On reflexes and combination-reflex activity

Sechenov owns an indication that any mental act in general, being a reflex of the brain, ultimately comes down to muscle contraction and, consequently, to movement (Sechenov I. M. Reflexes of the brain. St. Petersburg, 1863). This meant the actual contractions of the skeletal muscles, but it should be noted that at that time the facts relating to the somatic, cardiovascular and secretory functions of the cerebral cortex were not yet known. The facts obtained by later research by our and other laboratories now make it possible to supplement and modify Sechenov’s statement above, pointing out the role of the cerebral cortex in the reflexes of the brain and replacing subjective terminology with objective terminology.

Guided by this, at the present time we can put forward as a position the fact that all generally higher — associative reflexes that occur with the participation of the cerebral cortex, are finally resolved either by contraction of the skeletal muscles that move the external organs of the body, or by contraction of smooth muscles that set in motion internal organs, including the cardiovascular system, or, finally, internal secretion.

Sechenov also deserves credit for pointing out that in the case of a «mental» complication of a reflex, the ratio between the strength of excitation and the intensity of movement may fluctuate in one direction or another. In other words, he was the first to indicate that the reflexes of the brain, or the cortical reflexes proper, they are also combinational reflexes, are subject to inhibition, disinhibition and stimulation.

According to Sechenov, all “mental” acts that are generally uncomplicated by an emotional state develop in the form of a reflex. But here, too, a caveat must be made. At present, there is no reason to exclude from the realm of higher reflexes those states that, according to Sechenov, were complicated by a “passionate”, or, what is the same, emotional element, and which we designate mimic-somatic reflexes, because although the main centers of mimic-somatic activity lie in the subcortical nodes, namely, on the one hand, in the thalamus opticus, which was proved by me in due time, and on the other hand, in the striatal system associated with it, as it became known later; nevertheless, the participation of the mimico-somatic sphere in higher or combinational reflexes occurs through the cerebral cortex. The fact is that in the cerebral cortex there are special areas, the irritation of which is reflected both in the cardiovascular system and in internal secretion. In addition, a variety of mimic movements can be induced from the cerebral cortex (Bekhterev V. M. Fundamentals of the study of brain functions. 1906. Issue VI).

Further, Sechenov belongs to the indication that thought is the same reflex with a truncated end, i.e., thought makes up the first two-thirds of the “mental” reflex, and that the initial cause of actions or actions lies in external, “sensory” excitation, because in the absence of it no thought is possible.

According to Sechenov, if we put 5 seconds on each new visual stimulus, then within 12 hours more than 8000 impressions should enter, the same number through the ear and even more through muscle movements. All this mass of influences results daily in a huge number of combinations, only partially similar to each other. The so-called association is nothing but a succession of reflexes in which the end of one reflex merges with the beginning of the next. The condition for strengthening an association that leaves a trace is its repetition, and the frequent repetition of an association with one of the parts leads to the fact that the excitation of this part at the slightest hint leads to the emergence of the entire association (for example, visual-tactile-auditory).

By means of frequently renewed mental reflexes, a person gradually learns to group his movements, and at the same time the ability to delay them. Because of this, among the psychic reflexes there are many in which there is a delay in their last action.

This is how the famous Russian physiologist Sechenov sketched out a scheme of mental activity in his time, who established purely revolutionary views in this area as early as 1863. Both the modern Russian physiological school and our reflexological school got their original roots from Sechenov.

All activity by which a person establishes his relationship to the surrounding world, social and physical-biological, we call correlative. It consists of a number of higher, or acquired, otherwise associative, reflexes and lower, hereditarily transmitted, therefore, inborn reflexes. In contrast to the latter reflexes, which have long been well studied by both physiologists and clinicians, the mechanism of acquired, or higher, reflexes has been elucidated relatively recently.

Studies by physiologists in the field of salivary reflexes and the reflexological school in the field of the motor and part of the vasomotor sphere have found that the mechanism of these reflexes is the same everywhere and is based on the establishment of new connections due to the combination of a reflexogenic stimulus, i.e., an stimulus capable of causing an ordinary, or a simple, otherwise lower, reflex, with a non-reflexogenic stimulus, i.e., unable to cause a similar reflex. Several combinations of this kind are enough for any non-reflexogenic stimulus to acquire the properties of a reflexogenic one, i.e., it will evoke the same reflex as the reflexogenic stimulus. This reflex, therefore, turns out to be acquired due to the new connections that have arisen, depending on their control in the central nervous system.

The middle link between innate and acquired reflexes is formed by complex organic reflexes, more precisely, a chain of reflexes that develop under the influence of internal stimuli and reach the corresponding goal in higher animals and humans with the participation of acquired reflexes directed by organic impulses (nutrition, sexual function, etc.). Finally, we single out a special category of complex reflexes that are carried out through a mechanism that is ready from nature, but whose manifestations are carried out under the influence of both internal impulses and external stimuli; in the latter case, these reflexes depend on individual experience. These complex reflexes, which characterize the internal state of the body, are designated by us as mimic-somatic reflexes, accompanied, among other things, by a general change in mimic-somatic tone. The related reflexes, such as, for example, laughter, crying and anger, are carried out by a mechanism that is ready by nature, for no person learns to laugh, cry or get angry, while external stimuli that cause laughter, crying and anger are the result of experience acquired in a given social environment.

Thus, from the general correlative activity, thanks to which all relations of the individual to the environment are established, we single out, firstly, a typical combination-reflex, which is a combination of various combinational, or acquired, reflexes, in whatever area of ​​the body they manifest themselves , secondly, mimic-somatic activity, consisting of changes in the general mimic-somatic tone and mimic-somatic reflexes, thirdly, complex organic, or instinctive, activity, and, finally, fourthly, simple reflex activity with constitutional manifestations, represented by specific, hereditary experience passed down from generation to generation.

In turn, typical combination-reflex activity can be divided into reflexes that are, firstly, indicative, excited mainly by external stimuli, and secondly, personal reflexes, associated mainly with internal needs and appearing in the form of simple and complex actions. whether they will be offensive (aggressive), defensive or defensive, expectant or preparatory in nature, thirdly, symbolic reflexes that manifest themselves in the form of symbols or signs of certain objects, phenomena and states, as well as the relationship between them, and these signs they can be with the character of movement in the form of gestures and pantomime, with the character of sounds and, finally, with the character of writing and drawing. The complex forms of these symbolic reflexes lie at the basis of the human activity that belongs to works of art.

The species experience of an individual is not limited to identification in the form of simple reflexes, but is also reflected by an inherited type of behavior in the form of one or another temperament in the sense of the general nature of the response, inherited features in the form of the predominant development of one or another side of the human personality, as well as inherited inclinations to one or another reactions to external influences and, finally, more or less giftedness in general. All these features, being closely related to the general constitution and development of the organism, we will denote by the general term «constitutional manifestations», by which we will mean the individual type, or the so-called temperament, anthropological type (musical, visual, motor, etc.), hereditary inclinations of that or other kind and general giftedness.

It is easy to see that if these last manifestations of the personality, along with innate and (to a large extent) complex organic reflexes, are due to a biological factor that is inherited in connection with the biological heritage of the personality and its general disposition or physical constitution, then all other manifestations of the personality, characterized by those or other reflexes of a higher order, especially associative-reflex activity, are in direct connection with external influences of a social and partly physical-cosmic nature, acting on a person throughout his life, starting from the day of birth.

If we take into account that the factor of inheritance is in essence the result of the biologically fixed experience of previous generations in the field of influences of a cosmo-social nature, then we must come to the conclusion that a personality, to what extent it is expressed in its behavior and in its highest manifestations, is a phenomenon predominantly of a social order with a biological basis in lower manifestations, for example, in relation to simple reflexes and constitutional features.

As for the behavior of the individual and his higher reactions in general, they are determined, on the one hand, by impulses or stimuli received from the external world, especially from the surrounding social environment, and on the other hand, from the internal factors of the organism, i.e. from internal , or organic, stimuli, and it makes no difference whether these factors stand in connection with the surrounding external conditions (such as starvation, deprivation of air, etc.), or act completely independently of external conditions as predetermined by morbid or hereditary conditions .

Thus, the stimuli that determine a person’s behavior and all his reactions in general are naturally divided into external, or exogenous, and internal, or endogenous. With the latter, one should not confuse those stimuli of a purely external nature, which, not manifesting themselves during the period of their influence in the form of external reflexes due to the inhibition of the latter, then, after one time or another, are accompanied by reactions that may seem not due to external influences, while in fact in fact, they are conditioned by them in the previous period of the individual’s life.

It hardly needs to be said that in this case, both the nature of the reflexes themselves and the former external influences determine what we are actually dealing with — with actions caused by endogenous stimuli, or with the so-called reproductive reactions based on the disinhibition of past influences. .

Psychological psychiatrists are still unlikely to calm down with the above alone and may ask, what about the thoughts that develop in patients in the form of hidden delirium. To this we will answer that reflexology recognizes unspoken thoughts, as well as other latent states, as unrevealed reflexes — subreflexes and judges their existence by one or another indirect manifestation in the sense of characteristic features of behavior. From the moment thoughts are put into verbal form, we consider them from the point of view of reflexology as an accountable activity, studied strictly objectively. In addition, words are symbolic reactions to external stimuli and from this side serve as one of the manifestations of the attitude of a sick person to the environment. In other words, when the patient conveys in words his experiences, current or past, we are talking about a verbal report in relation to the past subreflexes, but when the patient reacts with words to the questions asked, we are dealing with verbal reactions as symbolic reflexes.

Thus, as long as these reflexes remain in a latent form, which on the basis of subjective experience is indicated by sensations, feelings, ideas, desires and thoughts, we consider them as latent reflexes, or subreflexes. Since they appear at one time or another in the form of a verbal report, i.e., a retelling of their subjective state, or in. in the form of gestures or actions, they thereby, in the form of the content of verbal reflexes and in the form of the nature of gestures or actions, will enter the objective complex of painful symptoms, but not for their subjective interpretation, but in the sense of the relationship that will be revealed in them to the environment, to to itself or to temporarily inhibited reflexes. This achieves the final completeness of an objective biosocial study of a sick person, which otherwise would inevitably reveal corresponding gaps.

As we know, reflexology establishes the existence of different categories of reflexes in a living organism. These include innate reflexes, hereditary-organic (instinctive), mimic-somatic and acquired, or combination, they are also higher reflexes. Since in a sick personality we encounter the same reflexes and their same features in the sense of manifestation and development, it is necessary to briefly dwell on this subject here.

Regarding innate reflexes, it should be noted that they can be both simple and complex, manifesting themselves under the influence of external or internal influences with amazing constancy, and their occurrence does not require either exercise or skill, because the mechanism of these reflexes is inherited from generation to generation. as a result of the experience of an innumerable series of ancestors, fixed by natural selection.

Inborn reflexes arise out of connection with life experience due to an exclusively innate mechanism, which may be fully matured at the time of birth or ripening in the next few days after birth. For the most part, these are reflexes of a relatively simple nature, such as mechanical excitability of muscles, tendon reflexes, pupil reflexes, etc.

Inherited reflexes should also be recognized as those that appear, although not from birth, but arise without life experience, thanks to a mechanism prepared by nature that matures in the period of development. Such, for example, are accommodative, erection, sexual, and other reflexes.

Both of them are thus based on the mechanisms of the nervous system prepared by nature, with the difference that some of these reflexes are mechanisms that have already matured by the day of birth, while others are mechanisms that mature in the subsequent period of development of the organism.

Other reflexes, more complex in nature, are in turn unequal, and in this respect. Some of these reflexes are based on an innate or inherited mechanism, but still, in their fulfillment, they need life experience created by the social environment, which determines the expedient direction of these reflexes. These are the instincts of nutrition, self-preservation and reproduction. Other reflexes are also determined by inherited mechanisms, but arise not only under the influence of stimuli that constantly excite this mechanism, but also under the influence of stimuli developed along with life experience. These are the mimic-somatic reactions that determine the internal state of the body. For example, laughter and crying can be excited by skin stimuli, but can also be caused by social stimuli, which will only be acquired.

As for acquired reflexes, they all arise by combining two different stimuli, one of which, for example, electrocutaneous or some other, must be reflexogenic, at least in the form of a verbal command, i.e., cause an external effect, and the other non-reflexogenic . For the implementation of the coupling of two or more reflexes in certain cases with good excitability, a small number of repetitions of the above two or more stimuli is sufficient, so that the non-reflexogenic stimulus acquires all the properties of a reflexogenic stimulus.

The matter should be conceived in such a way that in our experiments, for example, the withdrawal of the fingers of the hand when they are electrically stimulated is an artificially created dominant, leaving behind a trace for one time or another, and therefore third-party stimuli coinciding more or less closely with it in time. , say light or sound, stimulate the same excited dominant center, causing through its mediation the corresponding effect, i.e., the same withdrawal of the hand. In other words, the cortical brain process that has developed as a result of repeated excitation of the same center by some kind of reflexogenic stimulus, we must understand as an artificially induced dominant. This gives us reason to believe that the process of coupling or combination is based on the development of dominants in general. A dominant that has arisen in experience, like a naturally developed dominant, attracts external excitation to itself, thus establishing the process of coupling or combination.

We will not enter here into a detailed description of inborn or inherited reflexes, for they should already be known from neuropathology. The changes that are observed in relation to these reflexes in nervous patients and in personally ill patients with organic brain lesions are also considered there.

We only note that innate reflexes are performed, on the one hand, by peripheral nodes (the autonomic nervous system), and, on the other hand, by various centers of the spinal cord and brain stem, including the medulla oblongata, midbrain and cerebellum.

Instinctive, or rather, hereditary-organic, reflexes basically have impulses emanating from the autonomic nervous system, represented by sympathetic and parasympathetic cells and nodes, which, through its centers contained in the spinal cord and in the brain stem, reaches the higher autonomic center subthalamic region of the brain stem, affects the cortical regions. Due to this, they are replenished by cortical reactions aimed at satisfying the needs associated with the initial excitation of vegetative impulses.

Further, mimic-somatic reflexes, as already mentioned above, are carried out mainly through the intermedebral brain, or visual tubercles (Bekhterev V. M. Bulletin of Psychiatry. 1885), with the participation of the brain nodes of the striatal system, which are in close anatomical relationship with visual tubercles. But here we are talking only about the main central areas, through which mimic-somatic reflexes are performed, some of which undoubtedly retain the nature of innate reflexes, but their other part (for example, movements of caress, etc.), carried out through the same nodes, also requires the participation of the cerebral cortex. And in all those cases when mimico-somatic reflexes are excited through external receptors, they are carried out only with the participation of cortical regions.

The oldest in the phylogenetic sense is, without a doubt, the sympathetic nervous system, serving the tissues themselves and the exchange in them; with the isolation of the animal nervous system from it, we get primary brain nodes with a parasympathetic nervous system that serves the cavity formations of the body and thereby establishes coordination of external movements with internal processes. In the future, we already have the development of complex animal centers in the form of various nuclei of the brain stem, establishing a more complex coordination of external and internal movements.

Finally, the highest stage in the development of the central nervous system is the cerebral cortex, which makes it possible to accumulate life experience and at the same time improve it by differentiating and selectively combining reflexes, and in other cases temporarily inhibiting them not only in connection with constantly changing external influences, but also with changing general condition, and consequently, the needs of the body.

This stage in the development of the nervous system is in one way or another connected both with the oldest sympathetic nervous system through the cavitary gray matter in the region of the gray tubercle and hypothalamic areas, and with the nuclei of the brain stem with its parasympathetic nervous system. Each of the above areas of the nervous system has its share of independence and at the same time acts in order of subordination to the overlying and later developing systems. Thus, the sympathetic system serves with its reflexes all the plant functions of the organism and in this area fulfills its role more or less independently, although not without some influence from reflexes of a higher order. The brain stem with the spinal cord and the parasympathetic nervous system serves the external relations of a living being with the outside world, established by species experience, through both external and internal reflexes, which are in coordination with the former. Finally, the cerebral hemispheres serve the needs of the body through life experience established each time by higher-order mobile reflexes corresponding to these needs, or the so-called combination, and the implementation of the latter is usually coordinated with the state and reflexes of the somatic sphere of the body through parasympathetic fibers and the sympathetic nervous system that controls, between other, and endocrine glands.

As for the acquired, or associative, reflexes that develop on the basis of innate reflexes, they seem to reproduce in a general form the forms of innate reflexes, differentiating and complicating them in various directions. By the nature of their external manifestation, these reflexes, in addition to the previously indicated instinctive reflexes, can be orienting, offensive, attacking, defensive, preparatory (alarm reflex), imitation and interaction reflexes, mimic-somatic, symbolic (gestures), speech and concentration reflexes.

By orienting reflexes we mean reflexes that mobilize one or another perceiving organs under the influence of external stimuli, by offensive reflexes — reflexes that cause the attraction of an external stimulus and are characterized by movements with an approaching character and possibly longer possession of an external stimulus. By attacking, or aggressive, reflexes, we mean reflexes caused by an unfavorable stimulus and directed towards its elimination or destruction; under defensive — defense reflexes from an unfavorable stimulus or from an attack. We call the preparatory reflex and the alert reflex the general tension of the neuromuscular apparatus as a preparatory act for an attack or defense. Imitative reflexes, as can be seen from the name itself, are reflexes that reproduce external stimuli in their movement and form, interaction reflexes are due to the mutual influence of two or many accomplices of one common cause on each other.

We call mimic-somatic reflexes reflexes that reveal the internal state of the individual both in his appearance and in the functional changes in internal organs, especially the heart, respiration, blood circulation and metabolism. By symbolic reflexes we mean gestures that have the form of certain signs. Speech reflexes designate all verbal expressions in general.

Finally, by concentration reflexes we designate the mobilization of one or another receptor organ with more or less complete external suppression of all other reflexes and support for the mobilization of the organ by accompanying stimuli.

In this case, we have a process that was elucidated and designated back in 1911 by the term «concentration» and which the school of the physiologist Ukhtomsky later studied in detail, calling it «dominant». The essence of the concentration process, to which we will return, is as follows: an external or internal stimulus excites a given receptor so much that all other receptor areas are inhibited, and at the same time, all third-party stimuli, exciting the latter, do not give their own response, and all their influence goes to the aid of the same initially excited receptor center, strengthening and maintaining the excited state in it.

If we are guided by a verbal report, then during the period of concentration all the reviving subfocal reflexes in other receptor areas are attracted to the receptor area that was initially excited by one or another stimulus. It is clear that this process acquires special significance in combination-reflex activity, representing the possibility at a given moment of concentrating all brain energy on one object, and at another moment on another object.

All acquired reflexes in general are carried out in higher animals, as has been proved experimentally, always only through the mediation of the cortex, with the participation in one case or another of the subcortical brain ganglions. This, however, does not exclude the possibility that in animals with an underdeveloped animal nervous system or completely devoid of it, the implementation of acquired reflexes is, of course, possible without the participation of the cerebral cortex, since the artificial education of associative reflexes in ciliates and arthropods, for example, has been proven. crabs. In higher animals, however, all life experience is undoubtedly deposited in the cerebral cortex, which carries out the most diverse acquired reflexes.

In order to clarify the mechanism of these reflexes, let us recall here in general terms the general plan of the structure and functioning of the cerebral cortex. The cortex of the cerebral hemispheres is a vast area with different water-removal combination areas, which, through centripetal drive systems, are reached by all irritations that arise both from outside and from within the body in spatio-temporal order. From the above-mentioned areas of the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres, impulses are directed through centrifugal discharge systems, on the one hand, through the association fibers associated with the drive systems, to the skeletal muscles that move the external organs of the body, and on the other hand, through the autonomic, parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems — to internal organs and glands for the purpose of appropriate coordination of their work with external motor reactions.

All these reflexes are carried out, on the one hand, through the energy reserve that is introduced into the body with food, processed by the gastrointestinal tract and entering the blood, which then transfers, as necessary, chemical energy to various tissues of the body, including the brain, and spreads throughout the whole body needs oxygen in the chemistry of tissues, and on the other hand, by converting the energy of external stimuli into the energy of the nerve current as an ionic process.

Orienting reflexes make it possible for the individual to orient himself in the surrounding world and at the same time, as mentioned above, establish the adaptation of the irritated organ in some cases for the best use of a suitable stimulus, and in others for rejecting or weakening an irritant that is unsuitable in its strength or quality. Further complication of the cortical reaction to the external world is achieved by the process of linking some orienting reflexes with others due to their spatio-temporal contiguity. This coupling is achieved by the action of two or more reflexes. In the receptor apparatus, which is essentially a transformer of external energy, as a result of the action of the latter, a nerve current develops in order to reach the corresponding area of ​​the cortex along the drive circuit through a number of neurons. Due to association connections, centrifugal impulses are sent from the cerebral cortex to the muscles that serve the corresponding receptor, ensuring that it is brought into a state more favorable for the perception of an external stimulus. This, in essence, is the orienting reflex, which, naturally, is associated with the distinction of a given stimulus from all other stimuli.

Those data that have been obtained regarding the structure of the cerebral cortex boil down to the fact that we have a visual-motor region in the occipital lobe, an auditory-motor region in the two gyrus of Heschl (Heschl), an olfactory-motor region in the uncinate gyrus, and a taste-motor region in the in the upper cover and tactile-muscular-motor — on both central gyrus and on the back of the first frontal gyrus. Each of the areas, in turn, is divided into a drive area, as if reproducing the corresponding receptor device (for example, the cortical retina — in the f. calcarina area, the cortical organ of Corti — in the Heschl gyrus and on the inner surface of the first temporal gyrus, the cortical musculoskeletal surface — on the posterior central gyrus, etc.), and on the adjacent outlet area, which performs the mobilization of the muscular apparatus of the same receptor.

