Physiological two-dimensionality of information: mechanisms and consequences

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Physiological two-dimensionality of informationIn the play by A. P. Chekhov "The Seagull" one of its heroes, the writer Treplev, speaks of the ability of the writer Trigorin to paint a landscape in sparse and precise words: “The neck of a broken bottle shines on his dam and the shadow of a mill wheel is blackening - so the moonlit night is ready, and I have a trembling light, and a quiet twinkling of stars, and distant sounds of a piano, fading in the quiet fragrant air ...”

Indeed, comparing these descriptions of a moonlit night, we see that two skillfully selected details can vividly recreate a living image of nocturnal nature, while other details - even if there are more of them - are powerless.

Why are these details so compelling, so important to create an impressive look?

Obviously, there is a complex mechanism that allows you to select the attributes of an object according to their objective and subjective significance.

Two types of irritation assessment

The brain continuously absorbs the flow of information coming from the outside world. It is processed according to some complex program and ultimately serves as the basis on which adaptive human behavior is built.

Each stimulus affecting our senses can be assessed from two points of view: by physical parameters and by its significance for the body. So, light is assessed by strength, color, duration, etc., sound - by volume, pitch, timbre, place where it comes from. These properties are to a certain extent objective - they do not depend on the observer. Special structures of the human brain and higher animals produce a very accurate analysis of stimuli by their physical properties and convert these properties into a sequence of nerve impulses directed to the corresponding points of the cerebral cortex - the organ of higher analysis and synthesis.

But even the most perfect analysis of the objective properties of stimuli does not yet make it possible to construct an integral picture of the external world. To understand the world, you need to know what these stimuli mean for the body, what their inner meaning is.

Let's take a simple example. Suppose a person sees a lemon: a yellow egg-shaped object about 5 cm in diameter, with a bumpy surface.

All of the listed physical attributes give an "objective" characteristic of the object. In a person who sees a lemon for the first time, it does not cause any feelings other than curiosity. But everyone who is already familiar with it, at the sight of it and even at the word "lemon" has a lively sensation of a fragrant and sour fruit that quenches thirst well. Information about the physical characteristics of an object, getting into the brain, is supplemented and even partially supplanted (who pays attention to the structure of the lemon peel) information about the value of lemon for our needs.Physiological two-dimensionality of information

The evaluation of stimuli for their biological significance occurs in the brain centers that control the needs and emotions of the body. In this assessment, the brain is guided by innate instincts and past experience.

The origin of the two types of assessment of stimuli is associated with the development of the nervous system in the process of evolution.

In its early stages, relatively simple organisms could perceive only those stimuli that had some biological significance for them, and responded to them with a reaction predetermined by the innate structure of nerve connections. The formula for such a response can be designated as "a certain stimulus — a certain reaction." This form of reaction has retained its significance in higher animals. It is represented by the so-called unconditioned reflexes, which also include rather complex behavioral acts - instincts.

This method of "reflecting reality" is very imperfect: it makes it possible to respond only to a small number of stimuli, and with a strictly limited set of actions.

Overcoming this limitation, evolution has developed the ability to perceive indifferent signals that are indifferent to the body. The irritants began to be analyzed not by their signal value, since they did not have it, but by their physical properties. The basis for much more accurate and differentiated responses to external influences has emerged.

Before a person - a being possessing this ability to the highest degree - the world opened up in all its immensity. "And the reptile of the underwater passage, and the vegetation of the valley vine" - everything became subject to human knowledge.

Higher nervous activity arose, based on the formation of individual connections acquired by personal experience between a huge number of external stimuli and any of the possible reactions of the organism. The number of reactions remained limited, but the possibility of their combination created the prerequisites for the emergence of very complex behavior, adapted not to one or another standard of the environment, but to a real, endlessly changing environment.

The formula for this behavior is "Any stimulus - any reaction".

A newborn child responds with his actions to those signals, the ability to recognize which is inherent in him by nature. The transformation of his world into the world of an adult follows the path of the formation in his brain of connections between a new stimulus and a certain reaction of the organism. Each of the new stimuli may at first be a mystery, but, learned by experience, takes its due place in the repositories of memory. Some are imprinted as significant, having great and important meaning for the body. Others, unimportant, lose their former mystery and fade into the background.

Having touched, for example, once to a hot iron, a child never forgets about the danger that comes from this previously unfamiliar object. A purely physical image is now supplemented with specific information about the meaning that the object has for the organism.

