Chapter iv. foundations of the theory of functional systems. Fundamentals of the Anokhin functional system theory

Studying the psychophysiological structure of a behavioral act, P.K. Anokhin came to the conclusion that the reflex characterizes the motor or secretory response of a certain structure, and not the organism as a whole. In this regard, he hypothesized the existence of functional systems that determine the response of the entire organism to any stimuli and underlie behavior.

According to P.K. Anokhin, a functional system is a dynamic self-regulating organization that temporarily unites various organs, systems and processes that interact to obtain a useful adaptive result in accordance with the needs of the body. The functional system is based on the proposition that it is the final (adaptive) result that determines the combination of private mechanisms into a functional system. Each functional system arises to achieve a useful adaptive result necessary to satisfy a particular need of the body. Thus, a useful adaptive result is the main system-forming factor.

There are three groups of needs, in accordance with which three types of functional systems are formed: internal - to maintain homeostatic indicators; external (behavioral) - for adaptation of the body to the external environment; and social - to meet human social needs.

From these positions, the human body is a collection of various functional systems that are formed depending on the emerging needs of the body. At any given moment in time, one of them becomes leading, dominant.

The functional system is distinguished by its ability to undergo constant restructuring and selective involvement of brain structures to implement changing behavioral reactions. When a function is disrupted in some part of the system, an urgent redistribution of activity occurs throughout the entire system. As a result, additional mechanisms are activated aimed at achieving the final adaptive result.

In the structure of the functional system, several functional blocks are distinguished (Fig. 13.3):

• 1) motivation;
• 2) decision making;
• 3) acceptor of the result of the action;
• 4) afferent synthesis;
• 5) efferent response;
• 6) useful result of the system;
• 7) reverse afferentation.

Afferent synthesis is the process of analyzing and integrating various afferent signals. At this time, the question of what result should be obtained is decided. All afferent signals can be divided into four components:

1. Motivational arousal. Any behavioral act is aimed at satisfying needs (physiological, cognitive, aesthetic, etc.). The task of afferent synthesis is to select from a huge amount of information the most significant, corresponding to the dominant need. This need is the motive for organizing the appropriate behavioral response. Excitation that is formed in the centers of the functional system to realize the dominant need is called motivational. It is created due to the selective activation of the structures of the cerebral cortex from the thalamus and hypothalamus and determines “what the body needs?”

Fig. 13.3.

For example, a change in the parameters of the internal environment during long-term abstinence from food leads to the formation of a complex of arousals associated with food-dominant motivation.

• 2. Situational afferentation is the second component of afferent synthesis. It represents a flow of nerve impulses caused by a variety of stimuli from the external or internal environment, preceding or accompanying the action of the trigger stimulus, i.e. it determines “what conditions the organism is in.” For example, situational afferentation will carry information about where a person experiencing hunger is, what activity he is performing at the moment, etc.
• 3. The memory apparatus in the structure of afferent synthesis provides an assessment of incoming information by comparing it with memory traces related to a given dominant motivation. For example, whether a person was previously in this place, whether there were food sources here, etc.
• 4. Triggering afferentation is a complex of excitations associated with the action of a signal, which is a direct stimulus for triggering a particular reaction, i.e. in our example this is the type of food.

An adequate reaction can be carried out only under the action of all elements of afferent synthesis, which creates a pre-launch integration of nervous processes. The same trigger signal, depending on the situational afferentation and the memory apparatus, can cause a different reaction. In our example, it will be different if a person has and does not have money to buy food.

The neurophysiological mechanism of this stage is based on the convergence of excitations of different modalities to neurons of the cerebral cortex, mainly in the frontal regions. The orienting reflex plays an important role in the implementation of afferent synthesis.

Decision making is the key mechanism of a functional system. At this stage, a specific goal is formed that the body strives for. In this case, selective excitation of a complex of neurons occurs, ensuring the emergence of a single reaction aimed at satisfying the dominant need.

