Factors that ensure the selective nature of cognitive processes and the volume and stability of conscious activity can be combined into two main groups 1.
External factors that determine the focus of attention. These primarily include the intensity and strength of the stimulus. Any strong irritant (sharp sound, bright light, unpleasant smell, etc.) attracts a person’s attention. Plays a special role in attracting attention stimulus contrast Therefore, if the subject claims that he did not pay attention to any strong stimulus, then this may indicate that he was either in some unusual psychophysiological state, or simply does not want to tell the truth for some reason.
Another external factor influencing the quality of attention may be novelty of the stimulus(absolute or relative) or complete absence of the usual stimulus.
One of the external factors that positively influences the overall level of attention is the structurally ordered organization of stimuli acting on different analyzers. Therefore, in the process of any activity it is necessary to ensure the most rational forms of organizing the flow of information (A.R. Luria). This recommendation is of particular relevance, for example, for an investigator acting in a situation of conducting a search, inspecting a crime scene, when the ability to organize his attention largely ensures the high-quality performance of his official duties and obtaining the most complete amount of evidentiary information.
Subjective factors that determine the focus of attention. These factors include: the correspondence of external stimuli to a person’s needs, the importance that he attaches to these stimuli. Subjective factors influencing the maintenance of attention also include feelings, emotions that are caused by perceived objects, and a person’s interest in the phenomenon being studied. Strong interest makes relevant signals dominant,
while inhibiting side stimuli that are not related to the sphere of human interests.
A subject who commits illegal actions is under the intense influence of external and subjective factors, which sometimes prevent him from concentrating and purposefully managing his attention at the scene of the incident, as a result of which he fails to completely destroy or hide traces of his involvement in the crime committed.
The investigator’s assimilation of this obvious truth must mobilize all his intellectual strength, knowledge, and experience to search for traces of a crime in the most seemingly hopeless investigative situation from the point of view of solving a crime. When solving such complex problems, a special role is played by the volitional efforts of the investigator, allowing him to focus his attention on certain objects of the scene of the incident.
The level of attention is significantly influenced by: the general state of human health, psychophysiological disorders, fatigue, leading to a decrease in attention span and the appearance of absent-mindedness
If external factors largely determine the level involuntary attention which affects the processes of perception of events by witnesses and victims, then subjective factors, especially will, form the highest form of attention inherent in a person - voluntary attention which the lawyer must manage.
In the process of activity, the intensity of attention changes and a moment may come when volitional efforts are no longer required to maintain it at the proper level. In such cases, they speak of the most developed, stable, socially conditioned form of attention - post-voluntary attention directing a person’s cognitive processes in activities that are personally significant to him.
Characteristics of attention.
Attention is a complex mental phenomenon, endowed with a number of characteristics that characterize it, among which the following can be distinguished:
Attention span. The scope of attention is determined by the number of isolated elements simultaneously perceived by the subject. For an adult, the attention span covers approximately 6 elements. If semantic connections are established between these elements, then the amount of attention increases. However, an excessive increase in attention span can negatively affect its intensity and, therefore, negatively affect performance. This feature of attention should be taken into account during the inspection of the crime scene and search. The desire to complete work faster by expanding the scope of attention, as a rule, leads to smaller objects, various kinds of traces, etc. slipping out of sight.
Concentration and distribution of attention. Concentration of attention is expressed in the fact that, if necessary, a person’s consciousness, as a rule, is directed to one object or controls one type of activity.
However, concentrating attention on one object leads to a positive result only if the subject is able to timely and consistently switch it to other objects. Therefore, such properties of attention as concentration, distribution, volume are closely related to each other.
Distribution of attention allows you to simultaneously perform several actions and monitor several independent processes. The ability to distribute attention is a professionally important quality of a lawyer, especially an investigator, prosecutor, and judge. In conditions of increasing workload, when the investigator may have a significant number of criminal cases in progress, it is very important that these cases with their deadlines are constantly in the investigator’s sphere of attention and for each of them he can plan and carry out investigative actions in a timely manner, within the established deadlines. legal time limits for investigation.
Sustainability of attention. This quality of attention is determined by the duration of concentration of consciousness on any one object. It is well known that attention is subject to periodic involuntary fluctuations. The periods of such oscillations range on average from 2 to 12 s. They are associated with fatigue and adaptation of the senses. This once again confirms that attention in its physiological basis is unstable.
