Sensation is a reflection of the individual properties of objects that directly affect our senses. Yuri Viktorovich Shcherbatykh general psychology introduction

(recognition).

In the Soviet-Russian psychological school it is customary to consider sensation and feeling as synonyms, but this is not always true for other psychological schools. Other equivalents to the term "sensations" are sensory processes and sensitivity.

Sensory sensations

The minimum amount of stimulation that causes a barely noticeable sensation is called the absolute lower threshold of sensation. The ability to sense these weakest stimuli is called absolute sensitivity. It is always expressed in absolute numbers. For example, to create a sensation of pressure, an effect of 2 mg per 1 sq. mm of skin surface is sufficient.

The upper absolute threshold of sensation is the maximum value of irritation, a further increase in which causes the disappearance of sensation or pain. For example, an ultra-loud sound causes pain in the ears, and an ultra-high sound (oscillation frequency above 20,000 Hz) causes the sensation to disappear (the audible sound turns into ultrasound). A pressure of 300 g/mm2 causes pain.

Along with absolute sensitivity, one should distinguish between relative sensitivity - sensitivity to distinguishing the intensity of one effect from another. Relative sensitivity is characterized by a discrimination threshold.

The discrimination threshold, or differential threshold, is a barely perceptible minimum difference in the strength of two stimuli of the same type.

The discrimination threshold is a relative value (fraction) that shows what part of the initial strength of the stimulus must be added (or subtracted) in order to obtain a subtle sensation of change in the strength of these stimuli.

So, if you take a load of 1 kg and then add another 10 g, then no one will be able to feel this increase; to feel an increase in weight gain, you need to add 1/30 of the original weight, that is, 33 g. Thus, the relative threshold for distinguishing gravity is equal to 1/30 of the strength of the original stimulus.

The relative threshold for distinguishing light brightness is 1/100; sound strength - 1/10; taste effects - 1/5. These regularities were discovered by Bouguer and Weber (Bouguer-Weber law).

The Bouguer-Weber law applies only to the average zone of stimulus intensity. In other words, relative thresholds lose significance for very weak and very strong stimuli. This was established by Fechner.

Fechner also established that if the intensity of the stimulus is increased in geometric progression, then the sensation will increase only in arithmetic progression. (Fechner's Law).

The lower and upper absolute thresholds of sensations (absolute sensitivity) characterize the limits of human sensitivity. But each person's sensitivity varies depending on different conditions.

Thus, when entering a poorly lit room, we initially do not distinguish objects, but gradually, under the influence of these conditions, the sensitivity of the analyzer increases.

If we are in a smoky room or in a room with any odors, after a while we stop noticing these odors (the sensitivity of the analyzer decreases).

When we move from a poorly lit space to a brightly lit one, the sensitivity of the visual analyzer decreases.

A change in the sensitivity of the analyzer as a result of its adaptation to existing stimuli is called adaptation.

Different analyzers have different speeds and different ranges of adaptation. Adaptation to some stimuli occurs more quickly, to others - more slowly. Olfactory and tactile analyzers adapt more quickly. Full adaptation to the smell of iodine occurs in one minute. After three seconds, the sensation of pressure reflects only 1/5 of the strength of the stimulus (searching for glasses pushed onto the forehead is one example of tactile adaptation). The auditory, gustatory and visual analyzers adapt even more slowly. It takes 45 minutes to completely adapt to the dark. After this period, visual sensitivity increases 200,000 times (the highest range of adaptation).

The phenomenon of adaptation has expedient biological significance. It helps to reflect weak stimuli and protects the analyzers from excessive exposure to strong stimuli.

Sensitivity depends not only on the influence of external stimuli, but also on internal states.

Increasing the sensitivity of analyzers under the influence of internal (mental) factors is called sensitization. For example, weak taste sensations increase visual sensitivity. This is explained by the interconnection of these analyzers and their systematic operation.

Sensitization, an aggravation of sensitivity, can be caused not only by the interaction of sensations, but also by physiological factors, the introduction of certain substances into the body. For example, vitamin A is essential for increasing visual sensitivity.

Sensitivity increases if a person expects one or another weak stimulus, when he is faced with a special task of distinguishing between stimuli. The sensitivity of the individual is improved as a result of the exercise. Thus, tasters, by specially exercising their taste and olfactory sensitivity, distinguish between various types of wines and teas and can even determine when and where the product was made.