The body has many degrees of freedom in choosing its response. It is when making a decision that all degrees of freedom, except one, are inhibited. For example, when a person is hungry, he can buy food, or look for cheaper food, or go home for dinner. When making a decision based on afferent synthesis, the only option that best corresponds to the entire complex of information about a given situation will be chosen.

Decision making is a critical stage that transfers one process (afferent synthesis) into another - a program of action, after which the system acquires an executive character.

The action result acceptor is one of the most interesting elements of a functional system. This is a complex of excitations of the elements of the cortex and subcortex, which provides prediction of signs of a future result. It is formed simultaneously with the implementation of the action program, but before the start of the effector’s work, i.e. ahead of time. When an action is carried out and afferent information about the results of these actions passes to the central nervous system, this information in this block is compared with the previously formed “model” of the result. If there is a discrepancy between the model of the result and the result actually obtained, corrections are made to the body's reaction until the programmed and actually obtained results coincide (and the correction may also apply to the model of the result). In our example, after eating a portion of food, a person may continue to feel hungry and then he will look for additional food to satisfy his nutritional needs.

Efferent synthesis is the process of forming a complex of excitations in the structures of the central nervous system, ensuring a change in the state of effectors. This leads to changes in the activity of various vegetative organs, the inclusion of endocrine glands and behavioral reactions aimed at achieving a useful adaptive result. This complex reaction of the body is very plastic. Its elements and the degree of their involvement may vary depending on the dominant need, the state of the body, the environment, previous experience and the model of the desired result.

A useful adaptive result is a change in the state of the body after performing an activity aimed at satisfying a dominant need. As mentioned above, it is the useful result that is the system-forming factor of the functional system. When the useful result coincides with the acceptor of the result of the action, this functional system is replaced by another, formed to satisfy the new dominant need.

PC. Anokhin emphasized the importance of reverse afferentation to achieve a useful adaptive result. It is reverse afferentation that allows you to compare the result of an action with the task at hand.

In our example, a person will become satiated until the impulse from the internal organs about the result of a given human action in the acceptor of the result of the action coincides with the complex of excitations that are the model of “satiety.”

Any functional system works on the principle of anticipating the final result (foresight) and has a number of properties listed below:

• Dynamism: a functional system is a temporary formation of various organs and systems to satisfy the leading needs of the body. Different organs can be part of several functional systems.
• Self-regulation: maintaining homeostasis is ensured without external interference due to the presence of feedback.
• Integrity: a systemic holistic approach as the leading principle of regulation of physiological functions.
• Hierarchy of functional systems: the hierarchy of adaptive results useful for the body ensures the satisfaction of leading needs according to the level of their significance.
• Multiparametric result: any useful adaptive result has many parameters: physical, chemical, biological, informational.
• Plasticity: all elements of functional systems, except receptors, have plasticity and can flexibly interchange and compensate each other to achieve the final adaptive result.

The theory of functional systems allows us to consider a variety of reactions of the body, from simple ones aimed at maintaining homeostasis to complex ones associated with conscious social activity of a person. It explains the plasticity and direction of human behavior in various situations.

Considering the formation of functional systems in ontogenesis (the theory of systemogenesis), P.K Anokhin established that the formation of all its elements occurs ahead of the emergence of the leading needs of the body. This allows him to form morphofunctional and psychophysiological structures in advance to meet emerging needs. Thus, a functional blood coagulation system is formed by the first year of life, i.e. to the period when the child begins to walk and, therefore, the risk of injury increases. The functional system of reproduction is formed by the beginning of adolescence, when physiological and psychological readiness and the possibility of procreation appear. Thus, knowledge of the periods of formation of the body’s leading needs allows us to understand the formation of the corresponding functional systems.

The theory of functional systems describes the organization of life processes in a complete organism interacting with the environment.

