|
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese
English
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Malay
Polish
Portuguese
Spanish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese|
Lecture notes, cheat sheets
Zoopsychology. General characteristics of the animal psyche. Evolution of the psyche (lecture notes)
Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets Table of contents (expand) Topic 6. General characteristics of the animal psyche. Evolution of the psyche 6.1. General characteristics of the mental activity of animals The evolution of mental activity is an integral part of the process of evolution of the animal world and occurs according to the laws determined by this process. With an increase in the level of organization of animals, their interaction with the outside world becomes more complicated, there is a need for more intensive contacts with an increasing number of subject components of the environment, as well as for improving maneuvering between these components and active handling of them. Only in this case, the balance between the increasing consumption of vital components of the environment and the level of organization of the organism is restored, and more successful avoidance of dangers and unpleasant or harmful effects is carried out. But the process is extremely complex and lengthy, it requires the improvement of orientation in time and space, which is achieved primarily by the progress of mental reflection. It can be considered that it was the various forms of movement that became the decisive factor in the evolution of the psyche. At the same time, there is an inverse relationship: without the progressive development of the psyche, the motor activity of organisms cannot be improved, biologically adequate motor reactions cannot be carried out, and the further evolutionary development of the organism slows down. The psychic reflection itself does not remain unchanged in the process of evolution, but undergoes profound qualitative transformations. Initially, primitive psychic reflection provided only an escape from unfavorable conditions. Then came the search for conditions favorable to the organism, not directly perceived. Such a search is now a permanent component of developed instinctive behavior. At higher levels of development, when object perception already exists, and the sensory actions of animals ensure the development of images, mental reflection is able to completely orient and regulate the behavior of animals. First of all, reflection is necessary for an animal to overcome various kinds of obstacles, which is necessary for the emergence of labile forms of individual behavior in changing environmental conditions: in most animals, skills, and in highly developed animals, intellect. The most profound qualitative changes in the psyche in the process of evolution helped to identify several stages of evolutionary development. The clearest line runs between sensory and perceptual psyche. According to the definition of the Russian zoopsychologist A. N. Leontyev, the elementary sensory psyche is the stage at which the activity of animals “responds to one or another individual influencing property (or a set of individual properties) due to the essential connection of this property with those influences on which the implementation of the main biological functions of animals. Accordingly, the reflection of reality associated with such a structure of activity has the form of sensitivity to individual influencing properties (or a set of properties), the form of an elementary sensation." [27] Perceptual psyche, as defined by A.N. Leontyev, “is characterized by the ability to reflect external objective reality no longer in the form of individual elementary sensations caused by individual properties or their combination, but in the form of a reflection of things.” [28] Within the elementary sensory psyche, as well as within the perceptual psyche, one can single out significantly different levels of mental development: the lower and the higher, and also, according to a number of scientists, some intermediate levels. Within large taxa, there are always animals at different stages of mental development, and all the qualities of a higher mental level are always laid down at the previous, lower level. It should be remembered that innate and acquired behavior do not replace each other on the ladder of evolution, but develop together, as two components of a single process. There is not a single animal in which skills would completely replace all instincts. Progressive development of precisely instinctive, genetically fixed behavior corresponds to progress in the field of individually variable behavior. Instinctive behavior reaches its greatest complexity precisely in higher animals, and this progress entails the development and complication of forms of learning. 6.2. Levels of development of the sensory psyche The lowest level of mental development characteristic of a fairly large number of animals. Among them, the most typical representatives are the simplest. However, this group also has exceptions. For example, ciliates, as rather highly organized protozoa, have reached a higher level in the development of the elementary sensory psyche than most other protozoa. The behavior of animals that are at the lowest level of development of the sensory psyche can be extremely diverse, but all manifestations of mental activity in them are still primitive. Mental activity appears in them in connection with the emergence of the ability to feel, to feel. It is the sensation, the reaction to the surrounding world, its factors and stimuli, that is the elementary form of mental reflection, which is inherent in the simplest. These animals actively interact with the environment, react to its changes. It is important to emphasize that protozoa not only show certain reactions to changes in the environment that are biologically significant for them, but also react to biologically insignificant factors. In this case, stimuli that do not directly affect the success of the individual's life activity act as a signal that marks the appearance of changes in the environment that are vital for the simplest. The lowest level of development of the sensory psyche is preceded by the level of prepsychic reflection, which is characteristic, for example, of plant organisms. At this stage of development, only the processes of irritability are inherent in the body. With the achievement of the lowest level of development of the sensory psyche, the prepsychic reflection in the simplest does not disappear, its elements are preserved. An example is the reaction of protozoa to such a vital component of the environment as the temperature regime. In this case, one can also talk about the identity of a vital factor and a