In addition to these five cortical areas, it is also necessary to single out a labyrintho-static area on the second and, perhaps, on the third temporal gyrus and a muscular-static area on the outer surface of the frontal lobe, which, like the previous areas, also has two parts — the drive and the outlet.

Finally, there is reason to assume the presence of a somato-motor region located on the anterior central gyrus, and an extensive cardiovascular region occupying the parietal-temporal areas, not occupied by either the auditory or olfactory regions and performing cardiovascular reflexes, most likely due to with neighboring areas of the cerebral cortex.

Further, in the left hemisphere, we have an auditory-speech area additionally developing in the auditory-motor and taste-motor areas, which in literate persons develops into a visual-auditory-speech area.

In addition, it should be borne in mind that the entire cerebral cortex is divided by the Roland furrow into the posterior half — exocortex, related to external receptors, and into the anterior half, or endocortex, containing internal receptor areas.

All motor impulses performed by the anterior half of the brain — endocortex, are carried out through internal activity, that is, due to impulses emanating from the internal parts of the body — from the somatic sphere of the body, while movements performed by the posterior half of the brain — exocortex, are carried out due to those impulses that are given from the outside world, from the environment through external receptors. Thus, for example, the eye movement area located on the second cerebral gyrus performs movements in connection with muscle impulses (arms, legs, etc.), while the eye movement area in the occipital lobe performs eye movements in connection with visual impulses, and the area eye movements, contained in the angular gyrus, performs movements through auditory impulses.

As for the general movements carried out through the anterior central gyrus, they are obviously performed both by muscle impulses transmitted by centripetal conductors rising directly to this gyrus, and by impulses emanating from external receptors from the skin surface through the posterior central gyrus — with areas of visual, auditory, olfactory and a number of others.

Orienting reflexes, carried out with the help of each of the above areas, as our observations show, are part of the innate, because they are carried out, although in an extremely imperfect way, already from birth, but then develop further in connection with the experience of life during its first period.

Complex complexes of motor reflexes we call actions, or deeds. If reflexes come from internal stimuli — stimuli, we designate them as personal reflexes, in other words, internally conditioned, and in the case when reflexes are caused by external stimuli, we consider them externally conditioned, or reciprocal.

As has been clarified by a number of laboratory studies, all generally acquired, or combinational, reflexes differ in comparison with inborn ones by greater mobility, and their features in relation to development, flow, and extinction are easily revealed during the artificial education of these combinational reflexes.

Here we will only briefly touch on the most important mechanisms in practical terms, since they have been identified by laboratory studies. The first thing to note is that each association reflex, being trained in an appropriate way, does not remain constant, but, on the contrary, with the passage of time, when the stimulus is repeatedly given, it begins to die out and, finally, slows down. Here, therefore, we first of all meet with the process of inhibition, which is called internal. In addition to such internal inhibition, it should be borne in mind that the associative reflex can also be inhibited under the influence of some external stimulus, as in other cases, but under the influence of external stimulus it can also be disinhibited.

In relation to the inhibitory and disinhibitory action, the very nature of the stimulus is not without significance. So, in accordance with the experiments carried out in my laboratory, prolonged sound stimulation in the form of noise had a stimulating, or revitalizing, otherwise disinhibitory effect on the educated associative sound reflex, while musical stimuli in the form of two harmonious tones slowed it down, contributing to at the same time the fastest differentiation of the reflex. Hence the significance of inhibition in relation to differentiation is clear, which will be discussed below.

We have already said that an educated associative reflex is easily inhibited by itself after repeated resumption of the corresponding stimulus without its reinforcement by a new combination with a reflexogenic stimulus and, conversely, is disinhibited under the influence of combining some other third-party stimulus with it, especially during the period when the educated associative the reflex is still not strong enough. Let us assume that we have brought up an associative reflex by means of electrocutaneous stimulation to a light stimulus. With its repeated renewal without reinforcement by an electrocutaneous stimulus, the associative reflex gradually fades away. In another case, if, in the presence of an associative reflex, we give an electric bell together with a light stimulus, the consequence of this will also be the extinction, or inhibition, of the associative reflex to light. In the first case, we have natural or internal inhibition; in the second case, external inhibition. But the associative motor reflex is both easily inhibited and disinhibited, moreover, this disinhibition occurs either independently after some rest, or under the influence of external external stimulation.

For example, the associative reflex, after repeated repetition without being combined with an electrocutaneous stimulus, will go out, but it is enough to lengthen the interval between combined stimuli by a factor of two or three, and the reflex to a new associative stimulus is renewed. We are talking here about independent, or internal, disinhibition, which obviously depends on the appropriate rest of the nerve conductors and the restoration of temporarily depleted conduction. But the disinhibition of the extinguished combination reflex is also possible by introducing a new non-reflexogenic third-party stimulus. For example, an associative reflex brought up to the light of an electric light bulb and then extinguished can be renewed without being combined with an electrocutaneous reflexogenic stimulus if we add an external sound stimulus to the light stimulus.

Why does the same third-party non-reflexogenic stimulus in one case cause inhibition of the associative reflex, and in another case the same stimulus causes its disinhibition? This apparently depends on the unequal relationship of the given stimulus with the nervous process itself, which in one case is in a period of increase, and in another in a period of its extinction.

Another process that was discovered during the study of combination-motor reflexes in my laboratory in 1909 (Bekhterev V. M. Russian doctor. 1909. No. 33, 35 and 36) is the principle of differentiation. The essence of this principle lies in the fact that if we constantly maintain the associative reflex to a given stimulus that has been brought up once by resuming it by combining it with electrocutaneous reflexogenic stimulation, then the associative reflex, being soon after the initial development more or less common to a number of similar stimuli, gradually differentiates, eventually becomes specific, i.e., caused by one of these stimuli. If, for example, we cultivate an associative reflex by combining an electrocutaneous stimulus with the sound «to», then at first we get an associative reflex not only to the sound «to», but also to a number of other sound stimuli, and only then, in the process of resuming the associative sound reflex, when supported by combining it with an electrocutaneous one, it gradually differentiates to such an extent that a reflex is obtained only to “do” and to no other sound.

Thus, initially we are talking about the irradiation of excitation of a given area of ​​the cortex, followed by the concentration of this excitation. By the way, in experiments on dogs carried out in my laboratory, it was shown that the differentiation of the associative reflex always proceeds from the general to the particular.

With the help of a common reflexogenic stimulus, coupling can be carried out between two non-reflexogenic stimuli that are close in character. In this case, the reflex is obtained for these two stimuli, which excite different parts of the same cortical area. Let us assume that an electrocutaneous stimulus from a whole range of sound stimuli is repeatedly combined only with the sounds «do» and «fa», in the end the reflex will be obtained only for the sound «do» or «fa», but not for any of the other sound stimuli. I have designated this process by the name «selective generalization», because here the generalization of two stimuli takes place in a selective manner through the mediation of the same reflexogenic stimulus.

The same selective generalization can be achieved between different stimuli within other associative regions. It is not difficult, for example, to cultivate a reflex to touch the skin surface in one and the other part of it, combining in time one and the other local irritations with electrocutaneous. And in this case, we will get a combination motor reflex to both one and the other local irritation of the skin surface.

In the same way, selective generalization can be evoked in the reciprocal part of the reflex. For this purpose, it is necessary that the reflexogenic stimulus act not on one, but, say, on two limbs, causing reflexes, for example, in the leg, and in the arm, or in the right and left hands, and the electrocutaneous stimulation of one limb must be combined with a non-reflexogenic stimulus. of one kind, for example, with sound, and stimulation of the other limb with non-reflexogenic stimulation of another kind, for example, with light. In this case, we get one reflex to sound, the other to light, and with the simultaneous action of both stimuli, two separate reflexes. Replacing one stimulus with another, in this case we get a sequential chain of two combination-motor reflexes in connection with the successive change of stimuli.

An example of such linkage in life experience is typing or playing the piano from sheet music.

The next principle, which is revealed in the study of combination-motor reflexes, can be called the principle of the mutual change of excitation by inhibition and vice versa. Its essence lies in the fact that the brought up associative reflex, at first quickly generalized by irradiation, then gradually differentiates. In other words, the state of the initial generalization of excitation, which extends to the entire associative area corresponding to a given stimulus, is more and more limited during the period of differentiation, gradually giving way to inhibition.

This process appears especially clearly when we cultivate the associative reflex to breathing, in which case the movement of the respiratory waves through their rise and fall clearly shows the processes of excitation and inhibition. Let us assume that we are cultivating an associative reflex to a certain sound. Initially, following a brief period of unstable associative reflex, it more or less quickly generalizes, due to which any sound causes an associative reflex to breath. But in the subsequent period of time, along with the development of differentiation, it turns out that third-party sounds that previously caused the combination reflex, which was indicated by an increase in the breathing curve, will no longer cause an increase in respiratory movements, but their decrease, i.e., a decrease in the amplitude of respiratory waves. At the same time, it is noteworthy that the farther the sound stimulation is from the combination-sound stimulation on which the association reflex is brought up, the more and more inhibitory influence the respiratory wave is exposed to. Due to this, a sound stimulus that is closer to the stimulus to which the association reflex is brought up may not have an effect on breathing, and tones moving further and further away from this stimulus will cause an increasing decrease in respiratory waves. But the associative reflex can also be generalized again, for example, under the influence of inhibitory external stimuli, and then it turns out that the sound stimuli that previously inhibited breathing will again act in an exciting way.

On the other hand, if we create a center of inhibition by one or another stimulus, for example, a sound one, then we will see that the inhibitory process has a tendency to spread to other sound stimuli, then giving way to a successive process of excitation in reverse order.

In a word, the excitation of a given area of ​​the cortex, propagating along it in breadth, is replaced by backward inhibition of the same area of ​​the cortex, and the excitation propagating along the cortex is replaced successively, starting from the periphery, with more and more concentrated inhibition. The same, but in reverse order, should be said about braking. These two processes — excitation and inhibition, thus, in combination reflexes replace one another, in other words, they always act on each other, which was proved by Scherington in relation to the spinal cord. Obviously, this is the general principle of the nervous system, both its lower centers and its higher ones. In the associative reflex itself, we have the same change in the state of excitation by inhibition and vice versa, which was described in detail in my works (V. M. Bekhterev. Review of Psychiatry. 1914-1916. No. 10-12).

Speaking about the principle of mutual change of excitation by inhibition and vice versa, we had in mind that each associative area works in such a way that the excitation of one of its parts is not only accompanied by the inhibition of its other parts, but the excitation itself is eventually replaced by inhibition, and inhibition by excitation. At the same time, it is by no means excluded that simultaneously with the work of one associative area of ​​the cerebral cortex, some other area and even several associative areas can be put into action, but in each of them the same principle of the relationship between excitation and inhibition will be manifested. So, at the same time, a person can listen, and look, and touch, and three areas of the cerebral cortex are put into action — auditory, visual and musculoskeletal, and in each of them a state of excitation of one part will appear while other parts are inhibited.

Another principle that is found in the study of the functions of the cerebral cortex is the principle of functional concentration. This principle, formulated by me back in 1910 (Bekhterev V. M. 1) Bulletin of Psychology. 1911; 2) Objective psychology. 1912. Issue. 2; 3) General principles of reflexology. 2nd ed. 1923), not only from the functional, but also from the physiological point of view, lies in the fact that when one area of ​​the cortex is in a state of greatest excitation, all other areas of the cortex appear to be inhibited in their function, and third-party stimuli further increase the focus of excitation in the cortex. Here is how this principle was characterized by me at one time: “When discussing all the available relative data, we must first of all keep in mind that concentration is accompanied by two kinds of impulses: one consists in the appropriate adaptation of the perceiving organs to create conditions for the best impact (impression) from of a given object, others are reduced to the elimination of all other influences (impressions), to the delay of all extraneous movements, which is also equivalent to the elimination of certain muscular influences (impressions). The internal concentration, as it were, repeats the external concentration, except that here the impulses are weakly expressed or absent altogether or even replaced by others, consisting in the adaptation of the external perceiving organ to external impressions, but internal concentration has an important help in the so-called internal speech.

Muscle contractions caused by motor impulses developing during concentration send, in turn, centripetal impulses to the brain, which, stimulating the combinations associated with them, maintain the state of tension in the centers necessary for prolonged concentration. We have the same thing with inner concentration supported by inner speech. Undoubtedly, concentration, as will be shown below, is not limited to the motor process alone, but in any case, those changes in the nutrition and blood circulation of the brain that accompany it are also largely a consequence of stimuli coming from the periphery.

If we turn to physiology, then we must keep in mind that the processes of influence (impressions), as studies in our laboratory have shown, are accompanied in the driving (ie, perceiving) cortical centers by the excitation of currents of action. On the other hand, it is known from experiments on animals that concentration leads to an increase in temperature in the corresponding areas of the cerebral cortex and even to the appearance of an acidic reaction in it.

In humans, mental work requiring increased concentration is usually accompanied by a rush of blood to the brain, which is proved, among other things, by A. Mosso’s studies with weighing, as well as marked by a large release of phosphates, indicating the development of increased metabolism in the brain.

The above data speak in favor of the fact that, in addition to external manifestations, concentration is also accompanied by internal processes in the form of the development of currents of action, increased blood flow to the corresponding areas, increased metabolism in them, etc. All this indicates a large development of neuropsychic energy in the respective areas. On the other hand, since the act of concentration is accompanied by the suppression of all other movements and a more or less passive state of all other perceiving organs, it is obvious that during concentration we have all favorable conditions for neuropsychic processes to reach the greatest tension in that area which is in an active state.

A more or less constant tension of these processes in a certain area is maintained by impulses continuously flowing to it from the periphery from the contracting muscles and from the perceiving organ itself, partly due to the established combinations from the personal sphere of the neuropsyche.

As mentioned, the above principle later received physiological confirmation under the name of dominant on the basis of the relevant experimental data of the physiologist Ukhtomsky and his colleagues. The results of these studies lead us essentially to the same conclusions that I came to much earlier. But they extend this principle to the entire nervous system, which must be recognized as superfluous evidence that the work of the cerebral hemispheres in essence does not show anything that would not be revealed to one degree or another in other parts of the nervous system.

Another principle that should be borne in mind is the principle of a certain setting of the reflex, or inertia, which consists in the fact that once a trained reflex, with repeated repetition, tends to be renewed even in the absence of external stimuli that caused it or when the latter are replaced by others. This principle is revealed in the fact that, once cultivated, the associative reflex, when renewed with the help of stimuli at certain intervals, tends to repeat itself at the same intervals of time. So, if we constantly, simultaneously with the quick beats of the metronome, press with our finger on a rubber balloon, the compression of which will be recorded on the cinematograph, then when the metronome suddenly stops, despite the precondition of stopping simultaneously with it, two or three extra finger presses will be made, and the number these extra clicks will depend on the number of previous clicks and in particular on their frequency. The greater the number of stimuli and the more often they are produced, the more unnecessary movements. If you bring up an associative reflex on one limb to one stimulus, and on the other limb — the same associative reflex to another stimulus, and then, after evoking an associative reflex to the corresponding stimulus many times, suddenly replace it with the stimulus that should cause an associative reflex on the other limb , then in this case we will initially receive an associative reflex on the same limb.

In speech reflexes, the following phenomena can be obtained. If you give a successive series of sound stimuli, for example, metronome beats, which are then replaced by the same successive series of light stimuli (lighting an electric light bulb), and then, after agreeing with the subject that each time he calls sound sound, and light — light, suddenly change through that or another period of time, one series of stimuli to another, it turns out that the subject under such a change will call the sound light, and the light sound.

This principle of attitude thus passes into the principle of substitution, for in the last two examples, as can be seen from the results of the experiments, one reflex is replaced by another. But this principle of substitution can be discovered in a more direct way. If a dog develops an associative reflex to a sound in one of its limbs, and then impedes the implementation of the reflex by, for example, tying its paw to the board on which the animal is placed, then, not being able to raise this paw, the animal will respond by raising the other paw. The same happens if the corresponding center in the opposite hemisphere is destroyed in the dog after training the associative reflex to one limb. Such a dog, not being able to react with the paw with which it should react, will raise the paw of the other side with appropriate stimulation, and sometimes will show movement in other paws. In the same way, similar phenomena can be obtained in a person under appropriate conditions. So, in the case of defense with the right hand, if it is captured and stopped, the left hand is activated and vice versa.

Finally, let us dwell on the principles of analysis and synthesis. I do not agree with the designation of areas of the cortex by analyzers, as other authors admit, because cortical areas, on the basis of my experiments, are as much analyzers as they are synthesizers. Already the education of the associative reflex is based on the process of combination, because the emergence of this reflex cannot be imagined otherwise than in the form of the formation of a connection by a combination of two stimuli — the main reflexogenic and the associative-non-reflexogenic. On the other hand, if the differentiation of the associative reflex is essentially an analytical work, then the above selective generalization is already a real synthesis, because here two stimuli are combined by one reflex.

However, direct experiments can also be cited that speak in favor of the synthetic work of the cerebral cortex. Let us take a stimulus consisting of two simultaneously acting different stimuli, sound and light. By cultivating an associative reflex to both of these simultaneously given stimuli, we will initially get a reflex to both sound and light, moreover, different in strength: in our experiments, sound evoked both a stronger and more persistent associative reflex, and light — both weaker and lighter. less persistent. All of this is still a real analysis. But with further education of the associative reflex to both simultaneously acting stimuli, we will get an associative reflex to both, and not one of these stimuli, taken separately, will now evoke the associative reflex, as it was at the beginning. Thus, both stimuli here already act completely together, and not alone, which is a manifestation of real synthesis.

It is hardly necessary to explain that all the above mechanisms have a direct application to life, and, consequently, to the clinic. First of all, internal inhibition is that erasure of traces, which is usually revealed if the perceived impression is not supported by some data or other that restore the former impression. On the other hand, external inhibition explains to us the forgetfulness that is revealed under the influence of some distracting factor. At the same time, the disinhibition of the reflex after its extinction due to the lengthening of the interval indicates the importance of appropriate rest after fatigue to restore what was lost. The disinhibitory influence of an external third-party stimulus reproduces for us the case that we have when we try in vain to restore what we have lost, but which was previously in our memory, but we do not succeed, then suddenly a third-party irritation immediately revives the forgotten in us.

What we denoted above by the change of excitation by inhibition and vice versa corresponds to the constant change in the combination-reflex activity of one process by another. But especially important, no doubt, is the process of concentration, or dominance, which is the most essential act of any serious mental work. Moreover, this process of concentration is in essence, as already mentioned, a changeable act, because if at a given moment concentration rushes to one object, then soon it can be directed to another, and then from this object to a third, etc.

As for the process of differentiation, in it we essentially have the process of analysis, from which any process of mental activity, excited by an external influence, begins, and the process of selective generalization is a process of synthesis, which is just as important in the process of combination-reflex activity as the process analysis, while being closely related to the latter. Below we will consider some reflexes in the form of combination-reflex activity in more detail.

4.1. Mimic-somatic and orienting reflexes

Mimico-somatic reflexes are reactions of a general nature that arise in life conditions in connection with certain external influences and are basically inborn reflexes to certain influences.

Turning to mimic-somatic reflexes, we are faced with the fact that here we are talking about reflexes that primarily characterize the general state of the organism, its greater or lesser well-being. This is the so-called general mimic-somatic tone, which can be in the form of a positive or negative tone, the first being characterized by a general sthenic state, accompanied by an increase in neuromuscular energy in general, and the second by the reverse phenomena in the form of a decrease in neuromuscular energy. On this basis, an external sign of a positive tone is a smiling face, and an external sign of a negative one is lowered facial features that bring it closer to crying. But a more or less balanced, or calm, mimic-somatic tone is also possible.

Let us dwell in more detail on the characteristic manifestations of both mimic-somatic tones.

Mimic-somatic reflexes are excited by very many, or rather, by most, external influences; on the other hand, they can be excited and are often excited by internal, or endogenous, influences of one kind or another, acquiring in the latter case an apparent independence of their development. But regardless of whether these reflexes develop in connection with endogenous causes, or initially in connection with some external influences, they continue for a more or less long time even after the corresponding influence has already passed. Such a long-term mimic-somatic state is what we call mimic-somatic tone.

A positive mimic-somatic tone is accompanied primarily by a general rise in muscle energy and an increase in muscle tone, an increase in cardiac activity, an increase in blood pressure, an increase in blood circulation, an acceleration and deepening of breathing, an increase in metabolism and a greater blood supply to the skin and mucous membranes. Thanks to all this, the wrinkles on the face straighten out, a smile appears, the eyes are full of brilliance, the pupils are moderately wide and vividly react to light, muscle strength is increased, the voice and its intonations are intensified, gestures and facial expressions are enlivened, movements and speech are accelerated, motor reflexes become more lively, get a tendency to attack and therefore in these cases a tendency to greater mobility develops. A person with such a tone acquires the ability to respond to all kinds of influences with a mimic-somatic reaction of a positive nature, reactions of the opposite nature, developing under the influence of external influences, are softened or simply not detected, as a result of which the influences of this kind themselves do not excite orienting reflexes and do not attract concentration. to the extent that it is observed with a calm or balanced tone.

Negative mimic-somatic tone is characterized by completely opposite phenomena: a weakening of muscle energy, muscle tone and heart activity, a decrease in blood pressure, sluggish circulation, more rare and shallow breathing, pallor of the integument, cyanotic staining of the peripheral parts of the limbs, dry skin and weakening of other departments (except , however, saliva), as well as a weakening of the exchange in general. As a result of all this, the folds of the face are sharper, the corners of the mouth drop, the eyebrows and eyelids too, the eyes grow dull, the pupils are sharply dilated with a good reaction to light, muscle strength weakens, the voice and its intonations lose their strength, gestures become inexpressive, movements and speech slow down, and due to the general delay of reflexes, a tendency to inactivity appears, and motor reflexes acquire a tendency to defense. At the same time, all external influences are mostly reacted in a negative direction, and to influences that usually excite a positive mimic-somatic tone, either there is no corresponding reaction at all, or these influences do not even excite orienting reflexes and do not attract concentration. .