This theory was developed while studying the mechanisms of compensation for impaired body functions. As was shown by P.K. Anokhin, compensation mobilizes a significant number of different physiological components - central and peripheral formations, functionally combined with each other to obtain a useful, adaptive effect necessary for a living organism at a given specific point in time. Such a broad functional unification of variously localized structures and processes to obtain the final adaptive result was called a “functional system.”

A functional system (FS) is a unit of integrative activity of a whole organism, including elements of various anatomical affiliations that actively interact with each other and with the external environment in the direction of achieving a useful, adaptive result.

An adaptive result is a certain relationship between the organism and the external environment, which stops the action aimed at achieving it and makes it possible to implement the next behavioral act. To achieve a result means to change the relationship between the body and the environment in a direction that is beneficial for the body.

Achieving an adaptive result in the FS is carried out using specific mechanisms, of which the most important are:

Afferent synthesis of all information entering the nervous system;

Making a decision with the simultaneous formation of an apparatus for predicting the result in the form of an afferent model of the results of the action;
- the actual action;
- comparison, based on feedback from the afferent model of the acceptor, of the results of the action and the parameters of the action performed;
correction of behavior in case of discrepancy between real and ideal (modeled by the nervous system) action parameters.

The composition of the functional system is not determined by the spatial proximity of the structures or their anatomical affiliation. The FS can include both nearby and distantly located structures of the body. It can involve individual parts of any anatomically integral systems and even parts of individual entire organs. In this case, a separate nerve cell, a muscle, a part of an organ, or an entire organ can participate through its activity in achieving a useful adaptive result only if it is included in the corresponding functional system. The factor determining the selectivity of these compounds is the biological and physiological architecture of the PS itself, and the criterion for the effectiveness of these associations is the final adaptive result.

Since for any living organism the number of possible adaptive situations is in principle unlimited, therefore, the same nerve cell, muscle, part of an organ, or the organ itself can be part of several functional systems in which they will perform different functions.

Thus, when studying the interaction of an organism with the environment, the unit of analysis is a holistic, dynamically organized functional system. Types and levels of complexity of FS. Functional systems have different specializations. Some are responsible for breathing, others for movement, others for nutrition, etc. FS can belong to different hierarchical levels and be of varying degrees of complexity: some of them are characteristic of all individuals of a given species (and even other species); others are individual, i.e. are formed throughout life in the process of mastering experience and form the basis of learning.

Hierarchy is the arrangement of parts or elements of a whole in order from highest to lowest, with each higher level endowed with special powers in relation to the lower ones. Heterarchy is the principle of interaction between levels, when none of them has a permanent leading role and a coalition of higher and lower levels into a single system of action is allowed.

Functional systems differ in the degree of plasticity, i.e. by the ability to change their constituent components. For example, the respiratory system consists predominantly of stable (innate) structures and therefore has little plasticity: the act of breathing, as a rule, involves the same central and peripheral components. At the same time, the FS that ensures the movement of the body is plastic and can quite easily rearrange component relationships (you can reach something, run, jump, crawl).

Afferent synthesis. The initial stage of a behavioral act of any degree of complexity, and, consequently, the beginning of the functioning of the PS, is afferent synthesis. Afferent synthesis is the process of selection and synthesis of various signals about the environment and the degree of success of the body’s activity in its conditions, on the basis of which the goal of the activity and its management are formed.

The importance of afferent synthesis lies in the fact that this stage determines all subsequent behavior of the organism. The task of this stage is to collect the necessary information about various parameters of the external environment. Thanks to afferent synthesis, from a variety of external and internal stimuli, the body selects the main ones and creates the goal of behavior. Since the choice of such information is influenced by both the purpose of behavior and previous life experience, afferent synthesis is always individual. At this stage, the interaction of three components occurs: motivational arousal, situational afferentation (i.e. information about the external environment) and traces of past experience extracted from memory.