From the point of view of solving practical problems, we are more interested in fluctuations in attention that occur when a person is engaged in any activity for a long time. It has been noted that under these conditions, involuntary distraction of attention from the object occurs after 15-20 minutes.
The simplest way to maintain sustained attention is through volitional effort. But it acts until the mental capabilities are exhausted, after which a state of fatigue inevitably appears, which can be prevented by short breaks in work, especially if it is monotonous and associated with significant psychophysiological overload.
You can also extend the stability of attention for a certain time if you try to find new signs in a particular object, look at it as if from the outside, from a different angle. Otherwise, our consciousness comes “to a dead end,” and then “the preconditions for easy distraction are created and fluctuations in attention inevitably occur” 1 .
Thus, it is possible to maintain the stability of attention to the subject being studied at the proper level, as if forcing this subject to “develop” before our eyes, so that it reveals its new content to us each time. “Only changing and updating content,” writes S.L. about this process. Rubinstein, - is able to maintain attention" 1. This position of psychology underlies the dynamic stage of crime scene inspection developed in criminology.
Switching attention. The stability of attention does not exclude its flexibility, switchable™, which underlies the subject’s ability to quickly navigate in a changing environment and restructure in the course of planned work.
A very common technique that allows you to maintain the proper level of attention throughout the working day is a change of actions (types of activity), for example, alternating interrogations with drawing up procedural documents, studying received materials with receiving visitors.
Attentiveness is a professionally important personality trait of a lawyer. Attentiveness is formed during active participation in professional activities, as a result of the lawyer’s development of will, determination, and awareness of the importance of the tasks being solved. Attention underlies such professionally significant personality traits of a lawyer as curiosity, observation, high efficiency and creative activity.
CONTROL QUESTIONS
1. What is memory?
2. Types of memory, their characteristics.
3. Basic processes of memory, taking into account the laws of memory by a lawyer.
4. Mnemonic techniques that improve memorization and their use by a lawyer in his professional activities.
5. Techniques for activating the memory of participants in legal proceedings.
6. What is thinking, its types?
7. Describe verbal-logical thinking, show its role in the activities of a lawyer.
8. What are the features of creative thinking?
9. Describe the stages of the thinking process. How do they manifest themselves in the activities of the investigator?
10. What qualities should distinguish a lawyer’s thinking?
11. List ways to enhance mental activity that can be used by lawyers in their professional activities.
12. What is imagination and what is its significance in the work of a lawyer?
13. What is attention? List its characteristics and types.
14. What factors influence the volume and quality of attention?
15. The role of attention in the professional activity of a lawyer.
GLOSSARY
| Name of the concept | Its contents |
| Memory | This is a complex mental phenomenon, manifested in a person’s ability to remember, retain consciousness and subsequently reproduce various circumstances that took place in the past. |
| Figurative memory | Memory based on various ideas, visual, auditory, taste and other images. |
| Motor memory | this is memory, which is based on the processes of memorization, preservation in consciousness of motor acts, a set of movements, human movement in space |
| Emotional memory | Memory, which consists of imprinting and preserving experiences and feelings in the mind. |
| Verbal-logical memory | This is a type of memory, the main content of which is our thoughts expressed in verbal form. |
| Involuntary memory | most often accompanies activities that do not pursue the goal of remembering and preserving the circumstances surrounding it. |
| Arbitrary memory | Memory, mediated by the goal and objectives of capturing, storing in consciousness, and sometimes reproducing some facts and knowledge. This is the most productive type of memory |
| Short-term memory | Memory, which is characterized by a very short time of retention of traces after a single exposure to a stimulus. |
| Long-term memory | Long-term retention of acquired knowledge and acquired skills is inherent. It is unlimited in time, valid throughout a person’s life. |
| RAM | ensures the storage and reproduction of the information that is necessary to achieve the goal of a certain action, after which it ceases to function. It includes some signs of both long-term and short-term memory, occupying an intermediate place among them. |
| Memorization | This is a memory process, as a result of which new information is consolidated and stored in the mind. |
| "Zeigarnik effect" | when unfinished, interrupted actions are remembered almost twice as often as completed ones. This pattern is due to the fact that emotionally charged impressions accompanying unfinished actions cause more persistent foci of excitation in the cerebral cortex |
| edge factor | when the first and last elements in a series are retained in memory better than the elements located in the middle. The elements that are remembered the worst are those slightly offset from the center towards the end of the row. |