According to the positive tone, the internal state in verbal reflexes is designated as pleasure, a pleasant state or mood, and in relation to an object that causes such a state, they say that it is pleasant.

The term «mood» as not having a specifically subjective character, since we often speak of the mood of the nerves, could also be retained for the objective designation of mimico-somatic states, as I admitted earlier. Unfortunately, this objective term has been worn out by subjectivist psychologists, who usually understand it as “the mood of the soul,” and therefore it has to be avoided as far as possible when considering the external manifestations of the personality objectively.

According to the negative tone, the internal state in verbal reflexes is designated as displeasure, a state or mood unpleasant, painful, and in relation to the objects that cause them, they say that they do not like (For more details, see: Bekhterev V.M. Objective psychology. St. Petersburg. , 1907-1911. Issue 1-3).

At the same time, it must be borne in mind that there are many shades and various degrees of this or that state, which in verbal expression in the first case are designated as joy, bliss, euphoria, etc., and in the second — as sadness, sadness, grief, melancholy, boredom, etc. These shades represent subtle differences among themselves even when they are characterized by verbal designations, and we will not enter into their objective analysis.

As already mentioned, in addition to the above two states of general mimic-somatic tone, one should distinguish between a still calm, or balanced, state of mimic-somatic tone, in which there are no deviations in one direction or another, but there is, as it were, a physiological balance in the manifestation of the above deviations of mimic-somatic tone. somatic tone, which is usually called by the persons themselves, experiencing it, a calm state, and which we will designate as a calm mimic-somatic tone.

From this calm mimic-somatic tone, one should separate the indifferent mimic-somatic state, characterized by dullness, lethargy, or even complete inability to respond to external influences with a mimic-somatic reflex. This condition is characterized by a smoothing of the folds on the face and a lack of mimic movements, due to which such a face, due to this lack of mobility, is not quite correctly called mask-like. This indifferent mimic-somatic state is usually designated by the persons experiencing it as a state of apathy, indifference and indifference.

As mentioned above, most external influences cause one or another reflex of a mimic-somatic nature, although often this reflex is not particularly sharp. In other cases, it can reach considerable strength, causing a violent mimic-somatic reaction, which can be described as a «rush». Such impulses, as well as the mimic-somatic tone itself, can be positive (joy, delight, rapture) and negative (fear, grief, etc.). But in other cases, impulses can be of a mixed nature (anger, longing, etc.).

The external manifestations of these impulses are sufficiently known to each and every one to be described separately; in more detail, their physiological manifestations, except for external facial expressions, have not yet been sufficiently elucidated and require special scientific research.

It is noteworthy that the impulse caused by some external influence usually lasts much longer than the impact itself, as a result of which the latter can be replaced by some other, even random, external influence. So, a person who shows a rush of anger can show it not only in relation to the persons who were the cause that caused this impulse, but also in relation to others who accidentally turned up and who were not guilty of anything. In the same way, a person who has lost a beloved face transfers his outburst of love to those or other objects that were in connection with beloved persons, or to those persons who were close to the object of love.

It should be noted here that some physical conditions are capable of causing prolonged gusts. It is known, for example, that a person experiences a feeling of melancholy during «suffering of the heart.» In addition, in pathological conditions of the body, a tendency to impulses can be the result of a long-term violation of internal secretion. However, the James-Lange syndrome, which reduces mental manifestations of impulses to causing primary changes in the somatic sphere (heart, blood vessels, muscles) by external influences, encounters objections from other authors, and not without reason. We believe that we are talking here about phenomena of a complex order and, above all, about associative reflexes that develop, like other associative reflexes, with the participation of the cerebral cortex, but are revealed mainly as a result of excitation of subcortical formations (thoracic thalamus, striatal system), leading to an active state of the somatic sphere, especially the cardiovascular system. Thanks to the latter, with impulses, internal secretion is always sharply disturbed, which in turn maintains a certain state of the cardiovascular system, which determines the main features of this impulse. It must be assumed that the adrenal glands and the adrenaline secreted by them, which sharply compresses the peripheral vessels of the body and accelerates the heartbeat, are of particular importance for the development of impulses.

The influence of the products of activity of other endocrine glands, as well as the nature of external influences that caused the mimic-somatic reflex, should explain to us both impulses of a mixed nature and special deviations from positive or negative tone that we observe in reality.

The state that we designated above as the state of indifference, accompanied by the dullness of the mimico-somatic reaction, is already due to such a significant weakening of the activity of the cerebral cortex due to the decline in the nutrition of the brain cells that the impulses coming from the periphery are not able to evoke sufficiently reactive phenomena from the cortex. on the cardiovascular sphere and, therefore, cannot thereby determine the corresponding mimic-somatic reflex.

It is especially important to say once again that due to the natural conditions of our organization and life experience, a positive mimic-somatic tone, and even more so positive impulses, accompanied by an increase in energy (i.e., a sthenic reaction), are always combined with the offensive nature of our actions aimed at keeping and to the longer possible possession and use of objects that excite a positive mimic-somatic tone and positive impulses, while a negative mimic-somatic tone and negative impulses are accompanied by a weakening of energy (i.e., an asthenic reaction) and are combined with the defensive nature of actions aimed at elimination of external influences that support and enhance the negative mimic-somatic tone and the impulses corresponding to it.

It should be noted that when the negative impulse reaches a significant tension, then in the form of an extreme defensive reflex, an amazing tendency to suicide and self-mutilation appears on the scene. From the same point of view, those phenomena that are revealed with a significant tension of the negative impulse in the form of various types of self-flagellation should be understood.

It should be added to the above that a positive mimic-somatic tone and impulses of the same kind have a sharp effect on concentration, and consequently on orienting reflexes, directing them mainly and with particular force to those objects that, by their influence, can strengthen and maintain a positive mimic-somatic tone. The negative mimic-somatic tone and negative impulses, in turn, direct concentration to objects that, by their effect, are in a certain correspondence with it and can thus support and strengthen it even more. From this it is clear that the planned activity of a person or his work, whether it be a combination-reflex or mental, muscular or physical, is in a certain relationship with the mimic-somatic tone, because with a negative tone, energy and, along with it, the inclination to work always fall more or less significant. On the other hand, work is always more successful if it is accompanied by influences that stimulate a positive mimic-somatic tone. Thus, when a mimic-somatic tone or impulse is caused by some external influence, the mimic-somatic state is reflected in those associative reflexes that are associated with a given object that caused a certain mimic-somatic state.

By virtue of the same thing, a person, under the influence of mimic-somatic states caused by certain conditions, prefers similar influences over others in the sense of their significance in general and diminishes the role of other influences, which, of course, is reflected in all manifestations of the personality (for example, the danger is exaggerated by a person with a negative mimic-somatic tone and, conversely, diminished by a person with a positive tone). Moreover, any mimic-somatic state, due to the direction of orientation associated with it, develops and multiplies a group of associative reflexes corresponding in nature to the given mimic-somatic state, both through disinhibition, or reproduction, and through the acquisition of new reflexes.

Although all reflexes in general are easily disinhibited or revived under the influence of a positive mimic-somatic tone and the impulses corresponding to it, however, due to the abundance and speed of change of reflexes, more complex ones, for example, certain actions, are often not brought to an end, being replaced by others just as unfinished, and the very connection between reflexes usually no longer submits to a planned development in the order of their internal relationships, but for the most part only to external connections, spatial or temporal, and external similarity. A negative tone and the impulses corresponding to it, on the contrary, always slow down the change of reflexes to a greater or lesser extent and at the same time inhibit the development of new reflexes. At the same time, the mimic-somatic tone leads not only to focusing on external stimuli suitable for it, but also those from past reflexes that will correspond to this mimic-somatic tone to one degree or another, and this further strengthens the latter.

It should be borne in mind that any more or less sharp irritation, causing defensive reflexes, is accompanied by all the features of a negative impulse, exerting, like the latter, an overwhelming effect on all reflexes in general.

Thus, it turns out not only the special significance that the mimic-somatic tone and the impulses corresponding to it have for all human behavior, but also their role in the pathology of the higher reflex processes of the nervous system.

We note further that impulses, shaking the whole organism to one degree or another, often cause the development of painful disorders of correlative activity. However, it is noteworthy that in the origin of pathological phenomena mainly or almost exclusively impulses of a negative nature are important, for observations show that impulses with a positive character, due to the fact that they do not act in an inhibitory way on combination reflexes, do not have especially detrimental effect. On the contrary, in life experience they are often even extremely useful, for they help to overcome various kinds of hardships and frictions that are inevitable in the conditions of social life.

It should also be noted that all irritations of a natural order associated with the satisfaction of vital needs that appear as a result of organic impulses are accompanied by a positive mimic-somatic tone, while insufficient satisfaction of the same needs or, on the contrary, satiety is accompanied by a negative tone, as is accompanied by the same tone. and most of what harms the body.

As for the excitability of mimic-somatic reflexes, it varies greatly in different individuals, depending mainly on the natural conditions of the organization. To a certain extent, these features also characterize various temperaments, of which the two opposites are sanguine and phlegmatic. The character also stands in a certain relationship with the predominance of certain mimic-somatic reflexes and with their excitability. Therefore, the names of some characters give a direct indication of the special predominance of a certain type of mimic-somatic reflexes. We are talking, for example, about quarrelsome, envious, amorous, proud, cowardly and proud characters due to special behavioral traits due to mimic-somatic reflexes.

Only the most general forms of deviations of the mimic-somatic tone are outlined here, but, depending on the internal conditions of the organism, it can be characterized by its own special external features, which are manifested by mimics of rest, fatigue, voluptuousness, etc.

Regardless of endogenous stimuli, mimic-somatic reflexes can be evoked with great variety by external stimuli of various kinds, which are capable of stimulating smiles and laughter in some cases, crying in others, intense facial expressions in the form of anger or malice, etc. external factors are those or other stimuli of a social nature, due to which facial expressions are a direct reflection of not only biological states, but also social relations. This gives reason to recognize facial expressions as one of the ways to establish social relations, which in fact takes place in the entire biological series of the animal world. In this regard, mimic-somatic reflexes constitute that primitive language, which, being widespread everywhere in living nature, is used for the relationship of living beings. For animals, this language is almost the only one, except for the extremely primitive sound language characteristic of many animals.

In the social life of a person, mimic-somatic reflexes are important in that they represent a primitive, but not deceptive language, the significance of which is all the more true because orientation in its content is achieved by others directly. Therefore, relationships between people are established first and foremost with the help of facial expressions, to which the behavior of an outside person is adapted, and not to internal, or so-called mental, processes, as subjective psychologists think. In human society, mimic-somatic reflexes, being a factor in communication, receive a significant replenishment also in gestures, which in total constitutes the so-called mimic speech. The origin of gestures and facial expressions was devoted to my special work in the «Bulletin of Knowledge» for 1916, so there is no need to expand on this issue.

As for the mimic-somatic reflexes, which represent the reproduction, or disinhibition, of ordinary reflexes, they are usually accompanied by corresponding internal reactions, most often cardiovascular and secretory, and sometimes by the movement of internal organs. These internal reactions in themselves serve as a source of stimuli that reach the brain and are defined as internal excitement or emotion, and changes in cerebral circulation lead to a change in the rate of change of combination reflexes and the nature of the combination-reflex reaction to external stimuli.

In this regard, all mimic-somatic reflexes can be divided into two groups: some act in an exciting way on combination-reflex activity, leading to the development of a positive mimic-somatic tone, others act depressingly on it, causing the appearance of a negative mimic-somatic tone. The first can be called sthenic, the second — asthenic mimic-somatic reflexes.

Sthenic reflexes have the peculiarity that they are associated with the aggressive nature of the combination-reflex activity, aimed at the possible strengthening and prolongation of those external influences that excite sthenic mimic-somatic reflexes, while asthenic reflexes are associated with defensive reflexes and are aimed at the ability to weaken and eliminate external influences that cause these asthenic reflexes.

It is known that mimic-somatic (emotional) arousal, associated with the nature of not only the rise, but also the decrease in general tone, is accompanied by an increase in muscle strength. First of all, Fere proved that such a state as fear is accompanied by an increase in muscle strength. According to Mosso, both kinds of mimic-somatic states, i.e., positive or negative, similarly lead to an increase in muscle strength (For more details, see: V. M. Bekhterev. Objective psychology. SPb., 1907-1911. Issue. 1-3). Similar observations were made by Lehmann. Dr. Sreznevsky, causing fear in the subjects, observed an increase in the knee jerk. In people under hypnosis, instilling fear, grief, or a pleasant state causes an increase in muscle performance (Prof. Vasiliev). The question is, how can this be explained? In this case, of course, the heartbeat plays a role, which, according to the experiments of Dr. Sreznevsky, who worked in my laboratory, accelerates with fright, but the wave size decreases, which, apparently, is not observed with an increase in mimic-somatic tone. Let us note that in case of fright we have, in addition, also compression of the peripheral vessels. Undoubtedly, this effect is due to the excitation of the sympathetic nervous system, the causative agent of which is adrenaline. It follows from this that, as we once said, mimico-somatic reflexes are connected primarily with the release of adrenaline as a substance that strongly excites the sympathetic nerve.

Since adrenaline is the causative agent of the sympathetic nervous system, the possible cardiac phenomena are fully explained in the depressed mimico-somatic state by its excessive release into the blood. But the increase in muscle strength is also explained in the same way. As is known, the existence of non-fleshy sympathetic nerve fibers in the muscular sarcolemma has now been proven, which explains to us the influence of the sympathetic nerve on the muscles. On the other hand, we know that adrenaline is an effective stimulant of the muscular system. So, under the influence of adrenaline, a tired muscle easily restores its strength, and fatigue slows down in a working muscle, which can be proven (Orbeli’s frog preparation). On the other hand, if we irritate the sympathetic nerve, then there is an increase in efficiency.

Here it is necessary to emphasize once again that the general mimic-somatic tone, being a reflex, most often due to the internal state, determines both the nature and the direction of combination reflexes. Therefore, a person with a suppressed tone develops reflexes with the character of self-accusation, self-flagellation and self-defense from external stimuli, while a person with an elevated mimic-somatic tone has reflexes of self-aggrandizement, self-praise and reflexes of an offensive nature. In the case of a mimic-somatic tone of alertness, concentration reflexes develop, preparatory to a possible danger. Finally, a person who is overwhelmed by stimuli develops reflexes about his unhealthy and morbid condition.

When the mimic-somatic tone changes more sharply, as is observed in a disease state, we get four main forms of delirium, depending on the nature of the general tone:

1) self-humiliation observed in states of depression;

2) greatness in states of excitement;

3) persecution in states of alertness (with paranoja chronica) and

4) delirium, severe in its incurability, in hypochondriacal conditions.

It must be noted, however, that the last word has not yet been said with regard to even a depressed state, for pathology shows that if there is an increase in muscular energy in a state of fear with a melancholic impulse and, apparently, with an agiotized form of melancholia, then in In more common forms of melancholic states, known as passive melancholia, motor energy is undoubtedly reduced, and to such an extent that patients cannot even make the necessary effort for louder speech, which sometimes reaches such a weakening that it reaches almost a whisper. It is clear that here the matter is explained either by the unequal effect on the muscles of different amounts of adrenaline entering the blood, or by some incidental influences, i.e., by the concomitant action of other factors. These questions should be resolved in future studies.

The following points also remain unclear. If an increased release of adrenaline underlies the mimico-somatic state, regardless of whether it is associated with the nature of oppression or with the nature of excitation, then the question is how to explain this difference in the nature of the general state, i.e., the occurrence in one case of oppression, and in the other — excitement? Is this again explained only by the amount of adrenaline entering the blood, or by the simultaneous entry into the blood of some other hormone, perhaps due to the excitation of the corresponding gland through the same adrenaline?

Dwelling on the last assumption, it must be borne in mind that, from our point of view, this applies primarily to the sex glands, which work synergistically with the adrenal glands. And this is precisely because in states of an increase in the mimic-somatic state we have active hyperemia of the brain, while in a reduced mimic-somatic state, on the contrary, the vessels of the brain appear to be compressed and we are talking about active anemia. Meanwhile, the increased activity of the gonads causes, as is known, active hyperemia of the face, head in general, and an increased revival of a general nature, that is, in general, of all combination-reflex activity.

In addition, we know that the mimic-somatic state with the nature of the rise is always accompanied by increased sexuality, and this speaks for the participation in this process of the activity of the gonads. Finally, one more fact can be given in favor of the participation of the gonads in the state of mimic-somatic upsurge — this is the development of the mimic-somatic process, the beginning of which is usually found in the period of puberty.

Thus, if a decrease in the mimic-somatic tone can be associated with an increased release of adrenaline into the blood, then the opposite state of the mimic-somatic rise can be explained either by the simultaneous entry into the blood along with adrenaline of an increased secretion of the gonads, or by the entry into the blood sex gland secretions.

4.2. Instinctive (organic) reflexes

Under the name of organic, or instinctive, reflexes, we understand those reactions that arise on the basis of organic impulses that ensure the vital existence of the organism and the continuation of the species. The chief of these reactions are the need for food, the need for sex, and the desire for sociality or community.

In particular, the need for food is due to the fact that after the food slurry passes from the stomach to the intestines, it is digested and passes into the blood, the latter, giving its most important parts to the plasticity of the body and combustion, is gradually depleted of the necessary components. This excites the brain centers, and their excitation is even more intensified under the influence of the beginning work of an empty stomach, accompanied by the separation of the digestive glands. Previously, it was believed that this separation was mainly due to mechanical irritation of the walls of the stomach, however, experiments carried out later established the fact that the mechanical conditions of the activity of the gastrointestinal canal itself are least of all involved in this separation, but mainly the effects carried out by in the form of combination reflexes. In fact, the chewing of food, and the irritation of the taste buds which this causes, as well as the appearance of food substances, is accompanied by an inevitable profuse secretion of the digestive glands, both salivary and gastric.

On the other hand, sexual functions are also carried out due to certain organic conditions associated with the separation of the seminal glands. But the development of the sexual desire and the actual fulfillment of the sexual act again take place with the participation of the combination reflex, excited by means of the corresponding stimuli of the organs of sight, hearing, smell and touch, reviving or disinhibiting the sexual reflexes, leading in turn to the development of a rush of blood to the genitals. organs and enhanced separation of the gonads.

The social instinct is based on common life in general, starting from its first manifestations, and is a habitual need of all animals, and even more so of a person who has such a highly developed organ of communication as speech, which has developed from sounds, facial expressions and gestures that are characteristic of a higher level in general. animal world.

It should be noted that the division of instincts is allowed according to two principles: according to the nature of the stimulus and according to the nature of the manifestation (K. Hofmann). We believe that, at least for clinical research, it is quite possible to be satisfied with the division of instincts as complex organic reflexes only according to their external manifestations. Thus, we have instincts or complex organic reflexes in the form of self-preservation, nutrition, sexuality, sleep and sociality, which in turn consist of a chain of reflexes. It must be borne in mind that «hormonism» in these cases, in essence, determines only primary movements with their definite direction, which, however, are often insufficient in themselves for the realization of the goal predetermined in organic reflexes of this type. In view of the foregoing, these reflexes are usually supplemented by personal reflexes associated with them, directed towards the same goal and going, as it were, to help those movements that are carried out first in these organic reflexes. Whether we have a manifestation of the organic reflex of self-preservation, nutrition or sexual function, everywhere an important ingredient in the chain of reflexes are movements and actions of a personal nature, based on individual experience.

Complex organic reflexes, or so-called instincts, are, in fact, a whole chain of reflexes connected with each other, which, being inherited, are excited by internal stimuli of one kind or another. These include, as we have said, above all the complex organic reflexes of nutrition, self-preservation, sexual function, directed towards the reproduction of offspring, and sociality. The former are mainly due to the action of hungry, i.e., devoid of necessary substances, blood on the nerve centers and sympathetic nodes, which leads to offensive reflexes aimed at finding, capturing and absorbing food material.

Self-preservation reflexes arise when the body is deprived of external conditions that ensure its existence (for example, air, heat, etc.), and are characterized both by defensive reactions that eliminate obstacles that prevent the use of the necessary conditions of existence, and by offensive reactions aimed at achieving these conditions (opposition to deprivation of air, cooling of the body, desire for fresh air, warmth, etc.).

Sexual reflexes arise in connection with the development of the sex glands and are due to the accumulation of their products in the genital organs and the release of hormones into the blood bed. Both ensure the excitation of the genital organs and the development of a special mimic-somatic state, which leads to the desire to get rid of the excess of sexual products through actions aimed at the implementation of sexual intercourse with another person of the opposite sex, and in states of perversion — with an object of one’s own sex.

In all the cases cited, it is primarily about impulses of an internal kind that evoke a connected chain of reflexes of a certain type, but the final achievement of the goal for which this chain of reflexes is intended still occurs with the participation of acquired reflexes, brought up through experience under the influence of social conditions. In connection with this, the stimuli for the reflexes discussed above are not only internal conditions, but also external ones. Thus, the sight of food excites to its absorption, the sexual object to its possession, etc.

Complex organic reflexes of the fourth order — sociality, usually denoted by the social instinct, apparently cannot be attributed to innate or hereditary reflexes, but its first inclinations in the form of the so-called family instinct develop in the period of very early childhood. For the initial nutrition of an infant is not complete without a mother or nurse, and this already creates the conditions for the emergence of a desire for rapprochement with similar creatures, which with age, thanks to the relationship of people, is even more fixed, develops into a more complex act of striving for social ties with loved ones. . Thus, in individual life, the family instinct in adolescents gradually turns into a social instinct, although in the phylogenetic series, sociality with the character of mutual assistance is revealed much earlier than the appearance of the family in the true sense of the word.