Motivation is the impulses that cause the activity of the body and determine its direction. Motivational arousal appears in the central nervous system when any need arises in an animal or person. It is a necessary component of any behavior that is always aimed at satisfying a dominant need: vital, social or ideal. The importance of motivational arousal for afferent synthesis is already evident from the fact that a conditioned signal loses the ability to cause previously developed behavior (for example, a dog coming to a certain feeder to get food) if the animal is already well fed and, therefore, it lacks food motivational arousal.

Motivational arousal plays a special role in the formation of afferent synthesis. Any information entering the central nervous system is correlated with the dominant motivational excitation at a given time, which is like a filter that selects what is necessary and discards what is unnecessary for a given motivational setting.

Situational afferentation – information about the external environment. As a result of processing and synthesis of environmental stimuli, a decision is made about “what to do” and a transition occurs to the formation of an action program that ensures the selection and subsequent implementation of one action from many potential ones. The command, represented by a complex of efferent excitations, is sent to the peripheral executive organs and is embodied in the corresponding action. An important feature of FS is its individual and changing requirements for afferentation. It is the quantity and quality of afferent impulses that characterizes the degree of complexity, arbitrariness or automation of the functional system. Completion of the afferent synthesis stage is accompanied by a transition to the decision-making stage, which determines the type and direction of behavior. The decision-making stage is realized through a special, important stage of the behavioral act - the formation of an apparatus for accepting the results of the action.

A necessary part of the FS is the acceptor of action results - the central apparatus for assessing the results and parameters of an action that has not yet taken place. Thus, even before the implementation of any behavioral act, a living organism already has an idea about it, a kind of model or image of the expected result.

A behavioral act is a segment of the behavioral continuum from one result to another result. Behavioral continuum is a sequence of behavioral acts. In the process of real action, efferent signals go from the acceptor to the nervous and motor structures that ensure the achievement of the required goal. The success or failure of a behavioral act is signaled by afferent impulses entering the brain from all receptors that record the successive stages of performing a specific action (reverse afferentation). Reverse afferentation is a process of behavior correction based on external information received by the brain about the results of ongoing activities. Assessing a behavioral act, both in general and in detail, is impossible without such accurate information about the results of each action. This mechanism is absolutely necessary for the successful implementation of every behavioral act.

Each PS has the ability for self-regulation, which is inherent in it as a whole. In the event of a possible defect in the FS, its constituent components are quickly processed so that the required result, even if less efficiently (both in time and energy costs), is still achieved.

Main signs of FS. P.K. Anokhin formulated the following features of a functional system:

1) The FS, as a rule, is a central-peripheral formation, thus becoming a specific apparatus of self-regulation. It maintains its unity based on the circulation of information from the periphery to the centers and from the centers to the periphery.
2) The existence of any PS is necessarily associated with the existence of some clearly defined adaptive effect. It is this final effect that determines this or that distribution of excitation and activity throughout the functional system as a whole.
3) The presence of receptor apparatus allows one to evaluate the results of the action of a functional system. In some cases they can be congenital, and in others they can be developed during life.
4) Each adaptive effect of the FS (i.e., the result of any action performed by the body) forms a flow of reverse afferentations, which represents in sufficient detail all the visual signs (parameters) of the results obtained. In the case when, when selecting the most effective result, this reverse afferentation reinforces the most successful action, it becomes a “sanctioning” (determining) afferentation.
5) Functional systems, on the basis of which the adaptive activity of newborn animals is built to their characteristic environmental factors, have all the above-mentioned features and are architecturally mature at the time of birth. It follows from this that the combination of parts of the FS (the principle of consolidation) should become functionally complete at some stage of fetal development even before the moment of birth.

The significance of the FS theory for psychology. From its first steps, the theory of functional systems received recognition from natural science psychology. In the most concise form, the significance of a new stage in the development of Russian physiology was formulated by A.R. Luria (1978).

He believed that the introduction of the theory of functional systems allows for a new approach to solving many problems in the organization of the physiological foundations of behavior and psyche.