factor that acts as an indirect signal about the presence of an important environmental factor. Protozoa do not have specific thermoreceptors responsible for the body's perception of the temperature regime. However, it has long been proven that they show reactions to temperature changes, and quite differentiated ones. So, at the beginning of the 24th century. M. Mendelssohn drew attention to the fact that the responses to temperature changes in ciliates, when approaching a certain thermal optimum, become more and more differentiated. For example, for ciliates-shoes, the optimal water temperature is 28-6 ° C. At a temperature of 15 to 0,06 ° C, the shoe reacts to a temperature difference of 0,08 to 20 ° C, and at 24-0,02 ° C, to a difference of 0,005 to XNUMX ° C. G. Jennings suggested that the sensitivity of ciliates-shoes to changes in temperature is associated with increased sensitivity to this factor of the anterior end of the protozoan body. However, experiments with cutting ciliates into two parts across the body showed that both halves of the body show the same response to temperature fluctuations. It is possible that the reaction of such protozoa to the temperature regime is determined by the properties of the entire protoplasm of the animal. In this case, the reactions can be similar to biochemical reactions, for example, with enzymatic processes. Thus, in protozoa, along with mental reflection, prepsychic reflection continues to exist, and this is characteristic of both highly organized representatives of the type (ciliates) and low-developed ones (for example, euglena). Mental reflection and its qualities are determined by the degree of development of the animal's ability to move, as well as to orientation in space and time, to change innate behavior. The modes of movement of protozoa are extremely diverse. So, they can passively soar in the water column, or they can actively move. This group of animals has specific modes of movement that are absent in multicellular organisms. Examples are movement by moving protoplasm and forming pseudopodia (typical for amoeba), as well as the "reactive" method of locomotion - mucus is released from the posterior end of the body under high pressure, which pushes the animal forward (typical of gregarines). In addition, the protozoa may have specialized structures for movement - cilia and flagella. These motor structures are plasma outgrowths that perform rotational, oscillatory and wave-like movements, and cilia are a more complex effector apparatus than flagella. Due to the specialization of the ciliary apparatus (the formation of an accumulation and fusion of several cilia, their grouping in certain areas of the body), the movements of protozoa can become more complex. For example, infusoria of the genus Stilonychia, along with swimming, can move along the bottom, while changing the direction of movement. The motor apparatus of most protozoa is represented by myonemes - fibers consisting of myofibrils. Myonemas are located in the organism of the simplest in the form of rings, longitudinal threads or ribbons. They can have both a homogeneous (homogeneous) structure and transverse striation. Myonemes enable the simplest animals to carry out body contractions, as well as more complex specialized locomotor and non-locomotor movements. Myonemas are absent in such protozoa as amoeba, rhizopods, the vast majority of sporozoans, etc. These protozoa move due to contractile processes in the cytoplasm. All forms of protozoan motor activity are at the level of instinctive behavior - kinesis (see also 2.3). At the same time, behavioral reactions are carried out in the form of positive or negative taxis that arise on the basis of sensation and allow the animal to adequately respond to environmental conditions - to avoid adverse conditions and move towards the action of positive and biologically favorable ones. The instinctive behavior of the protozoa is still very primitive, since it either lacks the exploratory phase or this phase is very poorly developed. Mental reflection at this stage is also extremely poor in content, since its content is determined by an active search and evaluation of stimuli in the search phase. Search behavior in protozoa exists at an embryonic stage. For example, predatory ciliates are capable of actively searching for prey. However, in general, it can be noted that at the lowest level of the sensory psyche, only, as a rule, negative components of the environment are recognized at a distance. Biologically neutral factors do not yet have a signal value, therefore they are not perceived by animals at a distance. It can be said that mental reflection at this level of development of the psyche performs exclusively the role of a "watchman": biologically insignificant components of the environment are perceived by the body only if they are accompanied by negative biologically significant components. In the behavior of protozoa, integration in the motor and sensory spheres can be noted. An example is the phenomenon of a phobic reaction (fear reaction) in protozoa, for example, in Euglena. The simplest, having encountered an obstacle, stops and makes circular movements with the front end of the body. Then the euglena swims away in the opposite direction to the obstacle. Such integration can be carried out with the help of special functional structures, which would be similar to the nervous system of multicellular organisms. For the simplest, such structures were found only in ciliates. Perhaps, in addition to this, a system of gradients in the protoplasm is involved in the conduction of nerve impulses. The simplest have a weakly expressed ability to learn. For example, if an infusoria floated along the walls in a triangular vessel for a long time, it retains such a trajectory of movement in a vessel of a different shape. As a result of N.A. Tushmalova discovered phenomena in the behavior of ciliates, which the researcher interpreted as examples of elementary trace reactions. So, ciliates, which were subjected to rhythmic vibration for a long time, initially reacted to this factor with a contraction, and after a while they ceased to show a reaction. Tushmalova suggested that such trace reactions represent the simplest form of short-term memory, which was formed on the basis of molecular interactions. The question of whether such a change in behavior is the simplest form of learning has been discussed by many scientists. Probably, in this case, such an elementary form of learning as habituation takes place. At the lowest level of development of the sensory psyche, addiction is based solely on sensations: the animal gets used to the effects of specific stimuli, which embody specific properties of the environment. At the same time, species-typical instinctive reactions cease