So, the outside world for us is two-dimensional from the information point of view. Each stimulus is assessed according to two criteria — physical parameters and a signal value.

Paths of two types of information

It is quite natural that the paths of the objective and subjective information in the brain are different. These pathways, as well as the principles of activity of the corresponding nerve centers, are known to physiologists.

Signals about the physical parameters of the stimulus enter the cerebral cortex through the so-called specific conducting system. It starts from the receptor, that is, from the nervous apparatus, which converts the energy of the outside world into nerve impulses. For example, light stimuli are perceived by the cones and rods of the retina, onto which the optical environment of the eye projects a visual image.

From the receptors, impulses go to the subcortical nuclei. Having passed one or two of them, they are transmitted to the nerve cell, the processes of which directly ascend to the cerebral cortex. The subcortical nuclei not only transmit impulses to the next neurons. They are the primary processing of incoming information.

The specific pathway ends in a strictly limited area of ​​the cerebral cortex. So, visual impulses are sent to the occipital region of the hemispheres, auditory - to the temporal, tactile - to the posterior central gyrus. Within each of these areas, nerve fibers corresponding to different receptors are also distributed according to a strictly projection principle. Physiologists were able, for example, to draw up special maps of the representation of skin sensitivity of various parts of the body in the posterior central region.Irritation of the corresponding areas in the cerebral cortex during surgery causes the appearance of sensations that are similar to touching certain parts of the body.

The path followed by information about the biological properties of the stimulus is conventionally designated as non-specific. After all, the information conducted on it is nonspecific - independent of the quality of the stimulus, whether it is represented by electromagnetic oscillations (light), oscillations of the air environment (sound), etc.

The nonspecific pathway branches off from the specific one at the level of the subcortical nuclei. From there, nerve fibers are directed to the higher emotional autonomic centers, located mainly in that region of the diencephalon called the hypothalamus. Impulses from different senses come here. Further, the excitation is directed to the cerebral cortex, carrying information about the signal value of the stimulus. The passage of impulses along a nonspecific pathway takes several times longer than along a specific one, which is due to the large number of switchings (synapses) along this path.

Specific impulses, as already mentioned, are received by narrow separate zones of the cortex. The area of ​​distribution of nonspecific information along the cortex is much wider. It is important, however, that the two streams of excitation merge again in the cerebral cortex, representing two different ones. the quality of the stimulus and making it possible to assess it according to physical and biological criteria.

The arrival of excitation through a specific or nonspecific system in the cerebral cortex can be registered by studying the electrical potentials of the brain.

Relationship between specific and non-specific information

Both the perception of an individual stimulus and the assessment of a complex situation are based on the sum of specific (about physical properties) and nonspecific (about the biological significance of stimuli) information. Rather, we are not talking about a sum, but about a complex synthesis of two qualitatively different estimates that complement, but in no way replace each other. Academician PK Anokhin called this process "afferent synthesis".

The relationship between specific and non-specific information does not remain constant. It can change. Moreover, the predominance of one type of information (and the lack of another) can be useful or even necessary in the performance of certain tasks. Almost any of our actions is based not only on the synthesis of the necessary information, but also on the limitation of unnecessary or secondary ones. The more important and responsible the action is, the more mental strength it requires from the organism, the more precise and differentiated such selection should be.

In some cases, for example, before making a responsible decision, an accurate analysis of all external factors is required, regardless of their "apparent" signal value, their conditional pleasantness or unpleasantness. In others, when a decision has already been made, an overly accurate "objective" analysis of the situation may hinder the implementation of the intended action plan. A well-known "subjectivity" is needed here: a strong emotional charge gives confidence in one's abilities and leads to decisive and energetic actions.

Let's give an example. The surgeon performs an emergency operation at the front-line hospital. The life of the wounded depends on the outcome of the operation. There is a raid of enemy aircraft, but the surgeon does not hear the explosions of bombs, artillery volleys, does not see the flashes of flares, does not feel how the building is shaking, does not notice how the light is flashing. He doesn't think about danger. All his attention is focused on the operating field: here he sees every detail, manages to ligate every blood vessel, his scalpel accurately and confidently separates the affected tissue from the healthy one.Physiological two-dimensionality of information

In this situation, only a part of the specific information penetrates into the doctor's consciousness, that part of it that is necessary to perform his task (the state of the operating field), and other, physically stronger stimuli (bomb explosions) are excluded. Accordingly, that part of nonspecific information that speaks of the danger to the surgeon's life is limited, and all those signals that are important for the successful outcome of the operation are full of meaning.