In people deprived of any type of sensitivity, compensation (compensation) for this deficiency is carried out by increasing the sensitivity of other organs (for example, increasing auditory and olfactory sensitivity in the blind).

The interaction of sensations in some cases leads to sensitization, to an increase in sensitivity, and in other cases to its decrease, that is, to desensitization. Strong excitation of some analyzers always reduces the sensitivity of other analyzers. Thus, increased noise levels in “loud workshops” reduce visual sensitivity.

One of the manifestations of the interaction of sensations is the contrast of sensations.

Contrast of sensations is an increase in sensitivity to one properties under the influence of other, opposite properties of reality.

For example, the same gray figure appears dark on a white background, but light on a black background.

Sometimes one type of sensation can cause additional sensations. For example, sounds can cause color sensations, yellow color - a feeling of sourness. This phenomenon is called synesthesia.

Notes

see also

Links

• Types of sensations 2. Smell, touch, vibration and proprioceptive sensations

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See what “Sensation” is in other dictionaries:

Reflection of the properties of objects in the objective world, resulting from their impact on the senses and stimulation of the nerve centers of the cerebral cortex. O. the starting point of knowledge, its indecomposable element. Highlighting the reflection of quality... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

feeling- reflection of the properties of objects in the objective world, arising from their direct impact on receptors. Within the framework of the reflex concept of I.M. Sechenov and I.P. Pavlov, studies were carried out that showed that, according to their physiological ... Great psychological encyclopedia

Feeling- Sensation ♦ Sensation Elementary perception or an element of possible perception. A sensation occurs when some physiological change, most often of an external nature, excites one of our senses. For example, the impact... ... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

Types of sensation

Sensations can be classified on different grounds. According to the leading modality (qualitative characteristics of sensations), the following sensations are distinguished: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, motor, internal (sensations of the internal state of the body).

Visual sensations are a reflection of both achromatic (white, black and intermediate shades of gray) and chromatic (various shades of red, yellow, green, blue) colors. Visual sensations are caused by exposure to light, i.e. electromagnetic waves emitted (or reflected) by physical bodies to the visual analyzer. The external perceptive “device” is the retina of the eye. Auditory sensations are a reflection of sounds of different heights (high - low), strength (loud - quiet) and different qualities (musical sounds, noises). They are caused by the influence of sound waves created by vibrations of bodies. Olfactory sensations are a reflection of smells. Olfactory sensations arise due to the penetration of particles of odorous substances spreading in the air into the upper part of the nasopharynx, where they affect the peripheral endings of the olfactory analyzer, embedded in the nasal mucosa. Taste sensations are a reflection of certain chemical properties of flavoring substances dissolved in water or saliva. The sense of taste plays an important role in the eating process, in distinguishing between different types of food. Tactile sensations are a reflection of the mechanical properties of objects, which are detected when touching them, rubbing them, or hitting them. These sensations also reflect the temperature of environmental objects and external pain. These sensations are called exteroceptive and form a single group based on the type of analyzers located on or near the surface of the body. Exteroceptive sensations are divided into contact and treble. Contact sensations are caused by direct touching the surface of the body (taste, touch), distant sensations are caused by stimuli acting on the senses at some distance (vision, hearing). Olfactory sensations occupy an intermediate position between them.

The next group consists of sensations that reflect the movements and states of the body itself. They are called motor or proprioceptive. Motor sensations reflect the position of the limbs, their movements and the degree of effort applied. Without them, it is impossible to perform movements normally and coordinate them. Sensations of position (balance), along with motor sensations, play an important role in the process of perception (for example, stability). In addition, there is a group of organic sensations - internal (iteroceptive). These sensations reflect the internal state of the body. These include feelings of hunger, thirst, nausea, internal pain, etc. Depending on the time of occurrence, sensations can be relevant and irrelevant. Different types of sensations are characterized not only by specificity, but also by properties common to them. These properties include: quality - an essential feature of sensations that allows one to distinguish one types of sensations from others (for example, auditory from visual), as well as various variations of sensations within a given type (for example, by color, saturation); intensity - a quantitative characteristic of sensations , which is determined by the strength of the current stimulus and the functional state of the receptor; duration is a temporary characteristic of sensations. It is determined by the functional state of the sense organs, the time of exposure to the stimulus and its intensity. The quality of sensations of all types depends on the sensitivity of the appropriate type of analyzers.