to manifest themselves in the animal if their repetition does not produce a biologically significant effect. Addiction in appearance is very similar to fatigue. In contrast to the latter, habituation is associated not with the waste of energy reserves, but rather with their saving, with the prevention of energy expenditure on the implementation of movements that are biologically useless for the animal. In experiments with ciliates, fatigue manifested itself in the fact that after the animal was irritated by strong stimuli for several hours, it completely ceased to respond to stimuli. In highly developed representatives of protozoa, in addition to habituation, the level of development of the sensory psyche is also characterized by the beginnings of associative learning. In this case, temporary connections are established between a biologically significant stimulus and a biologically neutral stimulus. For example, in the experiments of the Polish scientist S. Vavrzhinchik, ciliates were taught to avoid swimming into a darkened area of a glass tube with water, in which they were irritated by an electric current. Gradually, the protozoa stopped swimming into the shade even in the absence of electric shocks for 50 minutes. Such experiments were subsequently carried out by another Polish researcher, J. Dembowski, who suggested that in this case one could rather talk about the development of primitive conditioned reactions in ciliates, which is controversial. As evidence of the ability of ciliates to associative learning, the results of experiments with placing ciliates in capillaries with a bent end were considered. A protozoan was placed at this end of the capillary, and then the time it took for the ciliates to exit it was recorded. It was noted that with repetition of the experiment, this time was significantly reduced. However, later F.B. Applewhite and F.T. Gardner repeated these experiments, and after each experiment, the capillary was thoroughly washed. In this case, the exit time after each repetition of the experiment did not decrease. The scientists concluded that the decrease in the exit time is associated not with the ability of ciliates to associative learning, but with their orientation in the capillary according to the metabolic products accumulated there. In general, we can say that the behavior of the simplest is weakly plastic, because it is almost completely determined by instinctive components, and the possibility of modification lies in the phenomenon of habituation, which cannot yet be called a full-fledged form of learning. Habituation fully provides the lability of behavioral reactions necessary for the simplest. The habitat of the protozoa is quite stable, the accumulation of individual experience is not so important for them, because the life span of the protozoa is extremely short. The highest level of development of the elementary sensory psyche achieved by most multicellular invertebrates. However, some of them (sponges, most coelenterates and lower worms) are an exception in this respect, their sensory psyche is comparable in terms of its level of development with the mental development of protozoa. Nevertheless, in general, for all multicellular invertebrates, fundamental changes in behavior can be noted due to the emergence of a special system for coordinating tissues, organs, and organ systems - the nervous system. In this case, first of all, the speed of conducting nerve impulses increases significantly: if in the protoplasm of the simplest it does not exceed 1-2 microns / s, then already in the primitive nervous system, which has a cellular structure, it increases to a speed of 0,5 m / s. The nervous system of lower multicellular organisms can have a different structure: reticulate (hydra), ring (jellyfish), radial (starfish) and bilateral. In the process of phylogenetic development, the nervous system was immersed in the muscle tissue, and the longitudinal nerve cords became more and more pronounced, the process of cephalization of the nervous system was observed (the appearance of a separate head end of the body, and with it the accumulation and subsequent compaction of nerve structures in the head). In higher worms (annelids), the nervous system takes the form of a "nervous ladder". Their brain is located above the digestive tract at the anterior end of the body, there is a near-pharyngeal nerve ring and paired abdominal nerve trunks with symmetrically located nerve ganglia connected by transverse cords. It is in annelids that the signs of the highest level of the elementary sensory psyche are fully expressed. It is important to note that the level of mental development is determined not only by the development of the nervous system, but also by the complexity of the conditions for the existence of the organism. The behavior of annelids (annelids) still does not go beyond the boundaries of the elementary sensory psyche, because it is composed of movements oriented only according to individual properties of objects based only on sensations. The abilities for objective perception, i.e., for perception, are still absent in the rings. It is possible that the beginnings of such abilities first appear in free-swimming predatory mollusks, as well as in some polychaetes. For example, a terrestrial mollusk may begin to bypass an obstacle even before it comes into direct tactile contact. However, such abilities of the mollusk are also limited: it does not react in this way either to small objects or to too large ones, the image of which occupies the entire retina. As in the case of protozoa, avoidance of unfavorable environmental factors is of paramount importance in the behavior of lower multicellular animals. However, they also have signs of a higher level of sensory psyche, i.e., they are actively looking for positive stimuli. In the behavior of these invertebrates, along with kinesis and elementary taxises, there are the beginnings of complex forms of instinctive behavior (especially in some polychaetes, leeches, and also gastropods) and higher taxises appear. Higher taxises provide an increase in the accuracy and efficiency of the orientation of the animal in space, as well as the full use of trophic resources. The higher taxises include tropotaxis, telotaxis, menotaxis and mnemotaxis (for details on them, see 2.3, pp. 51-52). In the behavior of the higher representatives of the group of multicellular invertebrates, a number of elements are noted that are characteristic of the behavior of more highly organized animals. In polychaetes, unlike other invertebrates, there are complications of species-typical innate behavior that already go beyond the elementary sensory psyche. Thus, marine polychaetes are able to carry out constructive actions, which are expressed in the fact that the worms actively