In fiction, you can find many examples of describing complex emotional experiences that can be conventionally interpreted in terms of limiting information of one type, leading to characteristic changes in perception.

Here is the author's remark from Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace:

“Pierre listened to her (Natasha) with his mouth open and without taking his eyes from her, full of tears. Listening to her, he thought neither about Prince Andrei, nor about death, nor about what she was telling. He listened to her and only felt sorry for her for the suffering that she was now experiencing, telling. "

Here Pierre perceives not the objective content of Natasha's story, but only its emotional side. Nonspecific information is predominant in his perception.

We see a completely different situation in the following excerpt from Anna Karenina:

“He (Karenin) was too scared to understand his real position, and in his soul he closed, locked and sealed the box in which he had his feelings for his family, that is, for his wife and son ...

She (Anna) asked him about his health and occupations, persuaded him to rest and move in with her. All this she said cheerfully, quickly and with a special gleam in her eyes; but Alexey Alexandrovich now did not ascribe any significance to this tone. He heard only her words and gave them only the direct meaning that they had. "

Karenin's perception is in contrast to that described in the first excerpt. Specific information is the main thing for him.

The selection of the incoming information, the restriction of one or another part of it, is produced by the higher cerebral centers and, first of all, the cerebral cortex. Depending on the situation, they change the excitability of the subcortical centers and the conditions for the passage of impulses through them. If conditions are created that are most favorable for the conduct of one type of information, then at the same time the other conducting system is automatically inhibited. It must be said that this feature in general is one of the universal principles of the nervous system: the excitation of one of the nerve centers always leads (using the mechanism of the so-called induction) to the inhibition of the other center associated with it.

The phenomenon of induction is well known to everyone from everyday experience. For example, when walking, bending one leg is accompanied by straightening the other. Hands move in opposite directions when walking. To a certain extent, similar regularities operate in the regulation of the activity of conducting systems. It is with this, obviously, that the fact is connected that the closer to our hearts we perceive this or that event, the more difficult it is for us to objectively evaluate it. On the contrary, an excess of "accurate information" leads to fragmentation of perception and makes it difficult to assess the situation.

Imagine a presenter speaking to a large audience. He is very worried, he is seized by the consciousness of the importance of his message and tries to convincingly state all the details of the case. But he does not notice that his speech has already tired the audience. He does not hear noise, conversation, mocking remarks, does not see either the absent-minded faces of the listeners, or the piercing gaze of the chairman, who can hardly restrain his annoyance. He does not understand that he has long violated the rules. Obviously, in this case, an important part of specific information does not reach his consciousness.

A more important and complex mechanism than the regulation of conduction along the ascending pathways is the selection of information at the intracortical level.It is especially important for selective inhibition of signals of a certain significance and for switching attention from one stimulus to another (as, for example, was the case with a surgeon).

The constant predominance of one type of information and the character of a person

The predominance of one type of information can be not only temporary, but also permanent. In this case, it defines the distinctive features of the human character.

A person with a predominance of specific information is characterized by an accurate, "cold" perception of reality. He clearly sees all the signs of the perceived object, both major and minor. The objectivity of perception is combined with its well-known fragmentation. The image formed in his mind is made up of objective signs. The same law determines the emergence of his associations. His thinking is strict and predominantly logical.

Since the objective features of an object, generally speaking, are more stable than its signal value, such people are distinguished by the constancy of assessments and fidelity to the decisions made. They are prone to systematization, classification, subtle differentiations. The actions of people of this type are built mainly on a rational basis. (Interestingly, they find the same basis in the actions of other people.) However, they refer to "people of thought, not action." The distinct diversity of the situation they perceive makes it difficult to assess it. From here, hesitation can arise, which sometimes leads to refraining from action.

Thus, along with many valuable properties (objectivity of perception, consistency of thinking and thoughtfulness of actions), such a person is also characterized by some shortcomings. These include underestimating subjective factors, as well as the important fact that energetic action can quickly change a situation, creating new real opportunities in it. A particular challenge for this person will be a rapidly and unexpectedly changing environment. On the contrary, in stable conditions, its actions can be highly effective.