It should be noted that each instinct serves as the basis for a whole series of actions, deeds and relations, which, not being instinctive in themselves, stand in the closest relationship with this instinct, serving as if its reflection in the external activity of a given person, in other words, drawing into the sphere its content is a whole series of complex reflexes, which we designate as personal reflexes. Thus, the instinct of nutrition leads to actions aimed at obtaining the necessary means of subsistence, saving them, stocking up supplies, possibly increasing one’s well-being, and egocentrism in general in the broad sense of the word.

The instinct of self-preservation, inherent in any organism in general and expressed, on the one hand, by defensive reflexes in all cases when the organism is in danger of life, and on the other hand, by offensive movements in all cases when the organism needs to satisfy its vital needs, inevitably leads to elimination from oneself of everything harmful, protecting oneself from everything in general that violates the well-being of the organism, and attracting to oneself all favorable conditions.

The sexual instinct, which manifests itself primarily in the desire for sexual intercourse or eroticism, entails, as a further consequence, an excessive desire for dressing up and self-decoration, then to coquetry and flirting, and in pathological cases to cynical statements and antics, to the desire to expose oneself, to shameless actions and deeds.

The social instinct, based on attachment to one’s loved ones, in its development leads to mutual assistance and to the adaptation of a person to social life in general, to the division of labor, to the development of altruistic actions in the sense of benefiting others, to the protection of the common good and heroic deeds, and in pathological cases — to excessive obsession when communicating with others, to inappropriate hugs, to unnecessary and indiscriminate distribution of one’s property to everyone and everyone, etc.

Thus, with a broader understanding of complex organic reflexes, the matter is no longer only about instinctive, but also about personal reflexes, which stand in the closest relationship with instincts, because a greater or lesser development and manifestation of one or another instinct inevitably leads to corresponding features in actions. and actions of the individual.

Along with innate complex organic reflexes, we also have acquired reflexes of a complex organic nature, which are developed under the influence of living conditions and become so strong that they declare themselves as needs, irremovable or almost irremovable by the forces of the individual himself. These are acquired complex organic reflexes, rooted in connection with habitual stimuli acting on the organic sphere.

Acquired complex organic reflexes in the form of pathological habits should be included here, which, thanks to frequent repetition, take root to such an extent that they become, as it were, a second nature of a person. We are talking here about such habitual acts as habitual smoking, habitual consumption of wine, drugs, etc.

In these cases, due to internal stimuli established by habit, leading to an almost irresistible urge to carry out the habitual action, the higher stimulus, which has become habitual, is always the stimulating agent that excites the habitual action. The sight of tobacco, wine, or other habitual drugs, as you know, in drug addicts immediately excites the desire to smoke, drink or narcotize themselves.

Hereditary organic reflexes, or instincts, are not simple reflexes, as some of the physiologists believe, but usually a chain of reflexes excited by chemical stimuli passing from the region of the endocrine glands and blood chemistry into the brain. It has been proven, for example, that during hunger the main factor that determines the desire for food is the chemical composition of hungry blood, devoid of the products necessary for nourishing tissues, and the desire for air during strangulation depends on the lack of oxygen in the blood. It is known that cutting all the intestinal nerves in general does not eliminate feeding movements in animals.

As regards the sexual instinct, its emergence in connection with the secretion of the gonads is a fact long known to science, and the latest experiments of Steinakh, Voronov, and Zavodovsky have only illuminated this question in greater detail. By the way, it is known that in birds the building instinct is also associated with the sexual instinct — nesting, and it turns out that castrated birds do not build nests. Maternal instinct in mammals — feeding cubs — is associated with breast swelling and replenishment with milk, and this is entirely dependent on the corpus luteum and their secretion of luteovarin.

The instinct of self-preservation is also associated with the release of the adrenal hormone — adrenaline, and it acts in an irritating way on the sympathetic nervous system, which innervates not only smooth muscles, but, according to the latest research, also skeletal, and this explains the alert reflex that is detected in this case. .

The social instinct is not innate, but begins to develop during the period of feeding, but even here, apparently, the matter is not without the participation of hormones. The fact is that the sucking of the mother’s breast excites the mother’s corpus luteum, leading to an increased release of luteovarin, and the mother’s caress excites the sex glands of the child. These are the main organs with which attachments are most closely connected.

Sleep is also a hereditary-organic reflex, biologically developed as a protective reaction to overwork, and detailed studies of Pieron (Pieron) and Lagrange (Lagrange) leave no doubt that sleep is determined, if not exclusively, then to a large extent by self-poisoning by the products of reverse metamorphosis. However, here too reactions play a role mainly, if not exclusively, to external environmental influences and, therefore, associated with individual acquisitions and experiences. It would seem that this act is due to one organic basis, but for its implementation it requires certain conditions associated with personal experience — a preliminary lying position, appropriate silence, etc.

For practical purposes, a more detailed clarification of the conditions for the development of the organic reflex of sociality seems especially important, as a result of which we will dwell on it in somewhat more detail.

“Thanks to countless classifications,” says N. Vavulin (Vavulin N. Madness, its meaning and value. St. Petersburg, 1913), “we learned about the so-called organic, neuropathic, toxic and other psychoses, but why one person is gloomy, and the other cheerful, one is an ascetic, and the other is an erotomaniac, one is a miser, and another is a spendthrift, one commits suicide, and the other will not go out without a scarf and galoshes even in dry weather — these questions remained unanswered in psychiatry. Undoubtedly, in this respect, the character and individual characteristics of a person are influenced by his physical constitution with the characteristics of its hormonal organization, as a result of which the social behavior of a person is to a certain extent in connection with the biological conditions of his organization. But it is also undeniable that both education and the environment are of great importance in this respect.

We must not forget that a person develops in a community of his own kind and from childhood is surrounded by the cares of parents and relatives. This lays in the nature of the human personality subordination to public interests, in any case and to the extent that the vital interests of the personality itself are not violated. Subsequently, the public of the individual is consolidated by comradeship and cooperation, inevitable in social life.

Thus, along with personal interests, carried out with the help of appropriate protective or defensive, and, if necessary, offensive reflexes, the individual always manifests, to one degree or another, the public in the sense of the corresponding reflexes, the totality of which can be called social behavior. This includes expressions of love and affection for their children, family and loved ones, feelings of camaraderie with peers. These manifestations are not equally developed in different individuals — in some to a greater extent, in others to a lesser extent, but under normal conditions they exist in everyone to one degree or another, depending on education and living conditions.

In addition to the above manifestations, social behavior is expressed in a greater or lesser public, that is, in the desire to sacrifice one’s interests in favor of others and, finally, in the ability to support and even create social actions and, in general, to interest others in the public interests. Persons with more pronounced social manifestations, quite naturally, become the central figures around whom everyone who has not died out the public and the desire for cooperation gathers.

Each personality is not only the product of a long chain of ancestors who passed on to it their inheritance in the form of the ability to develop, special inclinations in the nature of this development, a special type in the nature of the constitution itself, unequal development of perceiving apparatuses and differences in temperament or different ways of responding, and therefore, and behavior, but also the result of its adaptation to the natural environment and the social environment, which serves as the basis for the creation of individual experience, consisting of a stock of acquired combinational reflexes. We will call the first conditions of personality development constitutional, the second — cosmo-social. Let us consider these last conditions first.

The influence of climate and the environment on the development of the individual is clear to everyone and does not require explanation. Therefore, our task in this case is reduced mainly to clarifying the influence of the social environment on the individual, because it is of paramount importance in every general case. The social environment affects the individual mainly through imitation, suggestion and persuasion. Therefore, we must deal first of all with the elucidation of the nature of imitation.

Direct influence, or induction, which I speak of in collective reflexology, is of importance mainly in the crowd, and therefore there is no need to speak here about this method of mutual influence between people, especially since it is not recognized by all authors.

Without going into details, we note that the so-called reflex imitation should be reduced to imitation itself, because this is not a creative act, but simple adoption. One can adopt only that which has either already been in one’s own experience, if not in the same form, then in a form very close to what one has seen or heard, or exists at least in the form of a disposition to the possibility of fulfilling what one has seen and heard.

Let’s take marching — why does it make you imitate? Because the measured step was in our previous experience and was carried out to a certain beat of music or other sounds that beat out a measured rhythm. Now, when there is no music, the rhythmic beats of the steps make the muscles of our legs contract to the beat. Take the song — why does it excite imitation? Because the sounds have already been performed by us before under the control of hearing, and therefore the imitation of the motive of a new song is, as it were, the reproduction of sounds that have already been in our experience, or at least the established skill to control our voice under the control of hearing.

Take folk dances — why do they excite imitation? Because the dance movements have already been performed by us earlier under a certain sound beat, and we have acquired the skill to contract the muscles of the legs to one or another sound beat. Why does a yawn or a smile cause imitation? Because we ourselves easily carried out both under appropriate conditions, regardless of the usefulness of this action for us. In other words, imitation in these cases is reduced to a large extent to self-imitation and is carried out everywhere and everywhere, acting by way of «contagion». It goes without saying that this reflex imitation is carried out the easier, the more skill in the corresponding movements, because it is always difficult to imitate everything completely new for a person.

A smile is imitated most of all when it is appropriate, it is easier to yawn after the yawn of others, when a person is tired and bedtime is approaching, or when a person is oppressed by the monotony of external stimuli.

The reflex imitation is the basis for the action of the “contagion”, known both in the animal world and in the human world. When the watchman in a flock of birds stands calmly, looking around him, the flock continues to devour his food, but as soon as the watchman flaps his wings and takes off, the whole flock immediately rises with him and flies away after him. The same is true among land animals: the actions of the leader cause imitation in the herd in a direct way. We see the same contagious effect of mimicosomatic reflexes in a crowd of people, which manifests itself already from early childhood: a person, entering into a lively society, himself becomes infected with a general liveliness; at the sight of tears, some people cannot help but cry; the contagious effect of yawning has already been discussed above.

Finally, let us recall the role of example in the hostel. The influence of the elders on the children, the teacher on his pupils, the examples of eminent public figures, as well as the transmission of nervous convulsive states from one person to another — all this is well known. But when communicating with individuals, the contagious effect is far from being manifested to the same extent as in the crowd, where the so-called mass imitation operates with particular force, which is difficult to resist, because each unit is affected by more than one person, not only the leader or speaker, but a whole mass of surrounding faces, already to a certain extent infected with the same impulses, ready to burst into motion. That is why such associative-reflex complexes, accompanied by a positive mimic-somatic tone, such as religious and political (in both cases, the promise of all kinds of blessings), are most often distributed not so much through the exchange of systematically developed verbal reflexes, but through direct » contagion.» Therefore, in the days of historical upheavals in general, the power of imitation and «contagion» has a much more serious significance than one can imagine.

However, imitation is also not so direct, not simple reflex, but combination-reflex, or imitation of a higher order. This imitation proceeds from the relation to the outside as to something higher, which disinhibits reflexes in order to improve, which in the cultural world is the result of competition, the stimulus of any social life. Such imitation goes through the stage of analysis and comparison in order to designate the “higher” by this, and is self-fulfilled by studying those reflexes that created the highest model. This is the imitation of older children, this is the imitation of a student of his teacher, this is the imitation of gifted people of brilliant creators, etc. Here, the irritant must be both new and original, and gaining some social significance, because only such an example-model can be a sufficient incentive for this kind of imitation.

With the development of verbal reflexes, the influence of the word, which can be carried out in the form of suggestion and persuasion, acquires significance along with the influences discussed above. The word, as we know, is a sign that has appeared as a result of its substitution for the corresponding realities, and this sign can act like reality itself, causing the act that is replaced by the given word as a sign.

Thus, by suggestion we understand the direct action of the word as a sign. When this word comes from a higher person who enslaves another person due to social conditions, the word-suggestion becomes an order like a command. And the words «go» or «run» can be a simple suggestion that leads directly to action, just as the mere utterance of the word «yawn» will cause a yawn as directly as the yawn itself. But the same words «go» and «run» can also be a command-order when it is based on the authority and strength of seniority or power, which has largely the same inspiring meaning. Thus, the word-suggestion acts as a stimulus of «infection» in the case of its direct impact on a person, if a more detailed orientation is impossible, as happens, for example, with panic due to the suddenness of some threatening event. The word-order, along with suggestion, also acts as a result of subordination and the inevitability of performing an action due to the conditions of social relations.

It must be borne in mind that suggestion meets a natural opposition in active concentration, which, guiding the planned, so-called logical movement of combinational reflexes, does not allow the suggestion to be realized. It can even be said that here it is a matter of special self-defense against inspiring influences from others. There is no need to expand on the significance of this self-defence, with the help of which a person defends himself to one degree or another from the inspiring influence of others and which forces him to turn to the development and cultivation of his own reflexes. With the suppression of active concentration, caused artificially during hypnotization, suggestibility naturally increases to a degree not observed under normal conditions.

Some data suggest that, along with suggestion, there is also a direct impact through the direct transfer of energy from one person to another (See: V. M. Bekhterev. Issues of studying and educating a personality. Pg., 1920. Issue 2; 1921), otherwise it is unthinkable to explain the so-called mental, or direct (without words), suggestion, acting at a distance under such conditions when there could be no other method of transmission (for example, transmission through the wall to another room where the percipient is located, or at an even greater distance). But this issue still requires further clarification, and therefore we will not expand on it further.

Along with suggestion, one should also keep in mind self-hypnosis, which is also associated with mimic tone. Here the mimic tone, as it were, predetermines those or other reflexes that are fixed thanks to it without the participation of the so-called logical apparatus.

With regard to persuasion, in this case there is another way of influencing one person on another, which is based on analysis and synthesis and consists of bringing arguments based on the result of human experience. It is clear that this way of influence leads to the excitation in the listener of a number of combination reflexes, which are the result of both his own personal experience and the experience of others, transmitted by the word. And only in the case of a preponderance of arguments in favor of a certain action, persuasion causes the listener to carry out the latter. This form of influence, therefore, is likened to the highest form of imitation, which was discussed above, but the mediator of this imitation here is the word as a sign of reality in its various forms and combinations.

Another form of influence of the social environment on the individual is competition. It is unthinkable to imagine any society without competition, which is the most important incentive for improvement and invention. Competition is the result of the manifestation of individual traits in a person who, by virtue of his peculiarity, has an innate desire to distinguish himself from the social environment, and this is achievable only through competition, i.e., highlighting himself with some advantages in relation to, for example, creative activities.

It is clear from the foregoing that imitation relies on the ability to disinhibit or reproduce, while competition relies on the activity of the personality, which draws its strength from the upsurge of energy associated with the mutual communication of people and their cooperation. Obviously, with a drop in energy, competition will be invalid, and there will be no room for creativity, while imitation, at least reflex, even wins with a drop in energy.

Thus, mutual imitation, mutual suggestion, mutual persuasion and competition are the factors due to which the development of a personality is determined, having received the corresponding inclinations for development by inheritance from ancestors. As a consequence, the personality, from infancy onwards, takes more or less passively the habits, customs, and attitudes of the environment, and thus acquires a certain attitude in regard to its actions in certain situations.

With all this, the personality, due to its activity based on the reserve of energy, not only acquires for itself and assimilates the combination reflexes of the surrounding persons, but also reproduces them with various combinations due to its innate qualities. On the other hand, competition, stimulating the active forces of the personality, leads to the processing of the acquired combination reflexes, due to which the personality, being a product of the environment and heredity, in its combination-reflex activity is a reflection of the social factor, to some extent processed by its own forces.

If we now ask ourselves what a personality is, then we must admit that it is a combination of various kinds of hereditary-organic, orienting, mimic-somatic, symbolic and personal reflexes, which, being acquired through inheritance and personal experience, reflect in the nature of the environment and those hereditary inclinations that the person borrowed from the ancestors by the right of his birth.

As for the anatomical and physiological foundations of organic reflexes (instincts), the latest research leaves no doubt that although the actual reflex part of such instinctive processes as food and the passive sexual functions of the female is possible in animals lacking cerebral hemispheres, but the combination-reflex proper the activity of these and other functions under the influence of specific stimuli of an external nature occurs with the participation of the cerebral cortex, on the surface of which, according to the research of my laboratory, areas can be marked that serve for the movements of the stomach and intestines, for the separation of gastric juice and saliva, as well as areas of irritation which causes an erection of the male genital organ and movement of the vagina and uterus.

Further, studies carried out in my laboratory give grounds to assert that with the elimination of the above areas of the cortex, the corresponding reflexes are temporarily weakened or drop out, but with the passage of time they usually recover again.

From this it is clear that instinctive needs in relation to food and sexual functions, having organic processes as their primary stimulus, are fulfilled, on the one hand, reflexively due to irritations emanating from the genital organs themselves, on the other hand, in an associative reflex way due to irritation of other organs, standing in a certain relationship with the organic administration of irritation that reaches the cerebral cortex, where it is transferred to the corresponding areas that serve as the beginning of centrifugal drives.

Now let’s touch on the social reflex. At its healthy basis lies, obviously, the biological law of social mutual assistance, which, through the medium of higher perceiving organs, excites a general sthenic reaction. Therefore, the social instinct is stifled only with the elimination of the three higher perceiving organs: sight, hearing and touch, each having its own association areas in the cerebral cortex.

4.3. Speech associative (symbolic) reflexes

In the social life of a person, however, the system of complex sound signals (Bekhterev V. M. General foundations of reflexology. L., 1926) in the form of verbal speech has received a predominant development. Its origin, as I showed at one time in a special work, is explained from the point of view of associative reflexes as a development from the innate sound reflexes «oh», «oh», «ah», «ah», «nu», «tprr», «uh», «alas», «ha», «kha», etc., obtained under certain conditions of the organism’s vital activity, and from reflex onomatopoeia, based, as I have shown elsewhere, on self-imitation. The former form primary speech when they are used as combinational reflexes in the form of interjections, the latter when they are used in the form of signs of the object of which they are an imitation. All further complication of verbal signs is explained by the complication of primary signs by aspirations, prefixes, doublings, selective generalization, differentiation, borrowings and suffixes.

However, verbal signs, like all combinational reflexes in general, enter into mutual connection in accordance with the ratios in which the objects they designate are in our environment. Hence, for example, there is a constant connection between the designation of an object as a subsequent one with the active or passive action of this object. So, a person walks, runs, sits, lies, etc. The words that define the quality naturally combine with the subject: a person is good, bad, interesting, etc .; circumstances of time, place and quality of the action naturally follow the predicate as additions that determine the time, place and quality of the action. Thus, through life experience, a coherent logical speech was developed, the mechanism of which, in the form of so-called syllogisms, as based on the established connections of verbal signs, could be reproduced and presented in the form of a “logical machine”, just as the counting mechanism could be reproduced by a special “ calculating machine, or adding machine.

In speech reflexes, which are symbolic reflexes, we have a synthesis of human experience expressed in special sound signs; these symbols are associated with objects, with their qualities and states, due to one reason or another, with their actions, with the target setting, with their attitude to their own or someone else’s personality. This is easy to show in the following example, where all these symbols are applied in sequential order: “A bay horse, tired after riding, runs to the parking lot; I am pleased to see, like everyone else, how eagerly she takes to eating hay.

All the actions of a person or any object, all his states, all the qualities of the actions and states of a person or an object on the basis of experience and conditions are firmly combined with certain verbal signs as symbols: a person walks, a thorn stabs, a person is bored, but works well, without sadness . All relationships between people and objects, in turn, on the basis of experience, are also combined with certain verbal symbols.

A doctor, a patient, a soldier, a director, an employee — all these are symbols combined with certain relationships, with the nature of subordination of one to another, but subordination in a certain external environment, for example, in the ranks, in one institution or another, in a hospital. From here follows a verbal symbol in the form of an order from a superior or an order to subordinates, an elder to a younger one: go, bring, give, etc.

Those or other relationships between objects and actions or states also led to a certain form of connection between symbols: a person is walking, a house is on fire, etc.

The similarity of objects in some respect gave rise to a generic symbol, for example, an insect, tree, flower, then to even more general symbols, for example, an animal, a plant, and finally, to an even broader generalizing designation — wildlife. Hence the relation between the particular and the general is clear: insect-animal, flower-plant, etc.

The designation of the place of action or incident (there, here) and the quality of the action (good, bad) with the corresponding symbols clarifies the speech symbolism, and the unions indicate the connection between the symbols in a direct combination of those objects, actions or incidents that these symbols denote.

Let’s not forget that the symbols are more or less conditional. Therefore, the same symbol, depending on the relationship between persons and on the situation, receives a different meaning, for example, “go to hell,” said to a stranger, will receive the meaning of a grave offense and cause a corresponding reaction of indignation, while the same statement made to a friend may elicit a harmless smile. Therefore, speech reflexes are always consistent with environmental conditions. What can be said in one environment cannot be admitted in another.

Even simple interjectional symbols — these primary associative symbolic reflexes — receive unequal meaning depending on the situation and environmental conditions. For example, the word «ah» can express fear or a general suppressive reflex in one case, and, conversely, a general quickening reflex in another. In addition, the meaning of a verbal symbol is also influenced by the intonation of speech. The same word, spoken in one tone, causes one reaction, and the same word, spoken in a different tone, causes a completely different, sometimes opposite reaction. From this it is clear what complexity of relations we are dealing with in the study of speech reflexes.

The richness of speech and its form itself are far from the same even in a healthy state of personality, which depends on one or another stage of development, on the nature of the language, on culture in general, and on the individual characteristics of the speech apparatus.

What differences can exist in this regard is shown by the fact that savages use 2-3 hundred words in everyday life with an almost complete absence of abstract designations, while Milton used 8 thousand words in his works, Shakespeare — up to 15 thousand, and according to Holden (Holden E. S. Transactions of the American philological association. 1885.), a modern adult may have a stock of more than 30 thousand words.