| Playback | This is a memory process, as a result of which previously learned material is updated. |
| Recognition | this is the reproduction of an object upon its repeated perception based on the imprinted image of this object |
| reminiscence | strengthening of new semantic connections in memory during delayed reproduction. |
| Forgetting | a memory process that is the reverse of memorization and retention. Forgetting is more active, the less often the learned material is used by a person in his activities |
| Thinking | this is an indirect reflection in human consciousness of the essential properties, connections and relationships of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world |
| Imagination | is a mental process consisting of creating new images of objects, phenomena based on existing knowledge and ideas . |
| Attention | this is a mental phenomenon consisting of the concentration of consciousness, individual mental processes on a specific object with simultaneous distraction from extraneous stimuli |
1. Will as a factor
Little can be said about the factors of voluntary attention. Already from the name itself it is clear that the main and, one might say, the only factor in this form of attention is our will. In this case, attention is not influenced by either the intensity factor or the change factor. The decisive role is played by the intention, the conscious desire of the subject. When we need to solve a problem, our attention is directed not to intense or changing stimuli acting at the moment from the environment, but to what needs to be done. In this case, we, of course, have to suppress our current interest, often spending a lot of effort on this in order to ensure a systematic, stable direction of attention.
It is obvious that voluntary attention is, as Ribot noted, a product of rather high cultural development. Voluntary attention could arise only on the basis of that form of practice that is the specific property of a person. Voluntary attention originated and developed in the process of labor: “As soon as the need for labor arose, voluntary attention became the primary factor in this new form of struggle for existence. As soon as a person acquired the ability to work, that is, to carry out activities that are not attractive, but necessary, representing a means of subsistence, he also developed voluntary attention. It is easy to prove that before the emergence of civilization, voluntary attention either did not exist at all, or, like lightning, manifested itself only instantly. Voluntary attention is a social phenomenon... voluntary attention is an adaptation to the conditions of higher, social life.”
The indirect nature of voluntary attention
The first period in the development of a person’s voluntary attention is the time when a person, not yet possessing the ability to organize his attention, still tried to direct someone else’s attention, which was not so difficult. For these purposes, it was enough to use what involuntarily attracted attention, thereby directing the attention of his colleague in the right direction. As you can see, the hand played a huge role in this - after all, showing, pointing with the hand is the most common means of directing attention. It is interesting that the ability to transfer the gaze from the hand to the indicated object, as can be seen, is especially characteristic of humans. Consequently, the switching of attention initially did not occur directly, but through something third, and we can say that to this day it has remained so: voluntary attention - indirect attention. In this sense, it is very interesting that at the initial stage of learning to read, a person follows the words with his finger, thereby, apparently, helping his attention: where it is difficult to be attentive, a person usually resorts to the help of external means.
An outstanding achievement of Soviet psychology, in particular Vygotsky and his school, is undoubtedly the fact that the importance of mediation, mediating signs in human mental development was emphasized and experimentally substantiated. In particular, the essence of voluntary attention also lies in mediation: a person pays attention to the patterns that direct the natural process of attention, and subsequently, when a task arises to direct his own or someone else’s attention, he resorts to these patterns, thereby using them arbitrarily.
Expectation
A typical case of voluntary attention can be considered expectation, so its study is of particular interest.
Suppose we are waiting to receive some impression; this means that our attention is directed to this future impression, and as soon as it appears, it will immediately capture our attention. How do we do this? According to Müller, this happens in the following way: we try, as far as possible, to restore the state we experienced when perceiving this impression in the past. It is not difficult to restore body position, since we already have a good command of body motor skills and are able to direct it in the right direction. As for the mental content, we restore it in the form of a representation, trying to represent it as best as possible. When, under these conditions, that is, conditions of expectation, the expected impression appears, it naturally instantly captures attention. We can say that in this case the first period of attention - the period of adaptation, or adaptation, which requires, as noted above, a certain time - falls out of the attention process itself, turning into a period of waiting. Therefore, it is clear that the process itself is shortened.