If we apply a comparison from the field of chess, then the behavior of such a person can be likened to a solid positional game with a distant calculation of variations. The combination game will be worse for him. It will be especially difficult for him to refute unexpected, although perhaps not always correct, combinations of the opponent.

A person in whom non-specific information predominates will be characterized by completely different features.

Perception for him is predominantly subjective, sensual: he perceives objects not so much through their objective signs as through their meaning for himself. If in the first case the details were perceived equally clearly, then here we can speak of a certain selectivity of perception. Several basic, signal-most significant properties of an object determine the construction in the mind of a holistic, sensually vivid image "which has a positive or negative emotional coloring, purely individual for
of the person in this particular setting.

The same patterns obey in people of this type and the emergence of associations, which are established on the basis of similarities or differences in subjective characteristics. Their thinking is figurative, emotional. (Sometimes, however, with a lack of logical consistency. Therefore, their assessments can change quickly.) Emotionality of perceptions makes it easier for them to make decisions: after all, the meaning of what is happening for them seems clear enough. These people are not reflections, but actions. In difficult situations, they are guided by those phenomena, based on which they can most quickly and efficiently find a solution to the problem as a whole. Facts that are not directly related to the task at hand or contradict the general line of conduct they have adopted are ignored by them.People of this kind are able to quickly assess an unforeseen accident, notice and use a new turn of events. All these positive qualities to a large extent allow them to compensate for the shortcomings of perception and thinking arising from its lack of objectivity and one-sidedness.

Continuing the comparison with chess tactics, we can say that these people are prone to combinational play, to create new situations fraught with vague possibilities, where their energy and ability to intuitively assess the position can give them a significant advantage over the opponent. On the contrary, they will feel less confident in a maneuverable positional struggle, where the relentless logic of events is decisive.

Both images are, of course, schematized. The features associated with the predominance of one of the projection systems are pointed. For most people, we can only talk about the relative predominance of one or another type of perception, which does not exclude the use of the opposite type in situations where it is required by the real situation.

The described characters have a certain similarity with the two human types of the nervous system described by I.P. Pavlov, who designated them as a mental and artistic type. However, there is also a difference.

Pavlov based the division of types on the predominance of the first or second signal systems, that is, the predominance of reactions to direct (light, sound, etc.) or mediated (verbal) stimuli. In our case, the difference in character is based on the predominance of specific or nonspecific conducting systems, that is, on more elementary mechanisms of nervous activity common to humans and animals. At the same time, the similarity between these two classifications is understandable: after all, the predominance of a specific system will correspond to the predominance of reactions to more abstract, evolutionarily later verbal signals.Physiological two-dimensionality of information

As mentioned above, normal human characters are distinguished by a slight predominance of a specific or nonspecific system, but are capable of regulating the information characteristics of perception. However, there are also violations of regulatory mechanisms that lead to a pronounced and permanent predominance of one of the systems. Such characters no longer belong to the norm, but to pathology. It is precisely as an extreme case of the predominance of a specific system and significant suppression of the nonspecific one that psychasthenia, known to psychiatrists, can be considered as a diametrically opposite case - hysteria.

Two types of information and the creative process

The idea of ​​the objectivity of science and the well-known subjectivity of art is widespread. Hence the conclusion seems to be that people with a predominance of specific information are more adapted to scientific creativity, and, on the contrary, those with a predominance of non-specific information are people of art.

But is it? Man's creative activity, in whatever area it is directed, is the highest form of reflection of reality. It can only be based on a complete and harmonious synthesis of two types of information. Just as a holistic image is created from a set of specific and nonspecific information about an object, so a chain of images or inferences consists of links that include both types of information, although the emphasis may be on one of them. According to scientists studying the problem of memory, for the process of memorization, it is essential that the stimulus has one or another signal, biological significance. Thus, a connection can be formed only between objective and subjective signs.

Therefore, it would be fundamentally wrong to associate such complex manifestations of human mental activity as scientific or artistic creativity with any one type of information. The creative process (namely the process, not its final result) is basically the same for a scientist, designer, musician and poet.Recall Albert Einstein's statement: “There is always an element of poetry in scientific thinking. Real music and real science require a homogeneous thought process. " The words of A.S. Pushkin are extremely similar to the statement of the remarkable physicist: "Inspiration is needed in poetry as well as in geometry".

However, this or that type of information can become dominant at certain stages of the creative process.