collect material for future structures with the help of bristles, and then actively work on building "houses" from it. The construction process is a complex action consisting of several successive phases that can change, adapting the process to external environmental factors. For example, the structure of a house may change depending on the nature of the soil and the speed of the current, the topography of the bottom, the number of particles sinking to the bottom and their composition, and the material for construction may also change. Polychaete is actively looking for material for construction, and selects it according to size. For example, young worms choose smaller diameter granules for this purpose, while older animals prefer large particles. In polychaetes, the beginnings of mating behavior and aggression are outlined, which means that communication appears. True mating behavior and aggression begin to develop only at the lowest level of the perceptual psyche (in arthropods and cephalopods) and are characterized by a certain degree of ritualization. However, even in polychaetes (in particular, in the sea worm Nereid), one can observe the struggle for the right to own a house. During such "battles" the animals usually do not cause severe damage to each other, but they bite and can drive the individual out of the house. At the same time, ritualization of behavior and any signaling are completely absent. The aggressive behavior of a polychaete male towards another male during pair formation was noted by SM. Evans and co-workers on Harmothoe imbricata. Mating behavior has been noted in gastropods and polychaetes. So, in grape snails, direct mating is preceded by long "nuptial dances", during which the partners prick each other with the so-called "love arrows" - lime needles. Thus, the higher forms of behavior appear in a primitive and rudimentary form even at the lower stages of the development of the psyche. The nervous system of the lower multicellular organisms is still very primitive. Its primary and main function is the internal coordination of all vital processes of the organism. This becomes necessary in connection with the developed multicellular structure, the emergence of new structures that must function in concert, the "external" functions of the nervous system are "secondary" for it. They are determined by the degree of external activity of the animal, which is still very weak and rarely surpasses the activity of protozoa. Therefore, the "external" activity of the nervous system, as well as the structure and functions of its receptors, are significantly developed in invertebrates that lead an active lifestyle. As a rule, these are free-living forms capable of active movement in the environment. The plasticity of the behavior of lower multicellular organisms, including annelids, still remains poorly expressed. Behavior is dominated by instinctive components, stereotyped reactions. Practically no individual experience is accumulated, and learning in these invertebrates is extremely weakly expressed. Its results are not able to persist for a long time, and it takes a long time to build associative links. All rings are characterized by habituation: after repeated exposure to a stimulus that is not accompanied by a biologically significant effect, the innate species-typical reaction of the animal to this stimulus is lost. For example, earthworms, after repeated shading without adverse effects for them, cease to respond to this phenomenon by the desire to crawl away to a lighted place. Habituation is observed not only in physical activity, but also in the field of eating behavior. For example, experiments were carried out with predatory annelids, which were given pieces of paper soaked in the juice of the victim of the ring. Initially, the worm ate the offered paper several times, but after a series of repetitions it stopped accepting it. The experiment was complicated: the ring was given paper and a real victim alternately, in this case, after numerous repetitions, the worm learned to distinguish between objects, eating food and rejecting paper with the smell of the victim. The same experiments were carried out on animals with the lowest level of elementary sensory psyche (intestinal polyps). After several similar repetitions, the polyps also began to reject inedible objects even before they came into contact with the mouth opening. Thus, lower invertebrates have abilities that allow them to distinguish an edible object from an inedible object by secondary physical qualities. Note that the taste qualities (direct physical qualities) of both objects were the same. When determining the suitability for food of the proposed object, the animal is guided by its specific property. This property acts as a signal, and the sensitivity of the animal acts as an intermediary between the vital component of the environment and the organism itself. This indicates that already at the lowest level of development in animals a psychic reflection appears in its true form. In flatworms (and more highly developed worms), learning through “trial and error” is manifested in a rudimentary form, as well as the formation of individual motor reactions. For example, if you put a strip of sandpaper in the path of a milk planaria, it will pause, but then crawl through the paper. If you shake the surface of the table while crawling, the worm will stop crawling through the paper even if the shaking is not happening at the moment. In this case, however, there is still no real, true association of the two stimuli, i.e., paper roughness and surface shaking. This effect is explained by a general increase in the excitability of the animal, which occurs as a result of a combination of two negative stimuli. Planarians can also develop complex reactions to two stimuli, one of which is biologically neutral for the animal. For example, L.G. Voronin (1908-1983) and N.A. Tushmalov developed defensive and food conditioned reflexes in flatworms (milk planaria) and annelids. The conditioned reflexes of planarians were extremely primitive and did not persist for a long time, while in polychaetes they could independently recover after extinction and had sufficient stability. This testifies to the progressive phylogenetic development of the mental activity of animals (in particular, worms), which is accompanied by a complication of the morphological, anatomical, and functional features of the nervous system. The plasticity of the behavior of oligochaetes (low bristle worms) was studied as early as the beginning of the 120th century. American zoopsychologist R. Yerks. He noted that in order to teach the earthworm to find a "nest" in the T-shaped maze, and to avoid electric shock at the other dead-end end of the maze, the experiment must be repeated for 180-XNUMX