Summarizing everything that has been said by various authors regarding expectation, we can conclude the following: a specific representation of a future impression is not mandatory, expectation is possible without it; It is also not necessary for the subject to experience tension. The main thing and the main thing is the presence of a task, either in the form of a specific thought, or intimate knowledge, or an attitude. Without this latter, according to Frebes, expectation is unable to create even the most vivid performance.
The influence of attention
Revitalization of activity
as the main effect of attention
The influence of attention on a person’s mental activity is enormous. We can say that it represents the most important condition underlying the possibility of fruitful activity. The fact is that each individual person, at each given stage of his development, has at his disposal, as can be seen, only a certain amount of energy. What this energy will be directed to, in the form of what activity it will manifest itself, depends on our attention. However, since attention means the direction of our mental energy in one direction or another, then it is obvious that the influence of attention should indeed be very great and should manifest itself, first of all, in the activation of the corresponding mental activity. When an artist creates a work, both his attention and activity are maximally concentrated on this work. When Archimedes was completely immersed in his geometric problems, his psyche worked most actively, of course, in the sphere of mental operations; When a person learns to ride a bicycle, trying with intense attention to restore his disturbed balance, the most animated activity takes place in the muscular system of his body.
The natural consequence of this lively work of attention is a faster, more accurate, more fruitful flow of activity. Having examined individual directions of human mental activity - perception, representation, thinking, fantasy, feelings, we will be convinced that the revival of attention is followed everywhere by a similar effect, but, of course, in forms corresponding to each of these directions.
Sensory activity
What influence does attention have on such a form of activity as perception? We already have a general answer: it revives this activity, that is, our sensory mechanism in this case begins to work more energetically than when attention acts primarily in a different direction. As a result, we get a higher quality product - clearer and more distinct sensations and perceptions. So, ultimately, we can say that the influence of attention on sensory activity is manifested in the fact that our sensory contents, perceptions and ideas become more salient and distinct.
And indeed, everyone knows perfectly well that what is perceived more carefully is always clearer and more distinct than what is perceived less carefully! This position was also clarified under experimental conditions: the subjects were tachistoscopically - just as when conducting experiments on the volume of attention - presented with several simple stimuli and asked to answer how many elements they perceived clearly. It turned out that: 1) if the subjects received a warning signal before the exposure, they noticed the stimuli faster and more correctly; 2) if something prevented the subjects from concentrating, for example, when they were presented with some other external stimulus along with a tachytoscopic stimulus, they noticed much fewer elements. Obviously, weakening attention is to blame for this. As Westphal's experiments showed, there are several levels of clarity of perception, each of which depends on how intensely the subject pays attention to the task.
Thus, it is safe to say that the effect of attention is to enhance the clarity and distinctness of sensory content.
3. The question of the influence of attention on the intensity of sensory contents
Since attention enhances the salience of a sensation or perception, it can be assumed that it has a similar effect on its intensity. Moreover, clarity and distinctness, on the one hand, and intensity, on the other, are purely quantitative characteristics of sensation, being purely quantitative characteristics.
This question is one of those questions that classical psychology of the 19th century explored with particular interest and energy. Today, almost nothing remains of this lively interest - this issue, together with the problem of sensation, has moved into the background. Nevertheless, its consideration is not without a certain interest - both in essence and especially in historical terms.
The question of the enhancing influence of attention on the intensity of sensations was resolved positively by almost everyone. The only exception was Munstenberg, who argued, contrary to generally accepted opinion, that attention does not enhance sensation, but, on the contrary, weakens it. But no one supported him, and he remained the only adherent of this view. The disagreement among psychologists on this issue was manifested only in the fact that some were of the opinion about the direct, immediate influence of attention on the intensity of sensation, while others denied this, believing rather that the intensity of sensation increases not because attention directly acts on it, but in due to the fact that it contributes to the adaptation of the senses, thereby creating the precondition for increasing the intensity of sensation - attention only indirectly affects the intensity of sensation. The first opinion was held by particularly authoritative psychologists - Wundt, G. Müller, Stumpf, in the second - Lipps et al.
Strong arguments in favor of the first opinion were obtained as a result of the experiments of Meyer and Stumpf. Meyer, as a result of straining his attention, received such a visual and intense idea that it even left behind an optical trace. The following conclusion follows from this fact: as soon as under the influence of attention the intensity of representation rises to the level of intensity of perception, then a similar effect should appear in the case of sensation!