For scientific creativity, specific information is the basis of accumulation
factual material, which reflects the real phenomena of the external world, and the classification and systematization of it. In comprehending these facts, the prevailing role seems to be played by associations between objective features. Logical interpretation reveals important relationships between individual phenomena.

However, figurative thinking and associations on some non-obvious, sometimes subjective signs also play an important role in scientific creativity. It is known that many scientists attach a great role in the creation of new theories to figurative representations, which allow a new, original look at the known facts, to establish some new dependencies between them.

Let's move on to artistic creation.

Any work of art is a reflection of objective reality, be it the outer world or the inner world of the artist.

But fine art, for example, differs from simple photography in that, while remaining faithful to the object, the artist also reveals his attitude towards it, emphasizing individual details and revealing through them his inner emotional essence.

Here is how I.A.Goncharov describes the artist's work: “The portrait looks like two drops of water. Sophia is what everyone sees and knows her: imperturbable, radiant. The same harmony in features; her lofty white forehead, open gaze, proud neck ... She is all of her, and he is depressed, tormented by artistic pains!

... He grabbed a brush and with greedy, wide eyes looked at that Sophia, whom he saw in his head at that moment, and for a long time, with a smile, stirred the colors on the palette, several times prepared to touch the canvas and hesitantly stopped, finally, he ran the brush across eyes, extinguished, opened a little eyelids. Her eyes widened, but was still calm. He quietly, almost mechanically, touched his eyes again: they became more vital, speaking, but still cold. For a long time he ran his brush around his eyes, again thoughtfully stirred the colors and drew a line in the eye, accidentally put a point, as the teacher once at school put on his lifeless drawing, then did something that he himself could not explain, in another the eye ... And suddenly he froze from the spark that flashed him from them.

He walked away, looked and was stunned: his eyes threw a beam of rays directly at him, but the expression was all stern. He unconsciously, almost by accident, slightly changed the line of his lips, drew a light stroke on the upper lip, softened some kind of shadow and again moved away, looked: "She, she!" He said, barely breathing: "the current real Sophia!"

Here we see that the artistic image is created not only for. account of loyalty to nature, but also by emphasizing some of the most significant signal signs. Interestingly, these signs were found intuitively, in a burst of inspiration. They were born from the depths of the artist's soul, and not from cold gazing at an object.

That is why an accurate photograph may not resemble the original, or a caricature that greatly distorts its features, recall its entire image.
So, in the cerebral cortex there is a synthesis of two types of qualitatively different information, which makes it possible to evaluate a separate stimulus, image or situation from the point of view of their "objective", independent of the individual characteristics and from the point of view of their "subjective" characteristics, that is, the value for a given person.

Both of these components are essential for the activity of higher brain centers to organize adaptive behavior.At the same time, the specific weight of each type of information can vary depending on the situation and the tasks facing the body, as well as on the innate properties of the personality. A change in the "qualitative composition" of information entails a number of changes in perception, thinking and behavior.

Real life is always more complex and richer than the most perfect scheme. Equally limited are "rationally constricted" and "affectively constricted" consciousness and behavior. The perfection of the organization of our brain is manifested in the possibility of regulating the inflow of one or another type of information, in switching perception from one type to another.

In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the well-known competition between the two types of information leads to a kind of "paradox of perception", which consists in the fact that the more we know about the objective characteristics of the stimulus, the less accurate its subjective characteristics are. If we take the path of analogies, then we can say that this paradox to a certain extent resembles "Uncertainty principle" Heisenberg. (The principle, which is one of the basic provisions of quantum mechanics, says, as you know, that you can simultaneously accurately determine only one of the two main characteristics of an elementary particle - its coordinates or its momentum, but not both together.)

Do we not meet at the highest stage of development of matter to a certain extent with the same principles as in the study of its most elementary manifestations? Although in this case we are talking about a very loose analogy, it would be interesting to pose the question: is there not a "constant of perception" similar to Planck's constant, which limits the possibility of simultaneous accurate assessment of physical parameters and the signal value of a stimulus?

Or maybe this "constant of perception" is different for different people, and its value is included as one of the essential features in the general "Personality formula"?

It is necessary, of course, to make a reservation that the presence of such a constant can only limit the possibility of individual and simultaneous perception, but not long-term and even more so collective knowledge, which is fundamentally unlimited.

A. Ivanitsky, N. Shubina


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