Much data has been collected in the literature regarding the development of children’s speech. According to Preger (Preger), a two-year-old child’s vocabulary ranges from 397 to 484, according to other authors — somewhat more, which depends both on the individuality of the child and on the conditions of his detention, and in the child’s speech, the richness of nouns draws attention (about half of the above numbers) and the lack of so-called abstract super-concrete words, which are generally assimilated later than concrete ones.

Depending on the individual, the rate of word change in healthy individuals may be different, which is due, on the one hand, to the constitution, which determines the slow or fast type. But still, in healthy individuals, the rate of change of speech reflexes fluctuates within certain, albeit extensible to a fairly large extent, boundaries.

There are a number of studies related to the nature of speech combination reflexes in adults. It should be noted the studies of Aschaffenburg (Aschaffenburg), carried out on a number of healthy individuals. It turned out that the so-called external combinations (by contiguity in time and space, by similarity) and primary combinations significantly predominate over internal combinations (by subordination, predicative connection and causal dependence). The first stand to the second in the proportion of 60:40, although in some cases fluctuations are observed both in one direction and in the other. In states of fatigue and exhaustion, by the way, habitual combinations and combinations of consonance appear in large numbers, while under normal conditions these consonant combinations occupy a very modest place.

In speech reflexes, we encounter one phenomenon common to all people in the form of a consistent connection of speech signs in the form of sentences and judgments, which in turn can be associated with mimicosomatic reflexes and reflexes of behavior. From this it is clear that if we have a planned sequential connection of verbal signs, which in the most correct form is characterized by the main premise with the minor premise subordinate to it and the final conclusion and the so-called inference that follow from this, then these connections of verbal signs, under the form of which speech reflexes usually flow in every developed person, are regulated by purely external conditions arising from the need to use the word as a self-sufficient reflex, just as a person who wants to carry out some complex, unfamiliar work must carry it out in order to save energy in a certain order, step by step, in order to this is the best way to approach a certain end result.

What is meant by logic in verbal communication is, in essence, the reproduction of spatial or sequential relations previously experienced by the given person himself or by other reflexes. A person who sees a tree, who is convinced that it grows from a seed, establishes a consistent connection between two orienting reflexes caused by the type of seed and the growing plant. Therefore, one of these orienting reflexes, caused in one way or another, successively excites another orienting reflex due to the established connection. We will also have a connection of words: a tree grows from a seed. Observing the same fact in relation to each of the plants or receiving reports of the results of the experience of others in the same sense, we by generalization obtain the following connection of associative verbal reflexes: each plant grows from a seed. With one part of this linkage of reflexes, namely with the word «plant», here, on the basis of experience, we associate every object in general that belongs here (as we will be convinced by the same experience), and associate with it our or someone else’s experience regarding the growth of a plant from a seed. .

From this comes this kind of connection of verbal reflexes: each plant grows from a seed, a tree is a plant, a tree grows from a seed. Such a connection of verbal reflexes is denoted by a logical connection.

It goes without saying that such a planned connection is required when in life experience we encounter phenomena that are new to us or deliberately seek them out. Therefore, the identification of new mathematical relationships, as well as the proof of new scientific facts, are carried out through precisely this connection of verbal reflexes. But for already known facts, this connection is significantly shortened both in mathematics and in other sciences, and even more so in life. After all, no one needs proof that a tree is a plant, just as no one needs proof that every plant grows from a seed. This is recognized as a truth that does not need to be reaffirmed, and therefore we are content in ordinary speech with the statement that «a tree grows from a seed.»

When we meet in experience with the constant succession of one phenomenon after another, we establish dependent relations of these phenomena either among themselves or with a third external factor by means of combining activity and designate these relations in verbal reflexes in the form of a dependent connection of phenomena. These relations are again borrowed by us from experience. With a saw we cut a tree, with an ax we split firewood, while we connect the corresponding word signs in such a ratio: “I move the saw along the tree, the tree is sawn, therefore, sawing the tree depends on the movement of the saw along it.” Or: «I hit the log with the tip of the ax, the log splits, therefore, the splitting of the log depends on the blow to it with the tip of the ax.» It is clear that here we have the same planned chaining of verbal reflexes, but in relation to the direct succession of concrete phenomena one after another, none of which is indicated by a generic verbal sign.

However, the same experience shows that for two phenomena, even constantly following each other, there is not always a dependent relationship, because there are cases when the sequence of two phenomena can be determined by some third phenomenon. For example, spring is always followed by summer, summer is always followed by autumn, and autumn is always followed by winter, or morning is always followed by day, afternoon by evening, and evening by night. And yet, both successive series of phenomena are determined not by the dependence of one phenomenon on another, but by dependence on a third phenomenon: in the first case, on the movement of the earth around the sun, in the second case, on the movement of the earth around its axis. It is clear that the establishment of dependent relations occurs with the exclusion of a third phenomenon, which could determine the dependence of the constant succession of one phenomenon after another. And only in this case we have the right to connect the verbal reflexes corresponding to these phenomena in the form of a dependent relationship, that is, we have the right to say that the subsequent phenomenon depends on the first. In another case, guided by the same experience, we must keep in mind that the second event is not always a consequence of the first.

It must not be overlooked that in practice the so-called personal reflexes are most often aligned with certain final aims that spring from our experience or the experience of others. For example, we need to eat bread, but we do not have it; we must take the money and go to the shop, or give the money to someone else to go to the shop and buy bread; after which the bread should still be cut into slices and served on the table. All this has already been repeatedly in the experience. But conditions may change. Small money may not be available, they still need to be exchanged; there may be no bread in one shop, one has to go to another, etc. However, no matter how external conditions change, the connection of reflexes is always guided by the final goal, which is closely connected with the physiological need arising from the main organic impulse caused by hunger. It is this organic impulse, called need, that determines the connection of various associative reflexes, which can change in accordance with changing conditions, but nevertheless is always ultimately determined by the data of past experience. Due to the fact that in this case the connection of associative reflexes is the result of one determining impulse arising from the state of hunger and characterized by the need to eat, we will designate this connection of associative reflexes as determinant.

It should be noted that this connection of combinational reflexes is also based on the dependent relations established by experience between these or other reflexes, but nevertheless these latter do not contain anything that would resemble a connection due to a determinant impulse, and therefore we single it out as a special category. A determinant connection of the same nature is also established between verbal reflexes, and in fact we usually use it when talking with other people. When you listen to a lecture on this or that subject, you hear a whole series of interrelated sentences that can take up to an hour, all in order to achieve the ultimate goal — this or that proof or explanation. And here, in the same way, circumstances can change, for example, in the case of a lecture on experimental sciences, depending on the course of the experience produced at the lecture, and in the case of a clinical lecture, depending on the patient’s changing state and the individual characteristics of his morbid condition, which are revealed at the lecture itself. .

The determining impulse — the stimulus here will be the need in the first case to prove a certain scientific position, summing up all those experimental data that are material (in the form of premises) for proving this position, and in the second case — to establish an accurate diagnosis of a disease state, guided by all the collected data. about the patient with material (again in the form of a series of premises), leading to the final result, which consists in establishing a diagnosis of the disease.

When a person needs to remove the obstacles that block his path, he seeks, guided by past experience, all the ways to remove the obstacle or get around it, in other words, find a new path for the situation that has arisen. Here, the determinant stimulus is a task that emerges from the situation itself and determines the direction and connection of personal associative reflexes in the form of actions leading to the solution of the problem. Incidentally, this is the way the inventor goes, and this is the way scientific creativity is carried out, which consists in the achievement of a new truth, expressed in verbal form.

It should be noted that in other cases, the nature of the connection between combinational reflexes is determined not by a determinant impulse arising from one or another need, but by external determining conditions. For example, a thundercloud appeared with thunder beginning and we are in a hurry to remove everything that could be wetted by rain from the yard and from the balconies, and then we close the doors and windows throughout the house. Here, the determinant condition is not an internal impulse, but an external circumstance, completely independent of us. We will designate such a connection of associative reflexes as an external connection of reflexes.

The same holds true for verbal combinational reflexes. For example, we saw a comet in the sky and encourage others to look at it, and then we begin to talk with them about the brightness of the comet, about its position among the constellations, about its tail, its direction, and in general about everything that concerns the comet itself and everything related to its appearance. conditions, as well as about the scientific data known to us, relating to comets in general and to this comet in particular, if it was predicted and an appropriate message was made about it. Consequently, here we also have an externally conditioned connection of verbal associative reflexes.

However, there is also a freer combination of associative reflexes, when the connection between them is established under the guidance of one or another mimic-somatic state. Creativity in art follows this path. Whether it will be a rhythmic composition through verbal reflexes (poetry), or motor reflexes, carrying out artistic combinations of colors on the canvas under the control of the eye (painting), or motor reflexes, extracting melodious sounds from the vocal apparatus under the control of hearing (singing) either from musical instruments (music), or about motor reflexes that carry out three-dimensional forms under the control of touch and vision (sculpture), or about motor reflexes that carry out certain rhythmic movements with their change and form (choreography), or, finally, about reflexes that carry out the corresponding proportions and rhythms in buildings (architecture) — in all these cases, the connection and sequence of associative reflexes are established in accordance with a certain mimic-somatic tone and guiding plan, which is the main and determining condition here.

The above form of connection represents a transition to the form when the determining condition of associative connections is exclusively mimic-somatic tone. In the normal state of a person, this form corresponds to the world of dreams, fantasies and dreams, remote from reality and little or no regard for it. As you know, children, having surrendered to the flight of their imagination, recognize themselves as heroes, princes, great inventors, completely ignoring reality, which is in complete contradiction with it. The same thing happens with adult dreamers.

Dreams often fix in the form of a kind of fantastic canvas those desires and those fears that develop in an open or more hidden way and in the waking state. Primitive peoples transfer this world of dreams and dreams into the form of more or less recognized beliefs, which are clearly fantastic in nature. When comparing these phenomena with reality, it is not difficult to recognize in them a clear contradiction with it and, accordingly, the complete practical uselessness of developing such a connection of combinational reflexes, however, this is either not done at all, or not done by many, but, on the contrary, due to the established connection, certain attention is paid to these combinations. just as many believe in dreams as an actual reality.

Thus, the world of dreams, fantasy and superstition takes the place of reality. Try to dissuade a commoner in witchcraft. He may agree with you, but still, on occasion, he will go to the sorcerer. Try to convince those who spit and knock at the utterance of the word «damn» or run out from behind the table when there were 13 sitting at it — the so-called «devil’s dozen», and you will see that, no matter how the person disagrees with your arguments about the absurdity of these prejudices, in fact he will still remain in the grip of superstitions. The same applies to prejudices and prejudices, i.e., rooted misinterpretations of certain phenomena.

Religion, in turn, determines the implementation of associative reflexes, which have their roots in the mimic-somatic sphere. And a person begins to believe, assuming the possibility of ensuring his future existence after actual death, justifying his current behavior, protecting himself from future dangers, etc.

These and similar forms of connection between verbal and other associative reflexes, guided by mimic-somatic states in the form of desires and fears, acquire special significance in pathology, especially in deep degenerates, schizophrenics and paralytics, where such connections of associative reflexes often form a canvas that is striking in contradiction with reality. delirium, reaching the absurdities obvious to everyone and everyone, not recognized as absurd only by the patients themselves.

Since with the help of symbolic reflexes in general and speech reflexes in particular, not only the relationship of individuals to the world around is established, but also the self-determination of the individual and the assessment of all his behavior in the present and past are carried out, then we must distinguish speech in the subsequent presentation, on the one hand, as a direct combination reflex, and on the other hand, as a reporting indicator of various manifestations of personality in the present and past. Since speech in both cases is a combination of certain signs related to objects, phenomena and their relationships, as well as to their state, it is clear that in speech reflexes it is necessary to take into account not only the form and external character their connections, but also their character in the sense of indicating those objects and relationships to which these speech reflexes relate, in order to clarify in this way, in the fullest possible extent, their relationship with reality.

It should not be forgotten that speech reflexes are interconnected into groups, or complexes, in connection with those spatio-temporal relations between the objects of which they are signs. Such complexes of words can be caused by the first word or object that comes across as an irritant. It is enough for a person to say a word or name some object for him to arouse a series of verbal reflexes, which will revive in him after the spoken word, unless, of course, they are slowed down for some reason. In the above case, a number of words will not always be in more or less familiar combinations.

In another case, a complex of verbal reflexes can be evoked by a determinant verbal stimulus, if the response verbal reflexes are conditioned by the utterance of such words that would be in close connection with the given verbal stimulus: for example, we ask the subject to name either household utensils, or all round objects, or all white objects, etc.

We can evoke an even more complex group of verbal reflexes if we ask the subject to give a complete series of verbal reflexes, one way or another connected with some object, for example, the task as a stimulus may consist in a sentence to describe either spring and autumn, or summer and winter, or morning and evening, or a summer walk, etc.

In these complex verbal forms, of course, the individual social qualities of the individual should be revealed to the greatest extent, which is why they provide valuable material when examining patients.

It goes without saying that we can offer the same answer to be carried out on paper in the form of a written statement of the task, and this will be even more convenient for assessing the various features of the verbal complexes caused by the given topic, due to the fact that they will be fixed on paper by the patient himself.

It is quite natural that verbal reflexes can be combined with all other reflexes, for example, indicative, mimic-somatic, and combination-motor. So, say, an offer to serve ice cream for dinner can evoke an orienting reflex, lively facial expressions, and certain motor reflexes, as well as expressions and words with a positive or negative attitude of a given person to a given action. In the latter case, a negative attitude may be due to an inappropriate interpretation of the task itself, expressed in an insufficiently polite form that is not allowed by the established way of social relations, or for other reasons. Be that as it may, such a proposal can even cause a sharp mimic-somatic reflex in the form of anger, a number of response verbal reflexes of one nature or another, and response actions of a defensive nature (for example, leaving the premises) or offensive actions in the form of threats, attacks etc.

As we saw above, an important feature of verbal reflexes is that, being signs of external and internal stimuli and the reflexes they cause, they make it possible to designate a series of reflexes that have flowed and the stimuli that caused them, both external and internal, which can be indicated by verbal report, which will be reviewed separately. However, by no means all reflexes and the stimuli that cause them come into contact with verbal reflexes. As a result, all our actions and experiences can be accountable and unaccountable, or unaccountable. The latter are similar to those actions and states that are observed in sleepwalkers — states of so-called natural somnambulism, about which a person cannot give an account, just as a person who has emerged from deep hypnosis cannot give an account of himself. We will see later that all those reflexes are accountable which proceed under the condition of the so-called concentration and therefore can be revived under the influence of the same concentration with which the reflexes corresponding to it are connected.

On the basis of the foregoing, it becomes clear why we do not exclude questions from patients in pathological reflexology, but we must keep in mind that the statements of patients in this case should in no case serve to clarify subjective phenomena or the so-called experiences of patients, but should be accepted exclusively as objective material, evaluated in comparison with other objective data of behavior, since these statements of personally ill people usually suffer from more or less significant distortions of reality. These statements of patients in no case can serve as a basis for establishing this or that position without careful verification, especially since, regardless of the distortions due to the period that has elapsed since the events transmitted in the story, and from the distortions due to the general mimic-somatic state, in which the patient was during the period of the events themselves, distortions of a different kind are also possible, due to one or another third-party reasons or what is known as simulation. That is why, I repeat once again, the verbal testimonies of patients can be taken into account only in comparison with other objective data, and only when they are consistent with the latter, can they be taken into consideration.

The study of speech can be carried out by simple observation, recording as accurately as possible, best of all in shorthand, the speech of the patient, accompanying the record with notes about the circumstances that caused this speech, indications of who it is addressed to, and characterizing the pronunciation and intonation of speech. It goes without saying that, in relation to speech, these notes may be of a formal nature in the sense of changing speed, pronunciation and intonation. Since all speech is accompanied and supplemented by gestures, it is clear that, along with verbal speech, the form and character of gestures must be recorded.

But speech can and must be investigated through natural, and if necessary, through laboratory experiment. The simplest natural experiment can be carried out by the method of polls, where the word is a stimulus that causes one or another reaction. Since a word can evoke both a verbal reaction and a reaction by action, the reaction itself must be limited in advance by certain conditions, for example, the subject, by prior agreement, is obliged to respond with words or even with a word that arises in him in this and no other way. Thus, the experimenter offers the subject to answer with the first word that he can say after the given word, or sets the condition to say after his word everything that the subject can say in the subsequent order of the words that arise in him. Next, you offer the subject either to name all objects of a certain kind known to him (for example, household items, animals), or all objects of a certain color known to him (for example, white, red, etc.), or you make him look for subordinate words to what you say, etc. Finally, you can invite the subject to say everything that he can say on a certain topic.

It goes without saying that responses should be recordable without any subjective interpretations. So, during the first test, answers are possible corresponding, inappropriate, imitative (with echomia), confused, etc. In the second test, a wealth of body reactions is also revealed. In the third test, you evaluate a larger or smaller vocabulary from different areas of personal experience. In the fourth test, a person’s ability to find relationships between verbal symbols is determined. In the fifth test, you will receive data both in relation to the coherence of speech symbols, the richness of the relevant material or vocabulary, and in relation to creativity related to a given topic.

Everywhere and everywhere the evaluation of the results of the experiment must take into account both the age of the subject and the social environment where he developed and where he performed his activity in the past and performs it at the present time.

As for the anatomical and physiological conditions of symbolic and, in particular, speech associative reflexes, studies show that they have special areas that develop in addition to the previously mentioned associative areas in the left hemisphere of the brain. Thus, a special area of ​​musculo-motor speech combination reflexes, being additional to the musculocutaneous combination area, is located in the posterior part of the third frontal gyrus. Its destruction eliminates the possibility of realizing a verbal reflex in general, with the preservation of movements of the tongue and lips, and even with the possibility of pronouncing individual letters. Isolated cases of isolated agraphia, or the inability to write, have also been described, while maintaining other speech functions and the ability to move the hand. At the same time, the nest of the lesion was found in the posterior part of the second frontal gyrus directly in front of the arm area.

In the same way, next to the auditory associative area on the first temporal gyrus, we have an auditory verbal area, and next to the visual associative area, a special visual verbal area in the angular gyrus (g. angularis). Regarding the existence of the latter as a separate area, there are, however, insignificant contradictions between the authors, the meaning of which lies in the fact that, according to some authors, the role of the verbal visual area is played by the same general visual area of ​​the occipital lobe, and not by a special verbal visual area, as then recognized Charcot (Charcot). At the same time, there is reason to believe that literate people really develop, in addition to the visual, the verbal-visual associative area.

Be that as it may, both the auditory and visual verbal areas do not have the value of independent speech combination areas, because the implementation of speech reflexes is carried out by them only with the participation of the muscular motor speech area located at the posterior part of the third frontal gyrus, through which all speech reflexes are performed. Due to this, when the auditory verbal region is destroyed, despite the preservation of hearing, orientation in relation to spoken words is lost along with the ability to carry out an imitative verbal reflex (the so-called verbal deafness), and since visual auditory impulses are also transmitted through the auditory region, at the same time, and the ability to excite verbal reflexes with the help of appropriate visual stimuli (the so-called amnestic aphasia), while the implementation of a verbal associative reflex in another way is still possible. At the same time, the orientation in relation to the spoken words is also violated.

Likewise, when the areas g. angularis, we have, while maintaining vision, a loss of orientation in relation to verbal written or printed signs, with the simultaneous impossibility of implementing the visual-verbal reflex of reading and the visual-verbal written reflex, including cheating, while the implementation of the verbal reflex in another way turns out to be feasible.

Thus, when a person hears, but cannot use the words of someone else’s speech as symbols, i.e., determine their relation to surrounding objects or actions, then this state is designated as verbal deafness, and when a person sees what is written or printed, but cannot use it as a set of symbols for reading and writing, then such a state is denoted by verbal blindness. In these cases, it is a matter of the defeat of the verbal centers themselves, in one case auditory, in the other visual.

However, if a person hears words, can repeat them, but nevertheless cannot use them as symbols, or sees words on paper and can copy them, but cannot understand them, then here we are talking about a break in the connection that exists between these centers and other areas of the cortex, thanks to which, in fact, the relationship of verbal sound signs to objects, actions or states is established, while we have cases of the so-called intercortical (transcortical) aphasia.

There is also such a speech disorder, known as amnestic aphasia, which consists in the fact that a person can speak and read, but cannot name the displayed object. In my observations there were repeatedly typical cases of this kind. For example, an intelligent person and a good speaker suddenly received a kind of defeat, which he himself noticed only when he was first given a telegram from his son exiled to hard labor, which he could not read. He discussed his disorder perfectly himself, as before he could orate without any difficulty, he answered all questions in an appropriate way, sometimes, according to his habit, with long arguments, but not only could he not read anything, but even any displayed object from the most ordinary ( button, spoon, pencil) was absolutely unable to name. It goes without saying that he could not copy, but wrote from dictation, but with large errors. This speech disorder seems to be most easily explained by a break in the connection between the visual verbal area, the visual cortex, and the verbal auditory area.

In other cases, we have a condition which I would consider it possible to call abulic aphasia, in which the patient can utter words and can even carry on a conversation on his own, but cannot speak at will in the sense of answering questions asked. Among my patients there were classic examples of this kind of condition in this respect. One officer, struck by such a speech disorder, could freely talk about certain objects and social events, but when he was asked even the most simple questions, for example, what is his name and how old is he, the patient, despite the fact that he heard the question and perceived his content, he could not answer it, and he himself was surprised at such a lack of his speech. In my opinion, this condition can be explained only by a violation of the connection between the verbal auditory area and the area of ​​active concentration in the frontal lobes.