times. Worms can be retrained by swapping the dead ends of the labyrinth with current and "nest". Such experiments were also carried out with worms in which the anterior segments of the body were removed; in this case, the results of learning did not change. V.A. Wagner concluded that in annelids the ganglia of each segment of the body are capable of autonomous work to ensure the performance of elementary mental functions. The process of cephalization in oligochaetes has not yet reached such a development as to determine the behavior of the animal, however, already at this stage of development, the brain has a guiding effect on behavioral acts. So, if the earthworm is cut across the body, its rear end will not be able to move purposefully, while the front end will dig into the ground. The associative links of polychaetes are much more pronounced. For example, experiments were carried out to change the sign of the behavioral response of polychaetes to lighting. Under normal conditions, it is negative, but with repeated combination with food reinforcement, it can be rebuilt into a positive one. In this case, when the house is illuminated, the polychaete does not hide in its depths, but, on the contrary, actively crawls out of the shelter. 6.3. Perceptual psyche. The problem of intelligence in animals The lowest level of development of the perceptual psyche. The perceptual psyche is the highest stage of development of mental reflection. This stage of mental development is already characterized by the presence of genuine skills and perceptions. The components of the environment are reflected by the organism as integral units, whereas at the previous level of development only individual properties or the sum of the objective components of the environment were reflected. It is at this stage of mental development that sensory ideas appear. The perceptual psyche itself, which is observed in many living organisms, reveals great differences. Therefore, it became necessary to carry out a more detailed classification, according to which the first level of development of the perceptual psyche is called the lowest. The lowest level of development of the perceptual psyche is characteristic primarily of higher invertebrates - cephalopods and arthropods. Among arthropods, the characterization of this level of mental development is best considered using the example of insects, the most numerous class of arthropods. A specific lifestyle, various forms of motor activity, and a variety of qualitatively different environmental agents that control behavior determined the development of numerous and peculiarly arranged sense organs in insects. Among them, the most important is the visual apparatus, since it was well-developed vision that contributed to the optical perception of forms as a necessary component of the perceptual psyche. It should be remembered that at the level of the elementary sensory psyche it is still impossible for animals to distinguish between forms. Until recently, it was believed that insects are capable of perceiving form, but only within specific limits. In the first experiments, it was shown that bees can perceive only those objects that remotely resemble a flower in their structure (circles, stars). But later, in the experiments of the Soviet zoologist Mazokhin-Porshnyakov, it was proved that bees can initially be trained to perceive shapes that are unusual for them, such as a triangle or a circle, as a result of which it was concluded that bees are able to recognize figures directly by their graphic features. Similar experiments on single wasps were carried out by N. Tinbergen, one of the founders of modern ethology. He trained female wasps to recognize a circle of pine cones laid out around the entrance to a burrow. After the wasp flew away for prey, the circle moved 30 cm to the side. Returning, the wasp first looked for a hole in the center of the circle. In the following experiments (in addition to moving the circle), the cones were replaced with black pebbles, and a triangle or even an ellipse was built around the mink from these pebbles, but the wasp nevertheless flew into the circle, although it was known from previous experiments that it was quite capable of distinguishing pebbles from cones. Thus, spatial orientation was carried out here only according to the shape (circle). The ability for object perception in higher insects is noticeably lower than in vertebrates, which can be explained by the specific structure of the organs of vision. In addition, insects are more oriented not by the subject components of the environment, but by their individual features, which is more typical for the elementary sensory psyche stage. Perhaps more important than in insects, vision also plays in cephalopods. For them, vision is the leading reception, as indicated by the complex structure and large size of the eyes. The relative sizes of the eyes of squids exceed the relative sizes of the eyes of most aquatic mammals (whales, dolphins) by tens of times. The huge resolving power (vigilance) of the cephalopod eye is also striking: for 1 mm2, different representatives of cephalopods have from 40 to 162 thousand sticks, in humans - 120-400 thousand, in an owl with the most keen eye in the world - 680 thousand. Cephalopods are capable of genuine object perception, which is expressed primarily in their discrimination of the shape of objects. This was proved in the experiments of B.B. Boycott and J. Z. Young. It turned out that octopuses can not only perceive the shape of objects, but also distinguish their relative size, as well as their position in space (for example, they distinguished a vertical rectangle from a horizontal one). In total, these cephalopods distinguished more than 46 different forms. In higher invertebrates, the rudiments of communication already appear, which is especially developed in animals leading a group lifestyle (bees, ants). It was these insects that had the opportunity to transmit information using special signal actions. Very pronounced in invertebrates and territorial behavior. Its beginnings can be found already in earthworms. In higher invertebrates, the marking of an individual site, a peculiar combination of territorial behavior and information transfer, are well expressed. Already at the lowest level of development of the perceptual psyche, all those progressive features that characterize the perceptual psyche in general are present, but in many respects the behavior of animals belonging to this category also bears primitive features that bring it closer to the behavior of lower animals. Behavior is still focused on individual properties of objects, object perception is poorly expressed. The behavior is dominated by hard-coded elements and has very little flexibility. At the same time, at