Psychophysical law

Fechner's law.

The relation E = C1x ln (R/ R1) is called Fechner's law or sometimes Weber-Fechner's law.

The absolute threshold of sensation is the lowest intensity of stimulus sufficient to produce sensation;

The differential sensation threshold is an increase in the intensity of the stimulus sufficient to cause a change in sensation in the subject.

English sensation) - ^psychophysical process of direct sensory reflection (cognition) of individual properties of phenomena and objects of the objective world, i.e. the process of reflection of the direct impact of stimuli on the sense organs, irritation of the latter (see Analyzer), as well as 2) arising as a result of this process subjective (mental) experience of strength, quality, localization and other characteristics of the impact on the sense organs (receptors).

Initially, the doctrine of philosophy arose and developed in philosophy as part of the theory of knowledge. According to the established tradition, in philosophy the term O. is interpreted broadly, covering all phenomena of sensory reflection (see Sensory reflection), including perception and memory representations. Already in the 5th century. BC e. Heraclitus and Protagoras considered philosophy as a source of human knowledge. In the 18th century O. becomes the central topic of discussions among representatives of empirical psychology and philosophy. The mechanistic understanding of thoughts as the elementary “building blocks” of the psyche has become particularly widespread in associative psychology. Thus, W. Wundt distinguished between perception and perception, while perception was understood as a complex of associatively related perceptions.

In the works of domestic psychologists (for example, A. N. Leontiev), the idea of ​​the active, effective nature of the processes of reflecting even individual properties of objects was established. During these processes, the dynamics of the movement of the sense organs are “likened” to the properties of perceived objects (see Perceptual actions), and it is quite obvious that such an active “likening” is at the same time a reconstruction, restoration, and not a passive copying. Of great importance for overcoming naive-associative views on O. were the works of representatives of Gestalt psychology, who rightly rejected the existence of isolated O., from which perception is built as a result of association. It was clearly shown that the same stimulus does not always generate the same O., on the contrary, it can be felt very differently depending on the whole in which it appears. Currently, the problems of perception are being intensively developed in the psychophysics of sensory processes and various branches of psychology.

The diversity of the environment reflects the qualitative diversity of the surrounding world. O.'s classification may have different bases. 1. The division of visual perception by modality is widespread, in connection with which visual, auditory, tactile, and other visual sensors are distinguished. Within individual modalities, a more detailed classification into qualities or submodalities is possible, for example, spatial and color visual visual signals. Known difficulties for such a classification represents the existence of intermodal O., or synesthesia. 2. English physiologist Ch. Sherrington (1906) proposed a classification of oxygen based on the anatomical position of the receptors and their function. He identified 3 main classes of oxygen: 1) exteroceptive, arising from the influence of external stimuli on receptors that are located on the surface of the body; 2) proprioceptive, reflecting the movement and relative position of body parts due to the work of receptors located in muscles, tendons and joint capsules (see Proprioceptors); 3) interoceptive (organic), signaling with the help of special receptors about the occurrence of metabolic processes in the internal environment of the body (see Interoceptors, Organic sensations). In turn, exteroceptive perceptions are divided into distant (visual, auditory) and contact (tactile, gustatory). Olfactory perceptions occupy an intermediate position between these subclasses of exteroception. This classification does not take into account the known independence of O.’s function from the morphological localization of receptors. In particular, visual images can have an important kinesthetic function (N.A. Bernstein, J. Gibson). 3. An attempt to create a genetic classification of O. was made by the English. neurologist X. Head (1918), who identified the more ancient protopathic sensitivity and the younger epicritic.

O. arises in phylogenesis on the basis of elementary irritability as sensitivity to stimuli that do not have direct environmental significance (neutral stimuli), thereby reflecting the objective connection between biotic and abiotic environmental factors. In contrast to the activities of animals, the activities of humans are mediated by his practical activities and the entire process of historical development of society. Numerous data on the possibility of broad restructuring of sensitivity under the influence of objective labor activity speak in favor of the historical understanding of philosophy as “a product of the development of all world history” (K. Marx). As a source of human knowledge about the world around us, oxygen enters into the integral process of cognition, forming the sensory fabric of human consciousness. A variety of psychosensory disorders should be distinguished from true O. See also Duration of sensation, Intensity of sensation.