Finally, I have described a special speech disorder called verbal parasymbolism, in which patients can answer all questions and can speak, but speak instead of words with inarticulate sounds or, more precisely, sounds and syllables that are not appropriately related, however, retaining the number syllables, and the corresponding stresses in words, while it is characteristic that the patients themselves do not notice the incorrectness of their speech and therefore willingly answer any question.

So far, it is difficult to give a satisfactory explanation for this disorder. In one typical case, it was a question of simultaneous cortical deafness, and an autopsy revealed a bilateral hemorrhage with softening in the superior temporal gyrus and in the Heschl gyrus (Hescnl) of both hemispheres. In another case, it was a matter of a significant weakening of hearing of a cortical character. It is possible that the lack of auditory control, together with transcortical aphasia, led to such a peculiar speech disorder.

In connection with the foregoing, we consider it necessary to correct the schemes for the implementation of speech reflexes existing in the scientific literature.

As you know, in the schemes they designate the drive, or perceiving, verbal center of Wernicke (Wernicke) and the outflow, or motor, center. In addition, they indicate the visual verbal center, whether it is located in the angular gyrus (g. angularis), or appears to be common with the true visual center. For writing, they designate the center of the hand, and all these centers are interconnected. Violation of this connection explains the disorder of simple speech reflexes. It is assumed that if a person repeats other people’s words imitatively, then it is enough that the excitation that has developed in the auditory verbal center is transmitted to the motor verbal center, which transmits this excitation through descending conductors. When it comes to reading, the visual verbal center is introduced into excitation, which transmits its excitation through the auditory center to the same motor center. Further, it is believed that when cheating, the visual center transmits its excitation through the auditory center to the center of the hand or to a special graphic center, if it has developed. This is the case when it comes to the mechanical repetition of words, reading and copying, and when they talk about meaningful speech, reading or writing, they recognize that the centers of speech must also be in connection with other higher centers, while they imagine that excitation must be transmitted from the auditory verbal center to a special higher center (the center of consciousness), which lies somewhere, and from there it reaches the motor center of speech.

We believe that there are connections between the motor-speech area and the perceiving auditory and visual speech areas with the cortex of the frontal areas, where there is an area of ​​active concentration. Due to the connection with the latter, it is possible to constantly support the excitation of the verbal auditory or visual area, to which in this case (and not from them to the higher center) excitation from other perceiving areas of the cortex is continuously directed, according to the principle of dominance (see below). Thanks to the latter, different areas of the cerebral cortex are sequentially brought into an excited state for the implementation of the speech function, directed and controlled from the area of ​​concentration.

Since, through the auditory and visual verbal areas, impulses are transmitted not only to the muscular speech area of ​​the third left frontal gyrus, but also to the muscle-motor areas of the central and posterior parts of the frontal gyri of the cerebral cortex, it is obvious that the destruction of the third left frontal gyrus, eliminating speech reflexes, does not eliminate the implementation of motor reflexes excited through the auditory and visual verbal areas, and therefore in these cases it seems impossible only the implementation of a speech reflex, both imitative and any other, performed with the participation of the destroyed area. In this case, not only are all other motor reflexes excited from the verbal auditory and visual areas of the cerebral cortex feasible, but the orientation in relation to auditory and visual verbal stimuli is also completely preserved. Meanwhile, the destruction of the center of Wernicke (Wernicke) and the verbal-visual area deprives a person of the opportunity to perform actions under the guidance of verbal auditory symbols in the first case, and verbal written or printed symbols in the second. From this it is clear that these latter disorders are in general more severe than the former.

It must also be borne in mind that writing by hand is feasible due to the connection of verbal speech reflexes with written hand reflexes, and therefore the defeat of the speech center of Wernicke (Wernicke), as we said, also disrupts the implementation of writing, causing the phenomena of agraphia.

On the whole, in relation to writing in connection with the corresponding brain lesions, the same data apply as to oral speech. Thus, the destruction of the auditory verbal region eliminates the implementation of writing from dictation, and the destruction of the visual verbal region eliminates the implementation of copying.

On the other hand, the destruction of the graphic area itself does not disturb the spoken language.

Along with oral speech, written speech should also be the subject of reflexology, and not only in relation to its content, but also in relation to the outline of letters and handwriting in general. Until now, the latter has been essentially engaged in graphology, trying to see in handwriting a reflection of the nature of certain human inclinations. There is no need to say that the character and inclinations of a person are reflected in the actions of a person, in his facial expressions, gestures, oral speech, in his entire behavior in general, and therefore handwriting is not the only indicator of various features and characteristics of a human personality. But still, handwriting is the most common documentary feature characteristic of all literate persons, which therefore acquires particularly important practical significance. Unfortunately, attempts made so far to measure the modification of handwriting in any way using special instruments (for example, Preyer’s compass) have not been successful. In this respect, one has to resort, unwillingly, to eye studies of handwriting by comparing it with other personality traits and comparing the handwriting of different people with each other.

What should you pay attention to in handwriting? One of my employees working on this subject (Schnitzer) defines the tasks of studying handwriting as follows: “Before the task of analyzing and synthesizing writing, a graphologist is guided by its most diverse features, namely: the direction of the letters, which is expressed in angular degrees, i.e. in slopes letters in one direction or another; length in different directions and width of individual letters; breaks or duration of writing; breaks in syllables in a word or letters, words and phrases that are far apart from each other; tight and crowded letter, when letters are piled on top of each other; elongated letters on the left and right and long or wide — at the end of words; rising capital or lowercase letters high above the line and lowering them below the line; wide and sweeping letters or narrow or tall or long; available on certain letters with sharp thick, medium or small pressures or their absence. Then attention is drawn to whether the letter is written with a gentle hand and the letters come out almost pale and equally thin. Further, the subject of the researcher’s attention should be when the first letters are separated, and the subsequent ones are connected, or, conversely, if the letters in the letter are isolated, if the letters are connected by loops or strokes, if gradually increasing letters are observed in the handwriting, so that the last one is higher than the others, or, conversely, the last the smallest letter. Another subject of the characteristic features of the handwriting is its inclination to the right or left, the vertical position of the handwriting and countless other strokes and hooks barely noticeable to the ordinary eye.

Needless to say, the handwriting should be taken from a letter of a person who is in a calm state, as typical of him, and even without him knowing that his handwriting will be analyzed.

On the other hand, handwriting is not established immediately, until the age of 8 it can provide little material for analysis, because it develops in essence until the age of 12, then it becomes more and more determined until the age of 16 and is finally affirmed at the age of approximately 16 to 22 years. In the elderly and senile age, handwriting, while retaining its basic features, begins to undergo changes again, becomes trembling due to age, and features of senile weakness affect it.

It should not be overlooked that the handwriting is also affected by the general mimic-somatic tone in which this letter is written, and any morbid condition that affects the motor apparatus will also affect the handwriting (for example, with the consequences of a brain stroke or with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, tabes dorsalis, muscular dystrophy, etc.), as well as damage to the nerves or muscles of the hand itself, as we see in cases of writing cramps and muscular ataxia. In the same way, handwriting will be reflected in both the morbid state of the brain in the areas that control writing and speech in general, and those changes in the combination-reflex activity that impair vision in its central or peripheral device, as well as general neuroses (hysteria, psychasthenia, etc.) and prolonged debilitating physical illnesses.

If a person writes not with his hands, but, when they are deprived, with his feet, lips or chin, then, of course, this will change his handwriting, but the general character of this handwriting will still be preserved.

There is no doubt that the handwriting of a left-hander will differ sharply from that of a right-hander. The state of the eye media also affects handwriting. Nearsighted people write in small handwriting, farsighted people write in larger handwriting. It has been noted that in a person with an elevated mimic-somatic tone, while writing with a blindfold, the hand will go up behind the line, while in a person with a decrease in mimic-somatic tone, the letter is accompanied by the desire of the hand to go beyond the line down, and in both case, the letters may be jumbled.

In a state of confusion, under the influence of some sudden collapse of the event, the handwriting changes dramatically, the letters find one another, collide with each other and distort in their style.

In states of general excitement, the letters become larger, the handwriting is sweeping, and the writing itself seems to be uneconomical in relation to paper. In a state of general oppression, on the contrary, the writing becomes smaller, cramped, and generally more compact.

With reduced intelligence and general indifference, handwriting is strikingly monotonous and of the same type.

Regardless of the handwriting itself, greater or lesser regularity in the styles of letters, which can be extremely varied, as well as the style of words, acquire particular importance in written speech, for example, omissions or doublings of syllables occur in writing, etc.

Finally, the peculiar forms of lettering, even a special form of using punctuation marks, and further, a greater or lesser coherence of words, and in particular the discrepancy between their content and reality in the sense of delirium, can represent certain features in personality diseases, which is not without important diagnostic value.

4.4. verbal report

So far, we have been talking about associative reflexes exclusively from an objective point of view. However, in phenomena of this kind, as we are convinced by self-observation during the performance of one or another act (looking, listening, concentrating, acting, etc.), our combination reflexes, which, like any other reflexes, are based, no doubt, lies the movement of the nerve current, we also discover the inner, or subjective, side, which consists in inner self-perception, feeling, representation and reveals the so-called inner, or subjective, experiences, which until now have been the subject of exclusive attention of psychologists.

Being accessible to some extent to self-observation, these phenomena were also studied by psychologists through the so-called mediocre self-observation, in other words, self-observation performed on other people through their words, actions and facial expressions.

We admit, contrary to the subjectivist psychologists, that in reality there is no “mediocre self-observation” and there cannot be, and that we can judge subjective states experienced by other persons who themselves can subject them to self-observation only on the basis of those objective data i.e., the same associative reflexes, which in this case we can subject to our observation. Whether it will be about the direction of the gaze, about a change in facial expressions, about any deed or action, about gestures or words, in any case, we can create one or another judgment about the internal experiences accompanying these actions, guided by our self-observation during similar reflexes performed by ourselves.

In The General Foundations of Reflexology, I dealt in detail with the question that our judgment of another person can only be more or less approximate, and sometimes deceptive. And this is true to such an extent that there is even the so-called solipsistic doctrine, supported by some psychologists-philosophers, according to which both processes, subjective and objective, are each governed by their own special laws, due to which it is not even possible to have a conviction, that is, to know exactly about the existence of someone else’s animation, or someone else’s «I». This doctrine, refuted by other philosophical minds, says that someone else’s «I» is only a matter of faith, not knowledge (Vvedensky, Lipps). Recognition of such a teaching would mean that in this area there is no place for any knowledge at all, and consequently, for scientific research. These psychologists thus exclude themselves from scientific research. This doctrine only shows how unscientific it is to approach the study of personality by those methods of subjective analysis that were used by subjective psychologists and thanks to which, despite the colossal work expended to achieve this goal by a number of remarkable minds, the knowledge of personality still remains knowledge and inaccurate, and outside the realm of the natural sciences.

Usually, to understand someone else’s «I», they use verbal transmission, or retelling, believing that this is the most accurate indicator of other people’s experiences, but we know to what extent these indicators are inaccurate, at least from the example of testimonies, which, even in cases where witnesses cannot be suspected of insincerity, nevertheless they contradict each other in an extremely sharp way. And this is despite the fact that the witnesses were in the same conditions, when, for example, the event about which the testimony is given took place from beginning to end in front of their eyes. The disclosure of this inaccuracy in the testimony of witnesses led to the fact that the judges began to attach more importance to objective data, and only a comparison of these data with the testimony of witnesses leads the judges to the right path of clarifying the circumstances of the case. In any case, here, too, objective data gain a decisive preponderance over the testimony of witnesses, and one precisely verified fact is sufficient for all the testimony of witnesses that do not agree with this fact to be resolutely and finally refuted by him. Even the confession of the accused himself in his own crime, if it contradicts an accurately verified fact, cannot be recognized and is not recognized by modern legislation as evidence of decisive importance.

A number of works are devoted to clarifying inaccuracies in testimonies about what was seen, i.e., about what was experienced in self-perception, among which we consider it necessary to mention Russian authors, such as A.P. Nechaev and K.I. Povarnin (from my laboratory). All of them, in agreement, point not only to the inaccuracy of these testimonies, but also to those distortions, or so-called false reminiscences, with which these testimonies are full.

There is experimental evidence, obtained through hypnosis, showing that the state of consciousness cannot in the least be put in unconditional connection with action. Suggest in hypnosis to a person on awakening to light a match from a box lying on the table, and he will do it flawlessly. But ask him why he did it, and he will certainly come up with some excuse, for example: «I thought that someone should smoke» or «I wanted to try if matches light well.» In a word, according to conditions and individual characteristics, a person, apparently imperceptibly to himself, invents motives that do not correspond to reality, while the real reason for them is not indicated here and cannot be indicated.

It is clear that any personally ill person with the desire to carry out this or that action will always have motives for these actions, which in fact will not correspond to reality. We have a good example of such a false motivation without the intention of lying in Tarde: a patient, put to sleep by a hypnotist, was ordered to show his «nose» to the bust of Gall; the patient is woken up; under the influence of an order received, which he does not remember, the patient shows his “nose”, however, as if not to admit to himself that he is controlled by an irresistible external force, he hastens to say that this bust is “disgusting”.

Obviously, it is not the state of consciousness that causes the action, but the action is the result of the nervous process caused by the given stimulus, while the reaction can only be reflected in one way or another on conscious processes. So, a person who makes an evil grimace begins to feel embittered in himself. However, from this fact it would be difficult to conclude that from the reaction we can always determine the nature of the state of consciousness in the exact form that it was in reality. The above example just serves as proof of this.

The extent to which consciousness deceives the subject himself can be seen from the understanding of free will. This is beautifully expressed by L.N. Tolstoy in «War and Peace»: «Having learned from experience and reasoning that a stone is falling down, a person undoubtedly believes this and in all cases expects the fulfillment of this law, but having also learned undoubtedly that his will is subject to laws, he does not believe and cannot believe it. No matter how many times experience and reasoning show a person that under those conditions, with the same character, he will do the same thing as before, he will for the thousandth time, starting under the same conditions, with the same character, to an action that always ends equally, undoubtedly feels just as sure that he can do as he wants, as before the experience.

At the same time, it must be taken into account that when a person carries out his retelling, this does not mean at all that he conveys precisely his thoughts or inner experiences to other persons. In reality, with the help of verbal reflexes as signs of external realities, he excites in himself and in other persons, respectively, his own and their own combinational reflexes, for each word and phrase will be reflected in him and in others according to his and their understanding, not otherwise. After all, whatever the inaccuracy of verbal testimony, which, in all fairness, is designated as subjective testimony, they can and should be considered as a verbal account of one’s subjective experiences, no matter how far this account may be from in the reality of the events. It is only in this sense that reflexology accepts these indications, subordinating them everywhere and everywhere to objective observation and experiment. This is the main method in the study of personality in terms of reflexology. In other words, we must evaluate them from the point of view of greater or lesser correspondence or inconsistency with objective data both in the behavior of the individual himself and in the external reality surrounding him.

At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the subjective side of far from all combinational reflexes, in whatever form they appear, can serve as the subject of a verbal report, as a result of which some of them can be designated as accountable, others as unaccountable. But there are cases in which huge periods of life for a healthy state turn out to be unaccountable, while in special states the memory of this long life period and the whole past in general become accountable. Cases have even been described in which the experience of several such unaccountable states was observed, differing from each other in certain features of their external manifestations.

However, it should not be forgotten that this lack of accountability is in no way absolute, but relative, for it turns out that sometimes combinational reflexes carried out in one waking state cannot be the subject of an account in another waking state, but in this other state the report can be carried out, for example , by suggestion, and then transferred to a normal waking state. An example can be cases of natural somnambulism, in which persons who have experienced it on themselves cannot give any account at all either about their subjective experiences or about their actions and deeds that they carried out during this period of somnambulism. Such persons can be hypnotized, and in hypnosis the past associational reflexes that manifested themselves during the period of somnambulism, as we have repeatedly seen, are disinhibited to such an extent that an appropriate report can be given about them, and then by suggestion, that is, by establishing a connection between the experienced in this hypnotic state with the normal waking state manages to make the experience accountable in the normal waking state as well.

The same applies to hysterical states which are accompanied by unaccountable or unaccountable states, of which, however, a verbal report can be made in the state of hypnosis, and this report can in turn be connected by suggestion with the waking state, whereby it can be disinhibited in this last one as well. Based on personal experience, I can say that in the above way it still turned out to be possible, at least in individual cases, to make accountable a former state that, it would seem, could be recognized as completely unaccountable and incapable of disinhibition.

In other cases, we are dealing with the loss of accountability of experienced states, depending on the elapsed time and other conditions. As it turned out, here, too, the accountability of the experienced can be restored with the help of Freud’s so-called «psychoanalysis», which essentially boils down to the direction of focusing on all those combinational reflexes that, to one degree or another, stand in connection with events that have lost the state of accountability. Unfortunately, this method, according to the opinion of its creator and his followers, is interpreted exclusively in a subjective light, and as a result, it has led and leads to erroneous conclusions.

All these data show that the actual non-accountability of combination reflexes depends on nothing else than a break in the connection, or splitting, between reflexes that occurred in an unaccountable state and reflexes in an accountable state, and that it is enough to somehow restore this connection and those that occurred earlier. reflexes become already accountable.

So far, as far as is known, it has not been possible to restore accountability in epileptic seizure states. This is obviously due to the fact that in such states there is in fact no associational reflexes at all due to severe brain damage, in which even innate reflexes, such as pupillary and knee reflexes, disappear.

Based on the foregoing, it seems possible to conclude that combination reflexes everywhere and everywhere not only have an external expression in the form of movements, cardiovascular phenomena and secretory processes, but also have an internal expression in the form of subjective phenomena, regarding which a verbal report can be given, and if sometimes this account is not given, it can be obtained by establishing an interrupted connection between the unaccountable state and the accountable ordinary or normal state.

In any case, for understanding the pathology of a personality, it acquires a certain significance how completely or incompletely an answer is given about certain experienced states and how it is given in the sense of its correspondence or inconsistency with objective facts, which can be judged by comparing one with another.

In this report, we are therefore not interested in the subjective experiences themselves, but in the completeness of this report and its quality, which boils down to certain distortions of the former reality.

With regard to elementary processes caused by external stimuli, the comparison of the verbal report with reality was initiated by the research of Weber. Later, Fechner processed Weber’s data, giving them the appropriate mathematical expression, as a result of which the regularity established in this respect is now known as the Weber-Fechner law (Weber-Fechner). In accordance with this law, for stimuli of medium strength — not very weak and not very strong — the ratio of the increase in sensations to the corresponding increase in stimuli is expressed by a logarithmic dependence. Obviously, the point here boils down to the fact that the excitation of the nerve conductors grows more slowly than the irritation itself. But no matter how the physiological side of this law is explained, the point is that the strength of sensation, judging by the verbal report about it, is disproportionate with the strength of irritation, which is easily confirmed by extremely ordinary examples, for example, in the dark it seems that a candle shines brightly, but the same a candle brought into a bright room does not noticeably add light; in complete silence, even a faint rustle is heard, while during a deafening knock, not even a human voice is heard.

The question is whether there is a possibility of comparing objective manifestations in the form of combination reflexes and the experiences corresponding to them, which are judged by a verbal report, and if so, to what extent there is a correspondence between them.

Research carried out in my laboratory shows that if we evaluate the minimum stimulus capable of giving rise to an associative reflex, it turns out that in any case it is close to the minimum threshold of sensation. However, in the work of Krotkova with electrocutaneous stimulation, we met with the fact that the minimum threshold of the associative reflex turned out to be lower than the threshold of sensation, because the reflex appeared at such a strength of electrocutaneous stimulation that it turned out to be imperceptible. This indicated a greater subtlety of the objective indicator in the form of a reflex compared to the subjective indicator. As for the spatial threshold of tactile stimuli, as we have seen on the basis of our research (Israelson), their topographic differentiation can be brought up to the size of Weber’s circles. Hence, here we find a more or less close correspondence between objective and verbal indicators. However, the objective threshold in testing the associative reflex to the intensity of light in our experiments (Dr. Molotkov) turned out to be approximately equal to the difference threshold in sensation.

Thus, in these relatively simple forms of manifestation of personality, we have a more or less close correspondence in subjective and objective indications, with a certain preponderance in terms of accuracy towards the latter.

Let us turn now to orienting reflexes. As is known, they are the result of the action of an external specific stimulus in the form of a subsequent contraction of the muscles serving this organ, which achieves the most appropriate position of this organ in relation to external influences, as we have seen, for example, in the acts of looking and listening. A verbal report of the type “I see” and “I hear”, as we know, is the result of irritation and special perceiving apparatuses (i.e., the retina, the organ of Corti, etc.), and emanating from the muscles serving these apparatuses, due to which what is denoted psychologists perception, is the result of a merger of those and other stimuli. It would seem that there should be sufficient correspondence between the objective and subjective manifestations expressed in the verbal report, which form the inner side of all orienting reflexes in general.

However, we know that already in the field of orienting reflexes there is a certain discord between objective and subjective indicators — these are the so-called physiological illusions. Take, for example, an illusion — this is an irremovable optical illusion, completely at odds with the objective indications given in the corresponding dimensions.

On the other hand, any object in general will appear large against reality if it was shown surrounded by small objects, and, conversely, objects will appear to us smaller in size against reality if they were presented to us surrounded by large objects.

In the same way, in other manifestations of personality, we meet with discordance between objective data and subjective indications. Let us take the sphere of feelings, or feelings, according to the designations of psychologists, and again, with a general correspondence, we meet with a sharp discord between indications regarding feeling and objective reality. For example, fatigue as a feeling is a subjective indicator of the real factor of fatigue, the degree of which can be measured in more or less precise ways. And so, it turns out that, carried away by work, a person can bring himself to an extreme degree of fatigue, which makes further work dangerous to health, and at the same time not feel tired. On the other hand, an intoxicated person feels in himself an excess of strength and energy against the usual norm, while in reality the strength and energy of an intoxicated person is undoubtedly much less than in the usual normal state.