this level of development of the psyche, a clearly expressed active search for positive stimuli appears, and taxis behavior develops powerfully. There are all kinds of higher taxis, including mnemotaxis. It is mnemotaxis that play an important role in spatial orientation, and in memorizing landmarks, the ability to change behavior, i.e., to learn, is already manifested. Although in invertebrates, in particular insects, the accumulation of individual experience and learning play a significant role, there are also certain inconsistencies in learning processes, a combination of progressive and primitive features. The transitional stage between instinctive behavior and true learning is clearly visible, which places this level of development of the psyche between the elementary sensory and the developed perceptual psyche. Instinctive behavior itself is represented by already developed new categories, such as group behavior, communication. At the present stage of the development of science, the language of bees has been best studied, it has been proved that complex forms of communication are well developed in these insects. The most complex forms of instinctive behavior are naturally combined in them with the most diverse and complex manifestations of learning, which ensures not only the exceptional coordination of the actions of all members of the bee colony, but also the maximum plasticity of the individual's behavior. The psychic abilities of bees (as well as some other higher insects) in some respects, obviously, already go beyond the lower level of the perceptual psyche. At the lowest level of the perceptual psyche, there are also a number of representatives of the lower vertebrates. The main reason for this is their relatively small size. All invertebrates live in conditions (temperature, lighting) that are fundamentally different from those of large vertebrates. For this reason alone, the psychic reflection of reality in insects, like in most other invertebrates, cannot but be fundamentally different from that of vertebrates. According to the general signs of mental reflection characteristic of this level, we can conclude that insects have a typical manifestation of the lower level of the perceptual psyche, but in forms that correspond to those special conditions of life of these animals, which were mentioned above. The highest level of development of the perceptual psyche. It has been proven that during the evolutionary process in the animal world, three separate peaks were formed: vertebrates, insects and cephalopods. All these groups dissociated themselves from the common evolutionary trunk quite early and independently reached the heights of development. It is in these animals that the most complex forms of behavior and mental reflection are observed, due to the high development of the level of structure and vital activity. Representatives of all these groups are capable of object perception, but only in vertebrates it has received full development. It is not surprising that only vertebrates, and even then not all representatives of this type, reached the highest level of development of the perceptual psyche in the course of evolution. Only in higher vertebrates are all the most complex manifestations of mental activity found in the animal world. The high development of the mental activity of vertebrates is directly related to the complication of their organization, the variety of movements, the complication of the structure of the nervous system and sensory organs. All the main manifestations of mental activity characteristic of animals, described in other sections of the book, are characteristic of vertebrates. Let's consider the most important of these manifestations. The first is manipulation. The limbs of animals, which initially performed only supporting and locomotor functions, acquired a number of additional functions as they developed, one of which is manipulation. For a zoopsychologist, of particular interest is the manipulation of the forelimbs, which ultimately led to the emergence of tool activity in primates and served as a biological prerequisite for the emergence of labor actions in ancient people. Manipulation is characteristic mainly of primates, much less often it is observed in representatives of other orders of mammals. When manipulating the animal comprehensively gets acquainted with the object, learns more about its properties. Under appropriate conditions, animals receive the most comprehensive and varied information necessary for the development of higher forms of mental activity. It turned out that bears have three ways of fixing an object on weight, raccoons - six, lower monkeys and semi-monkeys - three dozen such ways! In addition, only monkeys have different motor capabilities sufficient to produce a genuine destructive analysis (dismemberment) of an object in weight. A variety of manipulation is also comfortable behavior, which is well developed in many higher vertebrates. At this stage in the development of the perceptual psyche, visual generalizations and the formation of representations also developed. It is known that the true perception of the subject components of the environment is possible only on the basis of the ability to analyze and generalize, since only in this way can constantly changing components of the environment be recognized. All vertebrates, starting with fish, are capable of object perception, in particular, of the perception of forms. Higher vertebrates are capable of generalization, that is, in experiments they recognize an object if it has not only changed its place, but also changed its position in space. For example, mammals can quickly recognize triangles of various sizes and orientations in a plane. With appropriate learning, higher vertebrates are able, even in very difficult situations, to isolate essential details in perceived objects and recognize these objects in a greatly altered form. This leads to the conclusion that vertebrates have rather complex general ideas. The presence in vertebrates of representations expressed in delayed reactions and the ability to find detours (including extrapolation phenomena) gives their behavior exceptional flexibility and greatly increases the efficiency of their actions at the search stages of behavioral acts. However, the ability to generalize does not indicate a high level of mental development of the organism. This ability is primarily a prerequisite for the development of complex skills, which constitute the main content of the accumulation of individual experience not only in the sensory, but also in the effector sphere of the body's activity. In higher vertebrates, the processes of communication are noticeably more complicated. They have a very diverse means of communication, which include elements of various