Thanks to the FS theory:

The simplified understanding of the stimulus as the only causative agent of behavior has been replaced by more complex ideas about the factors determining behavior, including models of the required future or an image of the expected result.
- an idea was formulated about the role of “reverse afferentation” and its significance for the further fate of the action being performed, the latter radically changes the picture, showing that all further behavior depends on the action performed.
- the idea of ​​a new functional apparatus was introduced, which compares the initial image of the expected result with the effect of the real action - the “acceptor” of the results of the action. Acceptor of action results is a psychophysiological mechanism for predicting and evaluating the results of activity, functioning in the decision-making process and acting on the basis of correlation with the model of the expected result in memory.

P.K. Anokhin came close to analyzing the physiological mechanisms of decision making. The FS theory represents an example of a rejection of the tendency to reduce the most complex forms of mental activity to isolated elementary physiological processes and an attempt to create a new doctrine about the physiological foundations of active forms of mental activity. However, it should be emphasized that, despite the importance of the FS theory for modern psychology, there are many controversial issues regarding the scope of its application.

Thus, it has been repeatedly noted that the universal theory of functional systems needs to be specified in relation to psychology and requires more meaningful development in the process of studying the psyche and human behavior. Very thorough steps in this direction were taken by V.B. Shvyrkov (1978, 1989), V.D. Shadrikov (1994, 1997). It would be premature to claim that the PS theory has become the main research paradigm in psychophysiology. There are stable psychological constructs and phenomena that do not receive the necessary justification in the context of the theory of functional systems. We are talking about the problem of consciousness, the psychophysiological aspects of which are currently being developed very productively.

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Many branches of natural science apply P.K. Anokhin’s theory of functional systems in practice, which is evidence of its universality. The academician is considered a student of I.P. Pavlov; it was only during his student years that he was lucky enough to work under the strict guidance of V.M. Bekhterev. The influence of the fundamental views of these great scientists prompted P.K. Anokhin to create and substantiate the general theory of functional systems.

Historical background

Some of the results of Pavlov's research are still studied in educational institutions today. It should be noted that Darwin's theory has not been removed from the school curriculum, but concrete evidence of its truth has not been provided to the scientific community. It is taken “on faith.”

However, observations of the Earth's ecosystem confirm that it does not exist: plants share nutrients and moisture with each other, distributing everything evenly.

In the animal world, you can notice that individuals do not kill more than is necessary to ensure their livelihoods. Animals that disrupt the natural balance through abnormal behavior (for example, they begin to kill everyone), as sometimes happens with some representatives of the wolf pack, are exterminated by their own relatives.

Observations of primitive tribes that survived into the twentieth century, studying their culture and everyday life, we can conclude about a primitive person who felt, understood, knew that he was part of the environment. When he killed an animal for food, he left something of what he killed, not as a trophy, but as a reminder of someone’s life wasted to continue his own.

From this follows the conclusion that ancient people had a concept of community, dependence on various environmental factors.

Field of research of Petr Kuzmich

PK Anokhin’s theory, on the contrary, is built on the basis of an extensive experimental base and a clearly structured methodology. However, many years of observations, practice, experiments, and theoretical elaboration of the results led the academician to this concept. The results of experiments by Pavlov, Bekhterev, and Sechenov played an important role in the formation of a systematic approach to the problem of purposeful activity. At the same time, the concept of functional systems cannot be called a “copying” or “continuation” of the theories of the listed authors due to the difference in methodology and general structure.

Methodological approaches of Pavlov and Anokhin

Upon a detailed examination of the concepts, one can notice that the positions of the methodology are understood and explained by the authors in completely different ways.

The given basic methodological principles of the authors allow us to draw a conclusion about their “opposite”. The theory of functional systems of Pyotr Anokhin cannot be a logical continuation of the materialistic teachings of I. P. Pavlov.