Next, let’s move on to the presentation area. How often it seems to a person that he knows this or that subject, but in reality it turns out that in fact he does not know it at all. We also know how easily a person is mistaken in relation to space and time. With a certain vigor and distraction by some thoughts, the space traversed will turn out to be very small, under the opposite conditions, on the contrary, it will seem very large. On the other hand, during intense studies, time seems to pass very quickly, while if the conversation does not go well and there are no special activities, time drags on very slowly. And the rest of our ideas are very different from reality. We cannot, for example, imagine the real dimensions of either astronomical distances, or the dimensions of the moon and sun, or any planets in general, while they were measured by the most accurate methods.

Let us then take attention — we are talking here about the subjective indicator of the phenomenon that we designate in objective study by concentration. Indeed, in most cases, when we focus on any subject, we direct our attention to it. But, on the other hand, it may seem to us that we are very attentive to something, but in fact we are in a state of distraction. We can look at an object, but not see it at all, etc.

Consider, finally, what is meant by will. This subjective state can objectively correspond to both perseverance in the performance of a task and the ability to restrain oneself. In other words, it indicates the ability to develop an effort either towards a series of actions, or towards the rejection of these actions. And here again it turns out that it usually seems to us that we are omnipotent, that we can do as we want and not do as we do not want, or, in other words, that we have free will, but in reality, having an objective attitude to actions of a person, we are convinced that he is essentially subordinate to external or internal impulses and appears to be fully unfree in his actions.

There is nothing to say about the simulation, intentional or unintentional, about such pathological phenomena as illusions and hallucinations, about the so-called false memories, etc., when subjective indications completely diverge from reality.

That is why we were right when we said that everywhere in the study of personality we must give priority to the results of objective research and observation, while everything related to verbal or subjective testimony should be subject to the control of objective observation, for only it must be a measure of the true state of affairs.

Now the question is whether these subjective testimonies are necessary in the course of an objective investigation of personality, and how should they be treated?

Since we are dealing here with a verbal account of inner experiences, it in itself, being an objective phenomenon in its external expression, must undoubtedly be taken into account, like everything that a person reveals himself, but we naturally , must be compared with actions, and with all other manifestations of the personality in general, and with the surrounding reality, in order to understand the deviations that it contains in comparison with objective data.

However, one should not forget that speech itself, from the point of view of reflexology, is one of the types of associative reflex processes that is subject to objective study not only in the sense of reporting on subjective states, which psychologists have always been interested in, but also completely independently of it. , like any other combinational reflex, due to those features of its manifestation that may have one or another meaning. In any case, we note that speech, from the point of view of reflexology, is one of the important types of associative reflexes, denoted symbolic due to the fact that speech under articulate sounds contains symbols, or signs, developed in life conditions, both internal states and available in the experience of the personality of external objects and phenomena, as well as those mutual relationships between them that are accessible to human consciousness.

From this side, the study of speech itself, or language, as an objective manifestation of the human personality, is all the more important because language, more than any other reflex, could and constantly serves the development and improvement of the human personality and universal culture.

4.5. The principle of interaction and dominance

In my book «The General Foundations of Reflexology» I have already pointed out the principle of interaction as one of the basic principles of combination-reflex activity. Physiologists, according to the research of Sherrington (Sherrington), denote this principle by the word «induction». Its essence lies in the fact that the active state, or excitation, of one area is accompanied by inhibition of other areas of the nervous system. Thus, the inhibition of this function is the result of excitation of another function or another part of the nervous system.

In associative reflexes, this phenomenon is characterized by the fact that if an associative reflex is brought up, at least, for example, to a sound, then, as the studies carried out in my laboratory (Dr. Shevelev) show, during the period of consolidation of the associative reflex, it quickly generalizes, becoming widespread. This shows that the excitation in the cortex, which began at the corresponding point of the given association area, radiating, quickly captures this entire area. But then, in the second stage of development, the area of ​​excitation is more and more limited, narrowing to an irritated point, and the process of inhibition is gradually replacing the excitation.

Thus, using the example of the associative reflex to respiration, it is especially easy to state this fact, because the respiratory waves clearly indicate not only the effect of excitation by the rise of the curve, but also the effect of oppression by the decrease in the curve. The results of experiments at my disposal with the evoking of an associative reflex to a given sound show that, together with the differentiation of this reflex, any other sound will no longer cause such an increase in respiratory waves as the sound to which the associative reflex is brought up; in this case, the closest sound in character will cause only a weak stimulating effect on breathing, a slightly more distant one will remain completely without effect, and the most distant one will cause a completely clear flattening of the respiratory excursion and, therefore, will give a full inhibitory effect.

All this shows that the wave of excitation that develops at a certain point in a given area of ​​the cortex is replaced by a wave of oppression from the periphery, along with the limitation of this wave of excitation. Obviously, earlier, during the initial development of the associative reflex, the state of depression, which prevented the development of the reflex, was gradually replaced by a state of excitation, more and more spreading over this area of ​​the cerebral cortex. The fact is that the very process of development of the combination reflex, as I showed in one of my works (V. M. Bekhterev. Review of Psychiatry. 1916. No. 5-12.), Is overcoming inhibitory conditions in the nerve pathway when stimulated from the periphery and the development of a state of excitation, which is then again replaced by a state of inhibition.

As is well known, subjective psychologists also began to dwell on the phenomena of mutual inhibition of some processes by others (Heymans. Untersuchungen fiber psychische Hemmung and Zeitschr. fur Psychologie. Bd 21, 26, 34, 41, 53; Rauschburg. Hemmung gleichzeitigen Reizwirkungem II Zeitschr. fur Psychologie .bd 30.). This principle, as we have already mentioned, was also revealed in the physiology of the spinal cord by the research of Sherrington, whence it is clear that we are dealing here with a general principle in the activity of the nervous system. It is clear that in life conditions the process of interaction manifests itself everywhere and everywhere. When we are occupied with any subject, everything else remains out of our field of vision. When we develop contraction in a particular muscle group, the rest of the muscular system remains in a state of greater or lesser relaxation. Attraction to one object weakens attraction to another, and vice versa.

The general principle of interaction in combination-reflex activity is that the excitation of some reflexes leads to the inhibition of others. For all that, everyday observation shows that not one, but several reflexes can be set in motion, but precisely those that manifest themselves in concert, in other words, which in a life situation were constantly combined when performing one and the same task. Thus, a measured step and a kick with the foot are easily combined with the corresponding movement of the hands, but are incompatible without special exercise with any other movement. You cannot simultaneously lead the dance and sing if the sounds do not correspond to the beat of the dance, but you can simultaneously sing and gesticulate according to the singing. You can play an instrument and sing at the same time, but you can’t play and talk at the same time, talking about something. In the same way, you can write and talk about what you write, but for the majority it is impossible to write and say anything outside, for example, to discuss some outside subject while writing.

We observe the same in mimic-somatic reflexes. You cannot simultaneously caress and show a hostile attitude, etc. In a word, the principle of interaction leads to the fact that one action excludes another, the opposite, only coordinated reflexes can be performed simultaneously as developed by life experience as joint actions. And all this because when one area or several synchronously functioning areas work, others are slowed down; even when the same area works in one direction, the same area cannot perform work in another direction, opposite to it.

From what has been said, it is obvious that the principle of interaction causes a constant change in the combinational-reflex activity (which we, in fact, are engaged in in this case) of the states of excitation and inhibition. The question is which conditions lead to braking and which to disinhibition.

Let us turn from the very beginning to experiments on associative motor reflexes. If we cultivate an associative reflex (according to the method developed in our laboratory) in the form of withdrawing fingers to the bell after repeatedly combining the bell with an electric current, then just a few empty (without irritation by the current) resumptions of the sound stimulus are enough for the associative reflex to go out. We call this form of inhibition internal inhibition. This means that the wave of excitation that has arisen in this center, after temporary irradiation, has been replaced by a state of inhibition. At the same time, it is impossible to decide whether this depended only on the possible work of other cortical centers, or on the accumulation of toxins due to fatigue with a constantly renewed connection of a sound stimulus with movement. It is possible that both play a role here.

In other cases, inhibition, as we know, occurs in connection with the appearance of external stimulation. In this case, it is enough to give some external stimulus simultaneously with the sound that caused the combination reflex, for example, to make noise or give light, and the reflex to the sound will immediately slow down. Without going into details on this subject, which experiment gives us in this respect, we will denote this second case of inhibition by external inhibition. It goes without saying that in these experiments the general state of the individual (general somatic tone, fatigue or cheerfulness, etc.) is not indifferent, not to mention the fact that there is also a special form of general inhibition in the form of sleep. Both inhibition, however, can be replaced by a state of excitation, or disinhibition. When internal inhibition has developed under the influence of a repeatedly evoked associative reflex, it is enough to lengthen the interval between reflexes by a factor of two or three, and the extinguished reflex is renewed. If the reflex is well established, then, being extinguished with frequent repetition, it is disinhibited again after one time or another. This is internal disinhibition.

In the same way, the reflex is immediately disinhibited if the associative stimulus, in this case sound, is again supported by the main stimulus — an electric current. In the same way, under certain conditions, especially in the first period of irradiation, third-party external irritation disinhibits the combination reflex. This is the phenomenon of external disinhibition.

However, the repeated combination of some non-reflexogenic stimulus (for example, sound or light) with a reflexogenic, in our case electrical, leads to such a strengthening of the associative reflex that it lasts for months and even years.

Both types of inhibition, internal and external, appear every minute, and new external stimuli, overcoming the inhibition of the regions, serve as stimuli for new combination reflexes, which are again inhibited over time, which is the reason for the constant change of the latter.

We observe the above phenomena of inhibition and disinhibition in real life conditions, this has long been a known fact. A person in a state of fatigue, as you know, cannot reproduce the most familiar things to him. But fatigue will pass, and what was lost is revived again. On the other hand, everything newly learned over time without recourse to the original is gradually slowed down and finally lost.

Suppose a person is subjected to one or another penalty. This has an overwhelming effect on him. But imagine that this penalty is repeated many times. It gradually, with each time, already more and more loses its meaning for him, and, finally, the impact from it becomes equal to zero. This is what characterizes the process of internal inhibition, which develops depending on the repeated repetition of the same impact, which each time loses more and more of its significance. However, this or that time will pass, and the same penalty may again produce its effect. Suppose a person, while observing physical exercises conducted by third parties, himself reproduced some complex unlearned movement. Without referring to the model, he can no longer reproduce this complex movement exactly, and the more he repeats this movement, the more and more he will deviate from the original, and some time will pass, and the implementation of the reflexes caused by the above path will already be completely impossible. . In this case, it is enough to turn again to the model from which the memorization was carried out, and the inhibited reflex is again disinhibited.

Let’s take another example. Suppose a person during a conversation, developing his topic, met with some third-party irritant. This leads to the fact that a person loses the thread of the conversation due to the inhibition of the corresponding combinational verbal reflexes familiar to him. Here we have an example of that external inhibition in which an external stimulus carries out its action even in the case of well-established associative-reflex activity. A person goes for some thing to another room, but, being distracted by something during his journey, loses the purpose of the action and loses the opportunity for a certain time to take what he needs. Here we are talking about inhibition by the same external inhibition of a habitual motor act that has already begun to develop.

The mimico-somatic reflex, caused by one or another external, i.e., exogenous, stimulus, can be inhibited or suppressed, either from the outside by these or other exogenous stimuli, or by some other disinhibited reflexes. For example, we were angry, but we were laughed at and our anger completely dissipated. Otherwise, the bitterness disappears as soon as we are told about the miserable situation of the person who caused our anger.

But inhibition can be incomplete or partial. For example, we speak loudly, but the sight of a patient in the next room partially inhibits the reflex, and then we lower our voice and almost fall silent. However, at the same time, we do not interrupt the threads of associative reflexes and continue to develop the subject of our topic, but we confine ourselves to only insignificantly revealing them with our facial expressions, the semi-whispered movement of the lips and tongue. Thus, we have only a partially inhibited reflex in the form of a single thought, because in this case it turned out to be inhibited only in its motor part. It goes without saying that these partially inhibited reflexes can then again be disinhibited in an appropriate retelling of what had to be kept silent in order to avoid the patient’s anxiety.

In some cases, internal inhibition may appear suddenly, under the influence of disinhibition of such a latent reflex, caused by one or another external stimulus as an irritant in the past period of time.

Thus, a habitual action can be immediately suspended by a person due to internal motives under certain conditions, and this action may no longer be manifested for one or another time. But other conditions will come, and the previously habitual action will again be carried out as before. Let us suppose, then, that the man played the game together with his comrades. But any reason disinhibits the reflex associated with the need to be at a given time in another place. Without saying a word, the person immediately stops the game and leaves. Here again, the reflex is inhibited by the disinhibition of another, mental, reflex that suppresses the first reflex. In another case, while sitting reading, a person began to feel the influence of hunger, he immediately rises from his chair, leaves the book and goes to another room to have lunch. Thus, there was a sudden inhibition of the habitual act of reading, which could also have arisen in connection with the onset of appetite, with which the act of eating was habitually combined. But lunch is over, and reading can be resumed again, thus, the former associative reflex is subject to disinhibition.

In another case, we may be suppressed or excited by something, but due to some simultaneous external stimulus or under the influence of the disinhibition of some past influence, we will give no sign of either our depressed state or our excitement. This will also be inhibition, but inhibition, affecting only the external manifestations of the mimic-somatic reflex, while its internal component (heartbeat, vasomotor phenomena) continues to remain the same. In this case, we have a delayed, or inhibited, mimic reflex without suppression of its somatic component, which continues to remain in a latent state and, with some external stimulus, the entire reflex can be completely unexpectedly disinhibited and resolved by a violent external reaction.

In the same way, we can be very hungry, but not show with a single movement that we are hungry. It will be a complex organic reflex, referred to by many as an instinct, but inhibited in its external manifestation. Finally, there may be circumstances or, what is the same, external stimuli that compel us to act. For example, we need to be at a certain time in a certain place, but we can refrain from this act under the influence of outside advice as a new stimulus, or under the influence of the disinhibition of some opposing past event caused by something, while the act, ready to be resolved, will be inhibited.

From the foregoing, it is clear that those phenomena that psychologists designate as internal experiences (in the form of ideas or thoughts, in the form of feelings, desires or intentions), are subject, like other combinational reflexes, to the process of inhibition, which could not be otherwise, because they the essence, as we have seen, are reflexes inhibited in their highest manifestations, in other words, reflexes delayed at the moment the nerve current passes to the centrifugal conductors and, therefore, are latent reflexes.

There is no need here to give other examples of external inhibition of combination reflexes. Generally speaking, any new, sufficiently strong stimulus inhibits the associative reflex, which can again be revived by the former stimulus or by one or another of its constituent parts. At the same time, it should be noted that inhibition is not, in essence, a complete cessation of the reflex. It still remains at its minimum. So, if someone by internal efforts tries to prevent any action, nevertheless, it will still manifest itself in a minimal amount, which is proved, among other things, by well-known experiments with reading thoughts. On the other hand, what is known as inner speech, characterized by minimal movements of the larynx and tongue, also refers to the processes of inhibition or delay of verbal reflexes.

Generally speaking, any inhibited reflex is not a reflex that has disappeared without a trace: either it is brought to a minimum, if the conditions for its development are maintained as before, but only the external manifestation of the reflex is suspended, or it temporarily stops completely if the development of combination reflexes has gone along a different channel, i.e. i.e. began to be expressed by the excitation of other leading paths. However, this is true only for the normal state. In pathological cases, however, there may be such a force of inhibition that even a vivid mimic-somatic reaction, arising under the influence of external conditions, can quickly weaken and then not be renewed, while in other cases the same reaction can persist with persistence for a long time and not be subject to either internal or external inhibition.

As regards such more general forms of inhibition as general fatigue, sleep, and narcosis, it is only necessary to say about them that they do not have a selective effect on one or another reflex, but act in an inhibitory manner on all associative reflexes more or less evenly. Moreover, this general inhibitory effect in the first two cases depends on the internal conditions occurring in the body (development of toxins, self-poisoning), and in the third case (narcosis) it is caused by the introduction of external inhibitory agents into the body, such as alcohol, chloroform, etc.

Finally, we must keep in mind that a negative mimic-somatic tone causes inhibition to one degree or another of even fully established reflexes and enhances all inhibition processes in general, whether they are due to external or internal reasons.

In other cases, we have a facilitated process of disinhibition of associative reflexes, which are revived, generally speaking, with extraordinary ease. What belongs to the area of ​​circular reaction, often observed in children, as well as the so-called perseveration, is, without a doubt, the essence of the phenomenon of disinhibition in the area of ​​motor reflexes. Repeated reproduction of motives, phrases or words can also serve as an example of disinhibition.

From what has been said, it is obvious that any associative reflex in general, developed naturally or artificially evoked, inevitably leads to the leaving of a trace, due to which the associative reflexes are disinhibited. That it is a matter of leaving a trace in these cases can not only be recognized as a self-evident truth, but can also be proved by experience. So, if we perform a certain movement according to a preliminary condition, for example, as we did, press a canister with a finger along with a certain stimulus, in particular a sound stimulus, then it turns out that with a certain speed of these movements, after a sudden stop of the sound stimulus, the motor reflex but this or that number of times will be carried out with the same tempo. This, obviously, is possible only through the revitalization of the trace left in the centers from the former reflex, and setting this revival to a certain pace.

Let’s take another case. A certain number of the most banal images (for example, cows, horses, dogs, etc.) in the amount of at least ten pass through a slit on a rotating cylinder in front of the subject. Of these images, after passing through them, the subject can name by no means all, but only a part, for example, 5-6. If we give the same number of similar images another time, and some of them will be those that previously passed before the eye of the observer, but were not reproduced, while others will be completely new for the subject, not being in the previous series, then it will turn out as our experiments showed that after passing such a series of images before the subject’s gaze, he would name a significantly larger number of images from among those that had previously passed before his eyes, but were not named by him, than from completely new ones. Obviously, all disinhibition processes are based on leaving a trace in the regions, because if one or another reflex was inhibited and then disinhibited, then this is possible only by revitalizing the trace left by the reflex, which was preserved during the period of its inhibition. The latter, therefore, can in no way be equated with a process of exhaustion, in which traces of former reflexes are probably erased temporarily or completely.

Since associative reflexes sometimes form a strong chain due to interconnections, it often happens that in order to disinhibit the entire chain, it is enough to disinhibit its first member, so that the entire chain of reflexes sequentially unfolds as if automatically. Let us turn to the example of the inhibited text of poetry or something memorized. No effort we can sometimes reproduce it. But someone prompted us the first phrase, even one first word, and all the following words are disinhibited one by one.

Let’s take another example. A person has suddenly lost the ability to perform a certain action due to some random external inhibitory conditions. In this case, it often helps if a person returns to his former place and again experiences the former stimuli with which his plan of action was combined. After that, the latter is immediately released (dance from the stove). Here, in both cases, we are dealing with external disinhibition.

In living conditions, external and internal disinhibition act at every step and lead to the reproduction, or revival, of associative reflexes. Let us only note that the process of disinhibition is in direct proportion to the repeated action of the stimulus that excites the reflex, or what is called exercise, accompanied by temporary pauses. This is the basis of the process known as memorization, as a result of which the disinhibition of all reflexes occurs with ease at the slightest external shock. It should not be overlooked that disinhibition is tantamount to stimulating a reflex, as a result of which we can speak with equal right of internal and external stimulation, as well as of internal and external disinhibition.

There are also general conditions that favor disinhibition, just as there are general conditions that promote braking, as discussed above. The general disinhibitory conditions include, first of all, rest. Suppose a person could not reproduce, under the influence of fatigue, any memorized text, but he will easily reproduce it after some rest. This is independent, or internal, disinhibition. On the other hand, a general disinhibitory condition is sometimes created by the action of poisons, for example, with small doses of alcohol or hashish, and this process of artificial disinhibition of reflexes does not, at least in unaccustomed individuals, have a beneficial effect on productive combination-reflex activity.

Disinhibitory processes can also be facilitated in connection with hereditary, or congenital, conditions. Remarkable counters (persons capable of performing mathematical operations with huge numbers in their minds) are an example of innate conditions that contribute to the unusually easy disinhibition of various forms of numbering. If there is a person with a good development of the auditory perceiving apparatus, then usually, along with this, he is able to reproduce and perform musical combination reflexes well. On the other hand, the good development of the visual organ is accompanied by a facilitated reproduction of visual reflexes, which predetermines special success in drawing and painting. The predominant development of the motor nervous apparatus predetermines the easy reproduction of complex movements developed in choreographic art.

A particularly important role in the disinhibition, or reproduction, of reflexes is played by the general mimic-somatic tone. As we have already said, with a positive tone, the disinhibition of reflexes is facilitated, and with a negative tone, it is more difficult. Noteworthy is the fact that the nature of the mimic-somatic tone is also reflected in the nature of the disinhibited reflexes. With a positive tone, reflexes of an offensive nature are predominantly disinhibited, while with a negative tone, if reflexes are disinhibited, then they are mainly of a defensive nature. It should then be borne in mind that the disinhibition, or reproduction, of reflexes is usually reproduced in the same state in which they were first performed. Therefore, reflexes carried out with active concentration are reproduced with the same active concentration, while reflexes carried out without active concentration are also reproduced in the absence of active concentration. This is easy to see on the example of playing the piano. When notes are played under the control of active concentration, they are played with active concentration and cannot be played otherwise. When the game ceases to require active concentration and is performed almost mechanically, active concentration on the notes will already interfere with its implementation.

It is also known that the effects produced in deep hypnosis are animated in a new state of hypnosis and are not at all animated without special suggestion in the waking state. The same happens with morbid conditions, as, for example, in hysteria, epilepsy, and in some other cases.