Stumpf proved that through attention one can strengthen any tone in a weak chord, thus hearing a certain melody. As for strong tones, he failed to increase their intensity even more. In general, it has been noted that the influence of attention affects the intensity of a weak sensation, although some authors point to a similar effect in the case of a strong sensation (Bentley). The most indisputable results are provided by experiments on comparison of thresholds. As it turned out, in the case of greater concentration of attention, the threshold is lower than when concentration of attention is weaker; it is obvious that the intensity of perception increases.
Thus, the question of the influence of attention on the intensity of sensory contents is resolved positively - if not in general, then at least in relation to sensory contents of weak intensity.
4. The influence of attention on motor activity
The revitalization of motor activity, caused by motor attention, is expressed in an increase in speed, intensification and refinement of movements.
This is very easy to prove:
Instruct the subject to tap the table with the tip of a pencil as quickly as possible. Compare how many times he will be able to do this in case of concentration and in case of any interference. You will be convinced that in the first case the result will be higher than in the second.
Instruct the subject to squeeze the dynamometer with his hand as much as possible under conditions similar to the previous experiment; It turns out that under the influence of attention, motor skills (muscle contraction) will become more intense.
Instruct subjects to draw lines of a certain length under the same conditions, and you will see that if they concentrate their attention, their motor skills will be much more accurate.
It is almost certain that this effect of attention on motor activity is explained by the fact that, as has long been known, it contributes to sensorimotor adaptation.
This fact was discovered during the so-called “reaction experiments”. Ludwig Lange was the first to notice that the time of the so-called simple reaction was either longer or shorter. It turned out that when the subject was given the task along with the signal: after hearing the signal, remove your finger as quickly as possible from the electrical switch (connected to a sensitive device, for example, a Peak chronoscope, to record time, which stops the flow of electric current, as a result of which the device’s hand stops, pointing in thousandths of a second - the so-called “sigma” - the period of time from the moment the signal is given to the raising of the finger, that is, to the reaction; this period of time is called the reaction time), then focusing attention on the task always noticeably reduces the reaction time.
Lange (1888) was the first to notice that when the subject pays more attention to the signal rather than to his reaction, the reaction time increases (sensory reaction), but when he focuses attention on his movement in order not to be late to respond as quickly as possible, the reaction time is noticeable contracts (motor reaction).
This circumstance clearly shows what attention is capable of when it is directed to motor skills: it speeds up the reaction following the preliminary perception of the signal; therefore, attention contributes to sensorimotor adaptation.
5. The influence of attention on memory and intellectual operations
The influence of attention on memory is very great. Some forms of memory, such as involuntary memory, are so closely related to attention that it is difficult to distinguish whether you are dealing with the process of attention or memory. In this sense, it is very significant that the Germans also call immediate memory “the ability to notice” (Me^a^ke11). And indeed, numerous experimental materials have been accumulated that clearly prove that the fruitfulness of immediate memory most of all depends on the attention with which the memorized material is perceived.
Attentive perception of the material being remembered is also important in the case of other forms of memory. However, the influence of attention on memory is not limited to this. Here we are interested in this question from a slightly different plane, in particular, what effect does concentration of attention have on the process of memory, or reproduction. As soon as, under the influence of attention, the idea becomes clear and distinct, this means that under these conditions, facilitation and clarification of its reproduction occurs. This is especially obvious in the case of voluntary memory - recollection.
As for intellectual operations, it has long been known that without the participation of attention it is not even possible to talk about them: attention is quite rightly considered the primary condition for any learning. But there are also experimental arguments that once again confirm the undoubted legitimacy of this observation and specify it. There is no point in dwelling on this. Let us only note what became clear during the course of experiments on studying attention. It turned out that under the influence of attention the fruitfulness and accuracy of mental work increase. However, from special studies it is known that speed and accuracy of work have mutually opposite directions: the more one is, the less the other. According to the results of Crosland (1924), there is a negative correlation between them (specifically, 0.47). Therefore, when understanding the influence of attention on mental work, both of these factors should be taken into account - speed and accuracy.
6. Attention and feeling
According to Tichener, a feeling cannot become the subject of attention. Instead of becoming more pronounced and intense under the influence of attention, it, on the contrary, weakens and fades. For example, if an angry person begins to carefully analyze his emotional state, then as a result he will calm down, in any case, the emotion will almost disappear. Therefore, according to Tichener, attention should be understood as the level of clarity of representation alone.