The influence of the works of V. M. Bekhterev

A historical fact is the disagreement between the creator of Objective psychology and Pavlov. Thanks to the latter’s vindictiveness and pettiness, Bekhterev was not awarded the Nobel Prize.

The author of the theory of functional systems describes the functioning of Pavlov's school as voicing many hypotheses (taken on faith) against the background of one fundamental discovery (the conditioned reflex). Indeed, the works of the famous physiologist (these are several volumes of Pavlovian environments) are a discussion with collaborators of the main hypotheses and assumptions.

Pavlov’s scientific works received recognition from the world community and were, for their time, quite progressive, but “reflexology”, formalized by Bekhterev, had the objectivity that Pavlov’s theory lacked. She studied the influence of human physiology on his socialization and behavior.

It should be noted that after the mysterious death of Vladimir Mikhailovich, both “Reflexology” and “Objective Psychology”, as scientific movements, were “frozen”.

Studying the legacy of Bekhterev and Anokhin, one can notice some general principles in the methodology of studying the subject. It is also worthy of attention that the theoretical assumptions of both authors were always based on practical research and observations. While Pavlov allowed “devastating reviews” only because of personal hostility.

The emergence of the concept, its development

The foundations of the theory of functional systems were laid back in the thirties of the twentieth century based on the study of the interaction of central and peripheral nervous activity. Pyotr Kuzmich gained rich practical experience at the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine named after A. M. Gorky, which served as the basis for the creation of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and the Leningrad Institute of Experimental Medicine in the forties.

The academician was able to study nervous activity not only at the general biological level. The first steps were taken in research into the embryological aspects of the functioning of higher nervous activity. As a result, the structural and functional approaches in Anokhin’s systems theory are recognized as the most advanced. It highlights private mechanisms and their integration into a more complex system of a higher order.

Describing the structure of behavioral reactions, the academician came to the conclusion about the integration of private mechanisms into a holistic behavioral act. This principle was called the “functional system”. It is not a simple sum of reflexes, but rather their combination into complexes of a higher order, according to the theory of functional systems, that initiates human behavior.

Using the same principles, one can consider not only complex behavioral reactions, but also individual motor acts. Self-regulation is the main effective principle in Anokhin’s theory of the functional system. Achieving planned goals that benefit the body occurs through the interaction and self-regulation of smaller components of the system.

The publication of Anokhin’s book “Philosophical Aspects of the Theory of a Functional System” includes selected works covering issues of natural and artificial intelligence, physiology and cybernetics, as well as system-forming factors.

Systemogenesis as the basis of the theory

The definition describes a “functional system” as the production of a useful result through the interaction of elements of a broad, constantly transforming distributed system. The universality of the theory of the functional system of Anokhin P.K. lies in its application in relation to any purposeful action.

From a physiological point of view, functional systems are divided into two categories:

• The first of them is designed to maintain the constancy of the basic parameters of the body through self-regulation, for example, maintaining body temperature. In case of any deviations, self-regulation processes of the internal environment are launched.
• The second ensures adaptation to the environment due to its connection with it, which regulates behavior change. It is this system that underlies various behavioral reactions. Information about changes in the external environment is a natural incentive to adjust various behavioral forms.

The structure of the central system consists of successive stages:

• afferent synthesis (or “bringing” to an organ or nerve center);
• decision-making;
• acceptor of action results (or “acceptance” of action results);
• efferent synthesis (“outgoing”, transmitting impulses);
• formation of action;
• assessment of the achieved result.

Various kinds of motives and needs (vital (thirst, hunger), social (communication, recognition), ideal (spiritual and cultural self-realization)) stimulate and correct the form of behavior. However, in order to move to the stage of purposeful activity, the action of “trigger stimuli” is required, with the help of which the transition to the decision-making stage occurs.

This stage is implemented on the basis of programming the results of future actions through the involvement of a person’s individual memory in relation to surrounding objects and methods of action to achieve the goal.