Let us also note that those influences that enter into close correlation with organic stimuli and the reflexes corresponding to them are easily revived depending on the constant animation of organic reflexes.

The disinhibition of former reflexes is of great importance in the field of associative reflex activity, because thanks to this, the experience of the individual is created. The process of disinhibition leaves no doubt that, as we have said above, each associative reflex leaves a trace in the brain in the form of newly formed connections and the beaten path, which is the path of least resistance, due to which, next times, under the action of the same stimulus, this path is usually passed by excitement with greater ease.

The timing of the disinhibition, or reproduction, of old reflexes is apparently extremely broad, as far as we know from examples of the recovery in old age of incidents from early childhood. In any case, they are subject to large individual fluctuations and also stand in a certain dependence on various conditions that lie in the organism itself at a given time.

Orientation in relation to the sequence of events, and, consequently, in relation to time, is also based on the principle of disinhibition, because complete disinhibition, having begun, successively revives a whole chain of associative reflexes that developed in successive periods of time. All our education is based on the principle of disinhibition. In the same way, associative reflexes that develop during life become an acquisition of the individual due to the ability to disinhibit. Thus, our gestures, speech, deeds and actions owe their development to the process of disinhibition, for usually it is about gestures, speech and deeds that took place earlier, although perhaps in a slightly different form.

With regard to the theory of inhibition, some authors allow the assumption of interference. According to this principle, by the way, the Blumenau scheme was built, which indicates the connection of the centripetal fiber with both the Martinotti cell (Martinotti) and the large pyramid, and the Martinotti cell with its axon directed upwards transmits excitation to both the adjacent small pyramid and to cell of Ramon y Cajal, and the small pyramid, with its descending process, in turn transmits excitation to the periphery and to the large pyramid, in which, therefore, the meeting of these two excitations neutralizes their effect.

However, this scheme only gives an explanation of how the excitation from the centripetal fiber is directed to combinational connections and is largely inhibited, but it does not explain how this excitation is then disinhibited, and meanwhile the processes of inhibition and disinhibition stand with each other in the closest connection. . In addition, this scheme strictly separates the combination process from the conductor process, for which there are hardly any grounds. Keeping in mind all the physiological information that exists in this respect, it must be recognized that excitation, or disinhibition, and inhibition are two processes that replace each other, but territorially never merge with each other at one point. So it’s a shift process. When excitation takes place at one point, neighboring points are in inhibition, and vice versa. Therefore, the excitation circuit must be imagined in a different way.

We have already said above that centripetal fibers transmit excitation through the combination cell, which serves as the beginning of the centrifugal path. In the cortex, such a cell is the Martinotti cell, which sends an axon to the superficial associative layer of the cortex, where with its branches it reaches the Ramon y Cajal associative cell, which sends its axon to neighboring parts of the cortex, here excitation is transmitted through contact with the apical processes of the pyramidal cells to the latter and through them — to the centrifugal axons, thereby there is an outflow of nervous energy to the periphery. Because of this, the balance in the tension of energy between this point, which represents the outflow of nervous energy, and other areas of the cortex, where such an outflow does not occur, is disturbed.

Thanks to the described process, a focus is formed in the area of ​​excitation, which attracts nerve energy in the form of a nerve current from neighboring areas of the cortex, which, as a result, are in a state of inhibition. It goes without saying that this inhibition at any point can be overcome by excitation flowing from the periphery, with its subsequent transmission through neighboring areas of the cortex to the periphery along centrifugal pathways. Since the excitation gradually subsides at the initial point, the same focus of excitation develops in another place, which in this case becomes an attractive point and to which the nerve current is directed from neighboring cortical regions.

The processes of excitation according to this scheme are emanating from the periphery, and it makes no difference whether this is the periphery of the external perceiving organs, or the periphery of the internal organs. Moreover, each peripheral stimulation, depending on the connections, can excite significant areas of the cortex or even be transmitted to distant areas, for example, from the visual area to the central gyrus, while all other areas will undergo inhibition. In exactly the same way, upon excitation from another part of the periphery, the same process will be induced, spreading inhibition to neighboring areas of the cortex, and the first focus of excitation will die out. The point, therefore, is not in interference, but in the direction of the nerve current, and the act of excitation, accompanied by an outflow of the nerve current to the periphery, at the same time creates an attractive point for the nerve current flowing from other areas of the cortex, and this outflow of the nerve current is characterized by inhibition, because it complicates the development of an independent focus of excitation.

As you know, the physiologist Ukhtomsky put forward the doctrine of the dominant as one of the basic principles of the functioning of the nervous system. All data speaks for the fact that we are talking about a special principle of interaction. According to this principle, as we have seen, if one of the regions enters a state of excitation, then a state of inhibition sets in in other regions. However, in a number of cases we have such a predominance of the function of the excited region, in which, along with excitation, not only the activity of other regions is inhibited, but also third-party stimuli, without exciting the corresponding reflexes due to the inhibition of their regions, stimulate the excitation of the working region even more.

Let’s consider one of the examples. If the areas in the cerebral cortex of an animal that control the movement of the hind limb are irritated, and at the same time the animal is forced to swallow liquid, then an increase in the act of swallowing and inhibition of the movement of the limb are detected. A similar phenomenon is found in the act of defecation. Here, therefore, we are dealing with an intense attraction of the nervous energy to a strongly excited region, for external stimuli not only cannot produce the effect of excitation of their regions, but also enhance the effect of the action of the excited region, directing to it the developed energy, inevitably associated with external irritation. . In other words, the excited region here becomes the strongest center of attraction for all other excitations flowing to the brain, and until the dominant is overcome by some particularly sharp stimulus, until then it will serve as this region of gravity for all excitations that are weaker in comparison with it.

Interestingly, in certain periods, in connection with certain functions of the body, a natural dominant develops. So, for example, if an animal is in estrus, then all external stimuli (for example, sound, etc.) only increase its manifestations. Similar processes can be observed in the embracing reflex of the male frog during mating, and during sexual intercourse, ejaculation occurs faster if third-party irritations occur.

The principle of dominance is of particular importance in relation to combination-reflex activity. Long before the introduction of the term «dominant» and even long before the physiologists established the principle itself in its functional essence in my work, published in the Bulletin of Psychology in 1911, and then in the published work of 1907-1911. under the title «Objective Psychology,» the same functional relationships were described in detail, with an explanation of their physiological basis in the process that I have designated concentration.

Describing the process of concentration in the said work, I say the following: “Under this name, i.e., concentration, we understand that complex of muscle contractions that places the corresponding perceiving organ in the most favorable conditions for making an impression, while eliminating at the same time everything that could in one way or another prevent the latter. This set of muscle contractions seems to be more or less typical of each perceptive organ that serves as the site of the concentration reaction. Thus, we can distinguish between visual, auditory, tactile and gustatory concentration.

Since internal stimuli can be an object of concentration, there can be, without a doubt, a special somatic concentration, as well as internal concentration aimed at unrevealed combinational reflexes (Objective psychology. St. Petersburg, 1911).

The first is characterized by a turn of the head and the aspiration of the gaze to the object of concentration, a corresponding contraction of the accommodative muscle and contraction of the pupils, a slight shift and extension of the eyebrows, which serve to eliminate extraneous visual stimuli, as well as holding the breath and inspiration with a general delay in the movements of other parts of the body. Auditory concentration is characterized by turning the head, which makes it possible to better capture sound waves. In this case, the contraction of m. stapedii occurs and at the same time the eyes turn to the source of the sound. The frontal muscles contract slightly, while holding the breath and immobility of the muscles of the whole body are observed. In animals, in addition, the corresponding rotation of the external auricle plays an important role in auditory concentration, which in humans is sometimes replaced by a palm placed behind the ear. In addition, at the highest concentration, the mouth usually opens to catch the sounds of the Eustachian tu.e.y. Tactile concentration consists in groping movements of the fingers of the hand, which make it possible to fully capture the external features of the object with a slight contraction of the frontal muscles, with slightly or completely covered eyes, while holding the breath and with a general immobility of the whole body ”- Bekhterev V. M. Objective psychology. SPb., 1911.

There are, of course, equally typical signs of olfactory, gustatory, and other forms of concentration.

Studies with auditory concentration, carried out at my suggestion on infants at the Pedological Institute, led to the conclusion that the act of concentration is always accompanied by a more or less complete mobilization of all parts of the body, while breathing becomes even and calm (Dr. Povarnin and Vladychko) — Vladychko S. D. «Bulletin of psychology, criminal anthropology and hypnotism.»

In the literature there are special studies in relation to the effect of concentration on the pupil. So, if you focus on a flame located on the periphery of the field of view, then the pupil narrows with a fixed eye, despite the fact that the gaze can be turned towards a dark background. If we put a white screen on one side of the subject, and a black screen on the other side, then, forcing him to focus first on one screen, then on the other, without moving his eyes, we will get a constriction of the pupil when focusing on white, and when focusing on black color — extension (Piltz J. Neurol. Zentr. 1899). From my point of view, the matter here comes down to internal concentration.

Also noteworthy are the studies of Heinrich (Heinrich W. Zeitschr. Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinuesorgane. Bd IX-XI.). He blindfolded the subjects in one eye and forced them to fix the other eye on a point, and placed a white cardboard with letters in the lateral field of view at different angles. The subjects were asked, without changing the direction of their gaze, to focus either on a dot, or on letters, or on mental work. In this way, it was found that when concentrating on letters, the pupil expanded, and it expanded even more when concentrating on mental work. It turned out that the expansion of the pupil was directly dependent on the inhibition of accommodation, and concentration on mental work was accompanied by a change in gaze, as when looking into the distance. The same phenomena were observed when concentrating on the ticking of the clock.

It is obvious that during internal concentration the same motor acts are reproduced in relation to the direction of gaze, the state of accommodation and pupils, which should also occur when concentrating on a real irritation, which I showed in the above-mentioned essay. We only note that mental concentration, like auditory concentration, is characterized not only by a general delay in movements, but also by a delay in the act of looking (at a close object), and, as my observations have shown, any external irritation is eliminated (for example, when sounds are heard, the ears are closed with hands) , and the very tension of concentration in the sense of the movements characteristic of it is even more intensified.

In my previously mentioned work “Objective Psychology”, a physiological explanation of this process is also given: “Concentration, in addition to external manifestations, is also accompanied by internal processes (in the brain) in the form of the development of currents of action, an increased flow of blood to the corresponding centers, an increased exchange in them, etc. which indicates a large development of neuropsychic energy in the corresponding centers. On the other hand, since the act of concentration is accompanied by the suppression of all other movements and a more or less passive state of all other perceiving organs, it is obvious that during concentration we have all favorable conditions for neuropsychic processes to reach the greatest tension in that center which is at the same time in an active state … The support for the more or less constant tension of these processes in a certain center is the constantly flowing impulses to it from the periphery from the contracting muscles and from the perceiving organ itself, partly due to the established combinations from the personal sphere of the neuropsyche.

So, the process of concentration at one time (as early as 1911) was explained by me as a dominant and from the physiological point of view. Therefore, I recognize the dominant process with no less reason with my discovery, as well as with the discovery of prof. Ukhtomsky, because we both approached this phenomenon independently and independently of each other, he — in the field of physiology, I — in the field of reflexology, based on biology. With the dominant, therefore, we are talking about gravity, but gravity, of course, of a physiological nature, due to which an area that is in a state of strong excitation attracts excitations that arise under certain conditions in other areas of the nervous system, neighboring or more distant . If then nature provided dominant processes such as swallowing, defecation, embracing reflex, sexual intercourse and some other vital functions, then this is probably due to the strength of those centripetal impulses that inevitably develop in this case.

Hence, it is clear to us that the dominant is the highest degree of the principle of interaction, because with the development of the greatest tension in one or another area, the process of interaction, as it were, directly passes into the dominant, characterized, in addition to inhibition of other areas, also by its strengthening due to these latter, i.e. due to incoming pulses from the excitation periphery of the given active region.

We have already mentioned above that by recording the breaths of infants at our Pedological Institute, we have become convinced that a waking infant, freed from clothing that constrains him, makes so many erratic movements that the recording of breath gives an extremely confused and irregular curve. However, it is worth making the ringing of the bell, as immediately the breath acquires a completely calm flow and the curve shows an ideally correct change of respiratory excursions. This is the manifestation of the principle of interaction in the form of a dominant. Quite similar phenomena can be observed in adults. But here’s what’s important. If we give an adult a stimulus that will arouse in him an act of concentration, for example, to tell a touching story, then we will notice that breathing will already experience temporary stops, which indicates a great tension of excitation in the corresponding area, and depending on this, greater inhibition of other areas, including cortical and subcortical areas of respiration.

As regards inner concentration, i.e., concentration on latent reflexes, the same thing can be traced here. If we are talking about a simple disinhibition of latent reflexes, then it is usually accompanied by a corresponding manifestation of orienting reflexes in one or another organ according to the nature of the disinhibited reflexes, while all other reflexes remain in an inhibited state. So, when concentrating on a reproduced visual object, we strain the external muscles of the eye, change the width of the pupil and the tension of accommodation. Listening to reproduced sounds, we have the same processes in the accommodative muscle of the ears and even in a certain turn of the head. Even concentration on internal organic processes excites the corresponding organs to one degree or another. This is the basis for the «arbitrary» acceleration or deceleration of the heartbeat, causing a rush of blood to the face, etc.

Here, however, the following should again be noted. With ordinary disinhibition, we are essentially talking about a simple change from one reproducible reflex to another. But if we excite concentration to a certain complex of associative reflexes, for example, we suggest that the subject name household items, kitchen utensils, or objects of one color or another, then we will be convinced that, if possible, all suitable objects will be named, the names of which, during normal disinhibition, as a rule are not reproduced in such numbers. Thus, the act of concentration, in this case the process of disinhibition, or reproduction, passed into the dominant, due to which impulses come from the inhibited areas of the cortex, intensifying the act of reproduction.

In view of the foregoing, the reflexological point of view in the process of reproduction, i.e., disinhibition, presupposes a completely different physiological basis from that which has hitherto been recognized by psychologists in relation to memory. The usual current view in this case is that memorization is connected with the spread of excitation from one center to another due to the established association of ideas. Whereas from the foregoing it is clear that during reproduction it is a matter of excitation of one particular area, which then attracts to itself the nerve current from other areas, thus enlivening the traces stored here, and this determines the reproduction of associative reflexes in a certain sequence. This point of view was developed by me, by the way, in the General Principles of Reflexology.

Dominance can manifest itself in relation to visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, skin and other stimuli. In this case, we peer closely, listen, sniff, savor, feel the object to the touch. This kind of dominance is necessarily accompanied by tension in the muscles that serve the corresponding organ, without which there is no dominant at all. It can be directed not only to external objects, but also to the reflexes that we ourselves produce, and not only to revealed ones, but, as we have seen, also to hidden reflexes, inhibited in their external manifestation (the so-called internal concentration).

The dominant in the form of concentration is usually caused by those stimuli that are less common and that somehow stand out from a number of others.

Thus, any new object, as well as any object distinguished by novelty or brightness of colors, excites a concentration reflex, which is also proved by special experiments carried out in my laboratory by Bukhvalova.

Long-term concentration is usually supported by that positive mimic-somatic reflex, which for some reason is excited by a given object, most often due to its connection with stimuli that excite our needs, this object is usually called «interest». Be that as it may, without a positive mimic-somatic reflex associated with one or another object, there can be no long-term concentration on it.

It is essential that, along with the suppression of other reflexes, concentration also has an attractive force in relation to everything that is in one way or another linked to the object that aroused concentration. The energy directed in one direction, with the suppression of all other processes, in this case attracts all the forces related to the source of excitation, and makes it possible to use them with this excitation, raising it to an unusual degree of tension. Thus, with the dominant, combinational activity in the direction of the object of concentration is excited to the highest degree, at the same time, all other combinational processes that are not related to the object of concentration are suppressed.

It must be borne in mind that concentration is not only conditioned by external stimuli, but is also evoked endogenously in connection with organic stimuli, manifesting itself in the form of active concentration. Thus, the state of hunger excites concentration on the basis of past experience with satisfying hunger in the direction of foodstuffs; the lack of the usual pathogen (tobacco, alcoholic beverages, etc.) causes a focus on these stimuli; sexual excitation, in turn, excites concentration in the direction of the sexual object, etc.

Meanwhile, physical fatigue, as well as the effect of certain poisons (alcohol, hashish, etc.) weaken the ability to concentrate; in the same way, it is weakened by various morbid conditions that disrupt the associative reflex activity, and the weakening of concentration in these cases can sometimes reach an extremely sharp degree.

It is also necessary to take into account the well-known attitude of focusing on certain stimuli, which may be the result of habitual concentration (every specialist easily sees influences related to his specialty) or the result of the action of a stimulus that previously caused some sharp mimic-somatic impulse (special sensitivity in suspicious persons) to objects that cause the slightest suspicion of the possibility of harm (“fear has big eyes”, increased concentration on the behavior of a spouse in jealous people, etc.). A negative attitude is also possible, when a person avoids concentrating on an object that excites or aroused a negative mimic-somatic impulse in him.

It is especially important to note that all stimuli that were once the subject of concentration can easily disinhibit the corresponding orienting reflexes, while objects, although they excite orienting reflexes, but without focusing on them, do not lead to the disinhibition of orienting reflexes until they excite concentration. And since stimuli of disinhibitory reflexes are associated on the basis of past experience with speech reflexes, it is clear from this that external influences alone and the reflexes they cause can be the subject of verbal transmission, and therefore will be accountable, while non-disinhibitory reflexes and their stimuli cannot excite the corresponding speech reflexes and, accordingly, cannot be conveyed in words, being, therefore, unaccountable, or unaccountable, processes. For example, of everything seen, only that which aroused the act of concentration can be transmitted and thus held accountable, the rest will not be subject to disinhibition. At the same time, those reflexes in relation to which there is a negative attitude towards concentration and which, as a result, cannot be disinhibited, weaken their connection with concentration to such an extent that, naturally, they are forced out of the chain of reflexes that can be disinhibited, and thereby, in turn, become unaccountable.

In connection with the elucidation of the physiology of the concentration reflex, we have approached the question of two types of reflexes, of which some are more or less closely connected with the concentration reflex and can be disinhibited or reproduced, and at the same time subjected to a verbal report, while others from the very beginning are not enter into connection with the concentration reflexes or subsequently lose all connection with them and therefore become unaccountable. The latter, however, by means of special methods, which boil down to the possibility of establishing a connection between unaccountable reflexes and concentration, can in a roundabout way renew their connection with the latter, and then they will again be accountable. The fact that the whole matter in these cases is reduced to the concentration and connection of reflexes with it can also be proved experimentally. If you give a person a complex account, forcing him to perform it aloud, and then hold images of certain objects in front of his eyes, it turns out that during intense counting, almost nothing is reproduced from the running images or very little is reproduced compared to what would be reproduced by a person who does not have an account.

Another experiment is the hypnotic state. Hypnosis itself is accompanied by the elimination of active concentration, which is achieved either by its inhibition when looking at a shiny object or by long passes, or by simple suggestion, which amounts to inducing the same hypnotic state through verbal influences. Along with the inhibition of active concentration in hypnosis, the person thereby loses the ability to independently control this process, but he retains the ability of passive concentration, guided by the verbal statements of the hypnotist. In the deeper stages of hypnosis, concentration can only be directed by the words of the hypnotist, by means of what is called suggestion. But here is what deserves attention here. Due to the loss of active concentration, the hypnotized person cannot resist any suggestions at all, and therefore, a deeply hypnotized person, under suggestion, can perform any action at the one order of the hypnotist and without any opposition. At the same time, none of the actions performed in deep hypnosis can become accountable until the concentration of the hypnotized person is directed to one or another act that was with him in hypnosis, after which this act can already be reproduced.

From this it is clear that the process of disinhibition, or reproduction, and therefore accountability through speech reflexes, are in direct proportion to concentration. Similarly, in the period of hypnosis, by directing the concentration of the hypnotized person by suggestion, one can not only cause exacerbations of orienting reflexes unusual for a person (for example, hallucinations, etc.), but also completely suppress orienting reflexes, as well as their reproduction by eliminating them. concentration.

In the normal state, concentration, being a manifestation of the dominant, moves from one object to another and puts first one organ, then another into an active state, which, as we know, may depend on the nature of external stimuli. On the other hand, concentration is directed by internal somatic stimuli. In the latter case, we speak of active concentration as related to our needs. Together with physical exhaustion from overwork, active concentration is suppressed, leading to falling asleep. But when active concentration as a dominant is suppressed in sleep, it nevertheless becomes possible for the dominant to develop under the influence of certain conditions of stimulation that arise in the cortical areas of vision, smell, taste, skin and muscle touch (in order to give an objective term to this important perceiving apparatus, I find appropriate to introduce the term «muscular touch» in place of the so-called muscular sense), whereby the excitation of these regions can be brought to the highest degree with more or less complete inhibition of other regions of the cerebral cortex, which is the basis of dreams.

In the normal state, both in actions and in speech, the main stimulus is the goal, whether it will be a real thing, given in experience, or only reproduced on the basis of one’s own or someone else’s past experience. For one reason or another, this goal excites concentration, which in the physiological sense is a real dominant in combination-reflex activity. As with any dominant, we are talking here about the excitation of the corresponding area, to which excitations are attracted from other areas, regardless of whether this excitation develops under the influence of current or past stimuli (by reproduction). Due to this, the target stimulation, which excites the corresponding area, is the injector that attracts to itself all the excitations that arise on the side, and, consequently, the corresponding reflexes, whether they are explicit or hidden, i.e., unrevealed in the sense of external sound or actions.

This is the essence of planned actions, and this is the essence of logically directed thinking. Both here and there we have a series, or a chain, of subordinate associative reflexes directed by the main stimulus, which is the goal of the action or the developed verbal reflexes.