modalities, such as olfactory, tactile. They inherited olfactory communication from territorial behavior, when animals actively marked the boundaries of their own territories. The components of the instinctive behavior of vertebrates that serve for communication are ritualized to one degree or another. Optical communication is carried out with the help of characteristic postures, body movements, which are noticeably simplified and have a clear sequence of actions. First of all, they serve for the biological differentiation of species and are more pronounced in closely related species. The specific forms of optical communication in higher vertebrates are very diverse and differentiated. In mammals, optical communication is often combined with olfactory communication, and the allocation of communication systems according to individual modalities in these animals is largely arbitrary. To some extent, this also applies to acoustic signals, which in mammals are often accompanied by characteristic postures. The most developed sound signaling in birds, it covers almost all spheres of their life. Of great importance are not only clear interspecies differences in acoustic communication, but also individual differences, by which individuals recognize each other. Thus, it can be said that at the highest level of development of the perceptual psyche, all the basic forms of animal behavior are formed, and the more ancient of these forms, which arose in the early stages of the evolution of the psyche, reach their highest development. Complex skills are exclusively dynamic motor-receptor systems that ensure the development of very plastic motor programs on the basis of highly developed orienting activity. In higher animals, the orienting process merges with motor activity, and correct decisions are made in changing environmental conditions on the basis of a highly developed sensory generalization. Such complex skills, characteristic of higher vertebrates, have become prerequisites for the development of higher forms of animal mental activity - intellectual actions. The problem of animal intelligence. It is generally accepted that intellectual behavior is the pinnacle of mental development in animals. Numerous experiments have proven that intellectual activity is characteristic only of higher vertebrates, but, in turn, is not limited to primates. It should be remembered that the intellectual behavior of animals is not something isolated, out of the ordinary, it is only one of the manifestations of a single mental activity with its innate and acquired aspects. According to K. Fabry, “...intellectual behavior is not only closely connected with various forms of instinctive behavior and learning, but is itself composed (on an innate basis) of individually variable components of behavior. It is the highest result and manifestation of individual accumulation of experience ", a special category of learning with its inherent qualitative features. Therefore, intellectual behavior gives the greatest adaptive effect... with sudden, rapid changes in the environment." [29] The main prerequisite for the development of intelligence is manipulation. First of all, this applies to monkeys, for whom this process serves as a source of the most complete information about the properties and structure of the objective components of the environment. In the course of manipulation, especially when performing complex manipulations, the experience of the animal's activity is generalized, generalized knowledge about the subject components of the environment is formed, and it is this generalized motor-sensory experience that forms the main basis of the intelligence of monkeys. During manipulation, the animal receives information simultaneously through a number of sensory channels, but in monkeys, the combination of skin-muscular sensitivity of the hands with visual sensations is predominant. In addition, the examination of the object of manipulation involves smell, taste, tactile sensitivity of the perioral vibrissae, and sometimes hearing. Animals receive complex information about the object as a single entity with properties of different quality. This is precisely the meaning of manipulation as the basis of intellectual behavior. Of primary importance for intellectual behavior are visual generalizations, which are also well represented in higher vertebrates. According to experimental data, in addition to primates, visual generalization is well developed in rats, some predatory mammals, and among birds - in corvids. In these animals, visual generalization is often close to the abstraction characteristic of mental processes. Another element of intellectual behavior, directed to the motor sphere, is studied in detail in vertebrates using the problem box method. Animals are forced to solve complex subject problems, find the sequence of unlocking various locks and valves in order to get out of the cage or get to the treat. It has been proven that higher vertebrates solve objective tasks much worse than tasks based on the use of locomotor functions. This can be explained by the fact that the mental activity of animals is dominated by the cognition of spatial relations, comprehended by them with the help of locomotor actions. Only in monkeys and some other mammals, due to the development of manipulative activity, locomotor actions cease to dominate, animals abstract more easily and, accordingly, solve objective problems better. An important prerequisite for intellectual behavior, according to K. Fabry, is the ability to widely transfer skills to new situations. This ability is fully developed in higher vertebrates, although it manifests itself in different animals to varying degrees. The main laboratory experiments in this direction were carried out on monkeys, dogs and rats. According to K. Fabry, “the abilities of higher vertebrates for various manipulations, broad sensory (visual) generalization, for solving complex problems and transferring complex skills to new situations, for full orientation and adequate response in a new environment based on previous experience are the most important elements of intelligence animals. And yet, these qualities in themselves are not yet sufficient to serve as criteria for the intelligence and thinking of animals." [thirty] What are the main criteria for the intellectual behavior of animals? One of the main features of the intellect is that during this activity, in addition to the usual reflection of objects, there is also a reflection of their relations and connections. In its rudimentary forms, this was presented during the formation of complex skills. Any intellectual action consists of at least two phases: the action preparation phase and the action implementation phase. It is the presence of the preparation phase that is a