Goal setting in theory

Isolating the purpose of behavior in Anokhin's functional system theory is a key point. Both positive and negative leading emotions are directly related to goal setting. They set the vector and help highlight the purpose of behavior, laying the foundations of morality from the position of the theory of functional systems. Situational emotions act as a regulator of behavior at this stage of goal achievement and can provoke a goal abandonment or a change in the plan to achieve the desired.

The principles of the functional system theory of P.K. Anokhin are based on the statement that it is impossible to equate the sequence of reflexes with goal-directed behavior. Behavior differs from a chain of reflexes in the presence of a systematized structure based on the programming of actions using a proactive reflection of reality. Comparison of the results of an action with the program and other related processes determine the purposefulness of behavior.

Functional system diagram

Academic theory and cybernetics

Cybernetics is the science of the laws of control processes in various systems. Cybernetics methods are used in cases where the collision of a system with the environment has caused certain changes (adjustments) in the way the system itself behaves.

It is easy to notice that there are certain areas of contact between cybernetics and Anokhin’s theory of functional systems. We should briefly describe Pyotr Kuzmich’s attitude to the then new science. He is rightly called a propagandist and developer of cybernetics issues. This is evidenced by the articles included in the collection “Philosophical Aspects of the Theory of a Functional System.”

The book “Selected Works” is interesting in this regard. Cybernetics of functional systems". It describes in detail the issues and problems of cybernetics and their possible solution using the theory of functional systems, which is cited as the basic principle of control among biological systems.

The role of P.K. Anokhin in the development of the systems approach is to substantiate the scientific theory with precise physiological argumentation, unlike his predecessors. Anokhin's theory is a universal model of the body's functioning, which has precise formulations. It is also impossible to ignore the functioning of the model based on self-regulation processes.

The universality of the theory of functional systems is expressed in the possibility of studying the activity of systems of any complexity, since it has a fairly well-developed structured model. With the help of numerous experiments, it was proven that the laws of cybernetics are characteristic of any functional systems included in living organisms.

Finally

The theory of Anokhin Pyotr Kuzmich, which has existed for more than fifty years, defines a person as a self-regulating system that is in unity with the surrounding world. On this basis, new theories about the occurrence of diseases and their treatment, as well as many psychological concepts, emerged.

Functional system P.K. Anokhin is a schematic model of the main blocks of the brain that ensure goal-directed behavior, i.e. behavior aimed at achieving a specific goal. It reflects a more complex neural mechanism that provides behavior compared to reflex arcs.

Functional system P.K. Anokhina

In order to make it easier to remember this diagram, I slightly modified it in comparison with the diagram that is given in textbooks on physiology.

So, let’s remember the functional system of P.K. Anokhina:

• three entrances
• three blocks
• three floors in each block
• three output phenomena
• three innovations (ARD, reverse afferentation, outcome parameters).

Internal afferentation

Need, i.e. the lack of something in the body gives rise to internal afferentation.

Internal afferentation is a sensory (afferent) flow of impulses from interoceptors located in internal organs, muscles, and blood vessels. Interoreceptors (or interoceptors) respond to changes in the internal environment of the body.

In the motivation block, led by the amygdala of the brain, only one most biologically significant need is selected from many current needs. On its basis, a flow of motivational excitation is formed.

Let's add P.K. to the diagram. Anokhin's ideas about drive reflexes by Yu. Konorsky. Then it turns out that the flow of motivational excitation is transmitted to the drive reflex system. Drive is a preparatory behavior to increase the likelihood of an executive reflex.
As a result of drive, the body finds itself in a place, or creates a situation, where there is an increased likelihood of finding a trigger stimulus and implementing executive behavior that gives the desired result and satisfies the need.

Action Result Acceptor (ARD) = scheduler, activator, comparator (comparer) and finalizer.

• Plans the expected result, or more precisely, its perceived parameters.
• Activates program of action to achieve this result.
• Compares the obtained parameters with the expected ones.
• Completes the activity of the functional system when the obtained result parameters coincide with the expected ones.