Of course, it is wrong to talk about attention in relation to feelings in the sense that was done in the case of cognitive processes. The fact is that during cognitive processes, for example perception, the energy of attention and the activity of perception coincide - here attention means the revitalization of the energy of perception. But in the case of feelings the situation is different: a feeling, such as grief, is possible only if we are aware of the circumstance that caused it. No one experiences grief without a reason: without knowing about the death of her child, a mother does not experience any grief. Thus, the direct source of feelings is cognitive processes, awareness of the objective circumstances that determine these feelings. When attention is focused precisely on the source of feelings, that is, with a clear understanding of the circumstances that caused the feeling, the energy of feeling and attention is combined, as a result of which the feeling intensifies. But when our attention stops on the feeling itself, then the experience of its source, the circumstances that caused it, is deprived of mental activity, which begins to work in a different direction, thereby ceasing to nourish the feeling.
However, such a situation is not specific only in the case of feelings, but always manifests itself in similar conditions. Take, for example, dancing, playing a musical instrument, or some other automatic action. It is known that here attention acts in exactly the same way as in the case of feelings: when performing automatic actions, it is enough to pay attention to any individual action for the automaticity to be disrupted, and dancing or playing becomes difficult. This happens for the same reason as in the case of feelings: automatic behavior is based on the general mood of the body, and when attention is directed to it, automatic behavior is performed well. However, if attention moves to individual acts, then the general mood of the body - the basis of automatic behavior - suffers, as a result of which automatic behavior is disrupted.
Attention is an important and necessary condition for the effectiveness of all types of human activity, especially labor and education. The more complex and responsible the work, the more demands it places on attention. Attentiveness is necessary for a person in his everyday life - in everyday life, in communicating with other people, in sports.
The most important feature of the course of cognitive processes is their selective, directed nature. From the many influences of the surrounding world, a person always perceives something, imagines something, reflects, thinks about something. This feature of consciousness is associated with such a property as attention. Unlike cognitive processes, attention does not have its own special content; it is the dynamic side of all cognitive processes. Attention is the direction and concentration of consciousness, implying an increase in the level of sensory, intellectual or motor activity of the individual.
Direction is manifested in selectivity, in voluntary or involuntary choice, the selection of objects that correspond to the needs of the subject, the goals and objectives of his activity. Focus (concentration) on some objects involves simultaneous distraction from everything extraneous, temporarily ignoring other objects. Thanks to this, the reflection becomes clearer and more distinct, ideas and thoughts are retained in consciousness until the activity is completed, until its goal is achieved. This ensures control and regulation of activities.
Attention in its highest forms is associated with the regulation of mental processes and conscious human behavior.
Attention can manifest itself in sensory, mnemonic, mental and motor processes. Therefore, depending on the object of concentration (perceived objects, representations of memory, thoughts, movements), the following forms of attention are distinguished: sensory (perceptive), intellectual, motor (motor).
Based on the nature of their origin and methods of implementation, there are two main types of attention: involuntary and voluntary. Involuntary attention arises and is maintained regardless of a person’s conscious intentions and goals. Voluntary attention is consciously directed and regulated concentration. Voluntary attention develops on the basis of involuntary attention. These types of attention can therefore be considered as levels of attention. Each form of attention (sensory, intellectual, etc.) can manifest itself at different levels.
The occurrence of involuntary attention is determined by physical, psychophysiological and voluntary attention and mental factors. The main conditions for its occurrence may include the qualities of stimuli, primarily their novelty for the subject.
Novelty may consist in the appearance of a previously absent stimulus, in a change in the physical properties of existing stimuli, in the weakening or cessation of their actions, in the absence of familiar stimuli, in the movement of stimuli in space (moving objects usually attract attention). Anything unusual attracts attention. A wide variety of stimuli, which actually have only one common property - novelty, attract attention because the reaction to them is not weakened as a result of habituation.
Voluntary attention, as the highest type of attention, developed in the process of labor. Voluntary attention arises if in an activity a person sets himself a certain task and consciously develops a program of action. This determines the selection of objects of his attention. In conditions when attention is directed not to what is the most new, interesting, entertaining, but to what is related to the purpose of the activity, to what is important and necessary for its implementation, willpower is often required.
