on the quality of sensation. So the intensity of sensation is related to the threshold of sensation. There are three types of thresholds: the lower threshold (or absolute) is the minimum strength of the stimulus that is necessary for the occurrence of a sensation (for example, 2–3 light quanta are sufficient for a visual sensation, which corresponds to light from a burning candle located at a distance of 1 km from the observer ); upper threshold - the maximum strength of the stimulus, which still causes a sensation of this quality, without turning into a pain sensation. distinguishing threshold - the minimum change in the strength of the stimulus to which the sensation organ reacts in the form of a change in the latter (for example, the distinguishing threshold for musicians and people who do not play music has a pronounced difference in the value of the distinguishing threshold). The second psychophysiological characteristic of sensations is adaptation. It is directly related to the change in the absolute threshold and is a change in the sensitivity of the sense organs under the influence of the stimulus: if there is a long-term exposure to a medium-strength stimulus, then the sensation of this modality may completely disappear (this is how we stop hearing the quiet ticking clock, etc.); under the action of a weak stimulus, sensitivity increases (we begin to see some time after we entered a dimly lit room from a sunny street); under the action of a strong stimulus, the sensitivity of the organ is "blunted", the sensitivity of the organ decreases (it increases the lower threshold). The third feature of sensations is contrast. It is a change in the intensity and quality of sensations of a given type under the influence of a previous or concomitant stimulus (for example, the red color of strawberries against a green background of leaves feels more saturated than when viewed against the background of the same berries). The fourth psychophysiological characteristic of sensation is called sensitization - an increase sensitivity as a result of the interaction of analyzers and / or exercise (for example, there is always an improvement in pitch hearing in children involved in music). And the last, fifth, psychophysiological characteristic is synesthesia. Synesthesia is the occurrence of a sensation in an organ that is not currently experiencing a direct impact from the external environment, a sensation under the influence of stimuli on another sense organ. It differs from all previous ones by a greater individualization of occurrence. The most common synesthesia is visual-audible. Thus, the emergence of any sensation is associated with the physiological capabilities of the organ through which information about the properties of the inner and outer world comes.

1.2 Types of sensation

Feelings can be classified in different ways. According to the leading modality (qualitative characteristics of sensations), the following sensations are distinguished: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, motor, internal (sensations of the internal state of the body).

Visual sensations are a reflection of both achromatic (white, black and shades of gray intermediate between them) and chromatic (various shades of red, yellow, green, blue) colors. Visual sensations are caused by exposure to light, i.e. electromagnetic waves emitted (or reflected) by physical bodies on the visual analyzer. The outer perceiving "device" is the retina of the eye shell. Auditory sensations are a reflection of sounds of different heights (high - low), strength (loud - quiet) and different quality (musical sounds, noises). They are caused by the impact of sound waves created by the vibrations of the bodies. Olfactory sensations are a reflection of odors. Olfactory sensations arise due to the penetration of particles of odorous substances that spread in the air into the upper part of the nasopharynx, where they act on the peripheral endings of the olfactory analyzer embedded in the nasal mucosa. Taste sensations are a reflection of some chemical properties of flavoring substances dissolved in water or saliva. Taste sensations play an important role in the process of nutrition, in distinguishing between different types of food. Tactile sensations are a reflection of the mechanical properties of objects that are detected when they are touched, rubbed against them, or hit. These sensations also reflect the temperature of environmental objects and external pain effects. These sensations are called exteroceptive and form a single group according to the type of analyzers located on the surface of the body or near it. Exteroceptive sensations are divided into contact and discant. Contact sensations are caused by direct contact with the surface of the body (taste, touch), distant sensations are caused by stimuli acting on the sense organs at some distance (vision, hearing). Olfactory sensations occupy an intermediate position between them.

The next group consists of sensations that reflect the movements and states of the body itself. They are called motor or proprioceptive. Motor sensations reflect the position of the limbs, their movement and the degree of effort applied. Without them, it is impossible to perform movements normally and coordinate them. Sensations of position (balance), along with motor sensations, play an important role in the process of perception (for example, stability). In addition, there is a group of organic sensations - internal (iteroceptive). These sensations reflect the internal state of the body. These include feelings of hunger, thirst, nausea, internal pain sensations, etc. According to the time of occurrence, sensations are relevant and irrelevant. Different types of sensations are characterized not only by specificity, but also by properties common to them. These properties include: quality - an essential feature of sensations, which makes it possible to distinguish one type of sensation from another (for example, auditory from visual), as well as various variations of sensations within a given type (for example, by color, saturation); intensity - a quantitative characteristic of sensations, which determined by the strength of the acting stimulus and the functional state of the receptor; duration is a time characteristic of sensations. It is determined by the functional state of the sense organs, the time of exposure to the stimulus and its intensity. The quality of sensations of all kinds depends on the sensitivity of the analyzers of the corresponding type.