Academician P.K. Anokhin, in fundamental works on neurophysiology - the mechanisms of the conditioned reflex, the ontogenesis of the nervous system, introduced the concept of a system-forming factor (the result of the system). Under the result of the P.K. system Anokhin understood the beneficial adaptive effect in the interaction “organism - environment”, achieved when implementing the system.

The behavior of an individual can be described as the result of a certain interaction of the organism with the external environment. Moreover, upon achieving a certain result, the initial impact stops, which makes it possible to implement the next behavioral act [Shvyrkov, 1978]. Therefore, in systemic psychophysiology, behavior is considered from the perspective of the future - the result.

Based on a generalization of experiments, P.K. Anokhin came to the conclusion that in order to understand the interaction of the organism with the environment, one should study not the “functions” of individual organs or brain structures, but their interaction, that is, the coordination of their activity to obtain a specific result.

In systems psychophysiology, the activity of neurons is associated not with any specific “mental” or “bodily” functions, but with the provision of systems that involve cells of very different anatomical localization and which, differing in the level of complexity and quality of the result achieved, are subject to general principles of organization functional systems [Anokhin, 1975,1978].

That is why systemic patterns identified in the study of neural activity in animals can be used to develop ideas about the systemic mechanisms of the formation and use of individual experience in various human activities [Alexandrov, 2001].

In TFS P.K. Anokhin developed the concept of isomorphism of hierarchical levels. The isomorphism of the levels lies in the fact that they are all represented by functional systems, and not by any special processes and mechanisms specific to a given level, for example, peripheral coding and central integration, classical conditioning and instrumental learning, regulation of simple reflex and complex voluntary movements, etc. etc. Regardless of the level, the system-forming factor for all these systems is the result, and the factor that determines the structural organization of the levels, their ordering, is the history of development.

This conclusion is consistent with the idea of ​​transforming the sequence of stages of mental development into levels of mental organization - the core of Ya. A. Ponomarev’s concept of transforming the stages of development of a phenomenon into structural levels of its organization. And with the position of L. S. Vygotsky, who believed that “an individual in his behavior reveals in a frozen form various completed phases of development.” J. Piaget also emphasized the correspondence of the stages of development to the levels of organization of behavior, while believing that the formation of new behavior means “the assimilation of new elements into already constructed structures.”

Functional system model

Academician P.K. Anokhin proposed a model for organizing and regulating a behavioral act, in which there is room for all basic processes and states. She got the name of the model functional system. Its general structure is shown in Fig. 1.

Functional system model. Rice. 1.

The essence of this concept by P.K. Anokhin’s idea is that a person cannot exist in isolation from the world around him. He is constantly exposed to certain environmental factors. The influence of external factors was called by Anokhin situational afferentation. Some influences are insignificant or even unconscious for a person, but others - usually unusual - cause a response in him. This response is indicative reaction.

All objects and conditions of activity affecting a person, regardless of their significance, are perceived by a person in the form of an image. This image correlates with information stored in memory and a person’s motivational attitudes. Moreover, the process of comparison is carried out, most likely, through consciousness, which leads to the emergence of a decision and a plan of behavior.

In the central nervous system, the expected outcome of actions is presented in the form of a peculiar nervous model, called by Anokhin acceptor of the action result. The acceptor of the result of an action is the goal towards which the action is directed. In the presence of an action acceptor and an action program formulated by consciousness, the direct execution of the action begins. This involves the will, as well as the process of obtaining information about the fulfillment of the goal.

Information about the results of an action has the nature of feedback (reverse afferentation) and is aimed at forming an attitude towards the action being performed. Since information passes through the emotional sphere, it causes certain emotions that influence the nature of the attitude. If the emotions are positive, then the action stops. If emotions are negative, then adjustments are made to the execution of the action [Maklakov, 2001].