The need for volitional efforts to organize attention is clearly manifested when entering work, when difficulties arise in it, when cognitive interest weakens, and also in the presence of interference (new, strong or emotionally significant stimuli).
In voluntary attention, the activity of the individual is manifested, with this attention the interests are of an indirect nature (these are the interests of the goal, the result of the activity). The main function of voluntary attention is the active regulation of mental processes. It is thanks to the presence of voluntary attention that a person is able to actively, selectively “extract” the information he needs from memory, highlight the main, essential things, make the right decisions, and carry out tasks that arise in activity.
In addition to voluntary and involuntary attention, another special type of attention can be distinguished - post-voluntary attention. This concept in psychology was introduced by N.F. Dobrynin.
If in purposeful activity the content and process of the activity itself become interesting and significant for the individual, and not just its result, as with voluntary concentration, then there is reason to talk about post-voluntary attention. In this case, the activity captivates the person so much that he does not require noticeable volitional efforts to maintain attention. Thus, post-voluntary attention, appearing after voluntary attention, cannot be reduced to it. Since this attention is associated with a consciously set goal, it cannot be reduced to involuntary attention. Attention, initially supported by volitional efforts, becomes post-voluntary. Post-voluntary attention is characterized by long-term high concentration; the most intense and fruitful mental activity and high productivity of all types of labor are reasonably associated with it.
The importance of educational activities for the development of voluntary attention is especially great. School age is a period of active development. The attention of students in a lesson is determined by the peculiarities of its structure and depends both on the content of the material being studied and on the ways in which it is presented by the teacher. A lively, bright, dynamic and at the same time consistent, logically coherent presentation of material that is rich in content and accessible to assimilation is an important condition for ensuring the attentiveness of schoolchildren in the lesson.
On the state of attention and thinking the following factors influence:
disturbance of consciousness,
mood changes (sadness, agitation, anxiety),
mental illness (for example, schizophrenia, characterized by delusions, hallucinations and illusions),
metabolic and endocrine disorders.
intoxication (alcohol, drugs and medications).
In any of these situations the results neuropsychological examination should be considered relative and assessed taking into account attention disorders. In addition, the researcher needs to know the social status, level of education and profession of the patient in order to interpret the results of neuropsychological tests and distinguish acquired from congenital disorders. The following cognitive impairments may occur with focal brain lesions:
speech disorder (aphasia),
disorder of performing purposeful voluntary movements or actions (anrakeia),
memory disorder (amnesia),
impaired recognition of objects and stimuli (agnosia),
violation of spatial orientation.
Given The scheme is valid for right-handers and most left-handers. There is a close correlation between the dominant hand and the dominant hemisphere for speech function. However, the right hemisphere is very rarely dominant in speech function, including in left-handed people. Neuropsychological testing at the bedside or in an outpatient setting can be completed in a very short time. For this you can use, for example. The Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination Scale, which provides a general assessment of mental ability. However, it is preferable to specifically examine cognitive functions separately to avoid missing focal deficits.
Besides, " cognitively healthy» Patients may perceive seemingly simple questions on neuropsychological tests as shocking and sometimes offensive. Therefore, if the patient does not have obvious cognitive impairment, it is advisable to first explain to him the meaning of the neuropsychological study in order to avoid such misunderstandings.
Orientation. In the process of neuropsychological research, the safety of the patient’s orientation in his own place and time is determined. Orientation in one’s own personality presupposes knowledge of one’s last and first name, age, date of birth, place - knowledge of the institution and sometimes also the department (for example, a department in a clinic) in which the patient is currently located.
Assessing orientation in time, the patient is asked what year, season, date, day of the week and time of day it is. The orientation score gives a general idea of the patient's cognitive status. With organic damage to the brain, orientation in place and time may be lost, but orientation in one’s own personality, as a rule, is preserved. Disorientation in these cases can be explained by a disorder of attention and short-term memory, as a result of which the patient loses the ability to assimilate constantly changing external information that reflects the course of everyday life.
Level of wakefulness. When the level of wakefulness decreases, concentration is inevitably impaired. This leads to disorders of neuropsychological functions.