characteristic feature of intellectual action. According to A.N. Leontiev, the intellect first appears where the process of preparing the possibility to carry out this or that operation or skill arises. In the course of the experiment, it is possible to clearly distinguish between the main phases of intellectual action. For example, a monkey takes a stick and in the next moment with its help pushes a banana towards him, or he first builds a pyramid from empty boxes in order to pluck a bait suspended from the ceiling from a rope. N.N. Ladygina-Kots studied in detail in chimpanzees the process of preparing and even manufacturing tools needed to solve a technically simple task - pushing a bait out of a narrow tube. Before the eyes of the chimpanzee, the bait was placed in the pipe in such a way that it could not be reached simply with the fingers. Simultaneously with the tube, the animal was given various objects suitable for pushing food. After some improvement was made in the object used to get food, the experimental monkey completely (although not always immediately) coped with all the tasks assigned. In all these experiments, two phases of intellectual action are clearly visible: the first, preparatory phase - preparing the tool, the second phase - getting the bait with the help of this tool. The first phase, out of connection with the next phase, is devoid of any biological meaning whatsoever. The second phase - the phase of the implementation of activities - as a whole is aimed at satisfying a certain biological need of the animal (in the described experiments - food). Another important criterion of intellectual behavior is the fact that when solving a problem, the animal does not use one stereotypically performed method, but tries different methods that are the result of previously accumulated experience. Animals try to perform not different actions, but different operations, and in the end they can solve the problem in different ways. For example, you can build a pyramid out of boxes to pick a hanging banana, or you can take the box apart and try to knock down the delicacy with separate planks. The operation ceases to be fixedly connected with the activity that meets a specific task. This is what intelligence is noticeably different from any, even the most complex, skills. Since the intellectual behavior of animals is characterized by a reflection not just of the objective components of the environment, but reflects the relationship between them, here the transfer of the operation is carried out not only according to the principle of similarity of things (for example, barriers) with which it was associated, but also according to the principle of similarity of relations, connections. things she responds to. Despite the high level of development, the intelligence of mammals, in particular monkeys, has a clear biological limitation. Along with other forms of behavior, it is entirely determined by the way of life and biological laws, beyond which the animal cannot step over. This is shown by numerous observations of great apes in nature. So, chimpanzees build rather complex wicker nests in which they spend the night, but they never build even the simplest canopies from the rain and get mercilessly wet during tropical downpours. Under natural conditions, monkeys rarely use tools, preferring, if necessary, to obtain more affordable food than to spend time and effort on the extraction of hard-to-reach ones. The limitations of intellectual behavior were also shown in numerous experiments conducted by Ladygina-Kots on apes. For example, a male chimpanzee sometimes made stupid mistakes when using objects provided to him to push bait out of a pipe. He tried to push a piece of plywood into the pipe, despite the obvious discrepancy between its width and the diameter of the pipe, and began to nibble it only after a number of such unsuccessful attempts. According to Ladygina-Cotes, chimpanzees “are not able to immediately grasp the essential features in a new situation.” [31] Even the most complex manifestations of monkey intelligence are ultimately nothing more than the application of a phylogenetically developed mode of action in new conditions. Monkeys are able to attract fruit to themselves with a stick only because in natural conditions they often have to bend down a branch with a fruit hanging on it. It is the biological conditionality of all the mental activity of monkeys, including anthropoids, that is the reason for the limitedness of their intellectual abilities, the inability to establish a mental connection between mere representations and their combination into images. The inability to mentally operate with representations leads monkeys to an inability to understand true cause-and-effect relationships, since this is possible only with the help of concepts that monkeys, like all other animals, completely lack. Meanwhile, at this stage in the development of science, the problem of animal intelligence has not been studied enough. In essence, detailed experimental studies have so far been carried out only on monkeys, mainly higher ones, while the possibility of intellectual actions in other vertebrates is practically not confirmed by conclusive experimental data. However, it is a mistake to assume that intelligence is inherent only in primates. Most likely, objective research by future zoopsychologists will help shed light on this difficult, but very interesting question. Authors: Stupina S.B., Filipechev A.O. << Back: The development of the mental activity of animals in ontogenesis (Development of mental activity in the prenatal period. Development of the mental activity of animals in the early postnatal period. Development of mental activity in the juvenile (play) period. Animal games) >> Forward: Human psyche (Evolution of the human psyche in phylogenesis. The origin of labor activity, social relations and articulate speech)
▪ International private law. Crib ▪ Psychology of work. Lecture notes ▪ Surgical diseases. Lecture notes
The existence of an entropy rule for quantum entanglement has been proven
09.05.2024 Mini air conditioner Sony Reon Pocket 5
09.05.2024 Energy from space for Starship
08.05.2024
▪ Extremely intermittent radio pulsar discovered ▪ NASA completely switches to its rocket engines
▪ section of the site Microcontrollers. Article selection ▪ article Tear and throw. Popular expression ▪ article Winged beans. Legends, cultivation, methods of application ▪ article Amplifier on the chip TDA1013b. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering ▪ article Riddles about vegetables
Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews
www.diagram.com.ua |
We recommend interesting articles Section 
See other articles Section 
Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:
All languages of this page