Attention is the direction and concentration of a person’s consciousness on certain objects while simultaneously distracting from others. What attention is drawn to becomes a “figure” for us, and everything else becomes a “background”. The importance of attention in a person’s life can hardly be overestimated; it is also called a regulator of activity. Types of attention. Attention can be involuntary or voluntary. Involuntary - spontaneously occurring attention caused by the action of a strong, contrasting or new, unexpected stimulus, as well as a significant phenomenon that evokes an emotional response. For example, attention is involuntarily attracted by a strong noise, a flashily dressed person, a shooting star in the night sky, or a child crying on the street. We do not need to force ourselves to concentrate on these events; here we involuntarily stop our gaze. free attention - conscious concentration on certain information; it requires volitional efforts and, if there is no interest, becomes tiring after 20 minutes. For example, reading educational material. If you don’t force yourself, you can get a bad grade tomorrow. This is where our capacity for voluntary attention comes to our rescue. Post-voluntary attention is evoked through entry into an activity and the interest that arises in connection with this, as a result, focus is maintained for a long time and tension is relieved. A person does not get tired, although post-voluntary attention can last for hours. For example, a book at first seemed boring, and then the person began to read it. Or at the beginning of the lesson you listened to me only out of politeness, and then suddenly you became interested and stopped forcing yourself to be focused on the material that I was presenting.
Factors influencing voluntary attention.
The reasons that influence the ability to voluntary attention and its characteristics include:
Installation
Motivation
Emotional condition
Stimulus intensity
Significance of the stimulus or situation
Features of the situation.
Personality characteristics (e.g. tendency to worry and worry)
Attention can be developed. Attention training is very important for successful study, and indeed for any purposeful activity.
21. Types of memory and their features:
Memory is a process consisting of remembering, preserving, restoring and forgetting the acquired experience. The ability to store information about events in the external world and the body’s reactions for a long time and repeatedly use it in the sphere of consciousness to organize subsequent activities.
Memory is a very unreliable data store, the contents of which can easily change under the influence of new information. The events of our life pass through our memory. Some of them linger in its cells for a long time, while others only for the time it takes to pass through these cells. On the other hand, if all non-essential information were retained, then the brain, in the end, would no longer be able to separate the important from the unimportant and its activity would be completely paralyzed. Therefore, memory is the ability not only to remember, but also to forgetting.
Types of memory.
In the structure of memory, several types can be distinguished according to five different criteria: according to content, randomness of use, time of storing received information, the use of mnemonic devices, and the participation of thinking in memory processes.
Motor memory- this is the memorization, preservation and reproduction of various movements and their systems. It serves as the basis for the formation of walking, writing, labor and other skills.
Emotional memory- This is a memory for feelings. It allows you to regulate behavior depending on previously experienced feelings, provides the ability to sympathize and empathize.
Figurative memory- this is a memory for ideas, for pictures of nature and life, as well as for sounds, smells, tastes. It can be visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory. Her ideas, in particular, are related to professional activities. Verbal - logical memory - with this memory, thoughts expressed in words are remembered, reflecting the essence of the phenomena being studied . This type of memory is unique to humans.
According to the degree of randomness of use:
Involuntary memory, in which memorization and reproduction occurs without volitional effort, of course.
Arbitrary memory- memory controlled by the will of a person, when he consciously sets himself the goal of remembering or remembering something.
By duration of information storage:
Short-term memory is a method of storing information for a short period of time. In short-term memory, not a complete, but only a generalized image of what is perceived, its most essential elements, is stored.
RAM This is a memory designed to store information for a certain, predetermined period, ranging from several seconds to several days. The storage period of information in this memory is determined by the task faced by a person, and is designed only for solving this problem. After this, information may disappear from RAM.
Long-term memory This is a memory capable of storing information for an almost unlimited period. Information that has entered the storage of long-term memory can be reproduced by a person as many times as necessary without loss. Moreover, repeated and systematic reproduction of this information only strengthens its traces in long-term memory. The latter presupposes the ability of a person, at any necessary moment, to recall what was once remembered by him. When using long-term memory, recall often requires thinking and willpower, so its functioning in practice is usually associated with these two processes
By participation of thinking in processes:
Mechanical memory based on simple, repeated repetition of material. With its help, multiplication tables, formulas, etc. are memorized.
Logical memory, is based on understanding, comprehension of the material, on its presentation in the form of an easily memorized diagram.