FEELING

constructing images of individual properties of objects in the surrounding world in the process of direct interaction with them. The classifications of sensations use different bases. According to modality, visual, gustatory, auditory, tactile and other sensations are distinguished. Based on the neurophysiological substrate, exteroceptive, proprioceptive and interoreceptive sensations are distinguished. Based on genetic basis (G. Head, 1918), more ancient protopathic and younger epicritic sensitivity are distinguished.

FEELING

Sensation; Empfmdung) is a psychological function that comprehends immediate reality with the help of the senses.

“By sensation I understand what the French psychologists call “la fonction du reel” (the function of reality), which constitutes the totality of my awareness of external facts received by me through the function of my senses. Sensation tells me that something is, it is not tells me what it is, but only testifies that this something is present” (AP, p. 18).

“Sensation should be strictly distinguished from feeling, because feeling is a completely different process, which can, for example, join sensation as a “sensual coloring”, “sensory tone.” Sensation refers not only to external physical stimulation, but also to internal, that is, to changes in internal organic processes" (PT, par. 775).

“Therefore, sensation is, first of all, sensory perception, i.e., perception accomplished through sensory organs and “bodily sense” (kinesthetic, vasomotor sensations, etc.). Sensation is, on the one hand, an element of representation, because it conveys representation is a perceptual image of an external object, on the other hand, an element of feeling, because through the perception of a bodily change it gives the feeling the character of affect. By transmitting bodily changes to consciousness, sensation is also a representative of physiological drives. However, it is not identical with them, because it is purely perceptual function" (ibid., par. 776).

"One should understand the difference between sensual (sensual) or concrete sensation and abstract sensation<...>The fact is that a specific sensation never appears in a “pure” form, but is always mixed with ideas, feelings and thoughts. On the contrary, abstract sensation is a differentiated mode of perception, which could be called "aesthetic" insofar as it, following its own principle, separates itself both from all admixture of differences inherent in the perceived object, and from all subjective admixture of feeling and thought, since he is thereby elevated to a degree of purity never accessible to concrete sensation. For example, the specific sensation of a flower conveys not only the perception of the flower itself, but also its stem, leaves, the place where it grows, etc. Moreover, it is immediately confused with feelings of pleasure or displeasure caused by the sight of a flower, or with olfactory perceptions evoked at the same time, or with thoughts, for example, about its botanical classification. On the contrary, abstract sensation immediately singles out some conspicuous sensory attribute of a flower, for example its bright red color, and makes it the sole or main content of consciousness, apart from all the above-mentioned impurities" (ibid., par. 777).

“Sensation, since it is an elementary phenomenon, is something unconditionally given, not subject to rational laws, as opposed to thinking or feeling. Therefore, I call it an irrational function, although the mind manages to introduce a large number of sensations into rational connections. Normal sensations are proportional, i.e. that is, when assessed, they correspond, to one degree or another, to the intensity of physical stimulation. Pathological sensations are not proportional, that is, they are either abnormally reduced or abnormally elevated; in the first case they are delayed, in the second they are exaggerated. Detention occurs from the predominance of another function over sensation - exaggeration from an abnormal merger with another function, for example, from the fusion of sensation with the still undifferentiated function of feeling or thought (PT, par. 779).

FEELING

sensation) Elementary particles of experience from which PERCEPTIONS and ideas are formed, i.e. light, sound, olfactory, tactile, taste, pain, heat, cold. The sensations depend on the organ being stimulated, and not on the object stimulating it.

FEELING

The first stage of human cognitive activity. O. is a reflection of the properties of objects in the objective world, both the external environment and one’s own body. They arise as a result of the influence of objects in the external world on the senses. O. represent the process of sensory-figurative reflection of objects and phenomena in the unity of their properties. The process of perception is formed on the basis of sensations. Sensations are distinguished by modality (visual, auditory, etc.). Three main classes of O.: exteroceptive (distant and contact); proprioceptive or kinesthetic; interoceptive or organic. In the genetic aspect, H. Head shared the more ancient protopathic and younger epicritic sensitivity.

Feeling

According to my understanding, it is one of the main psychological functions (see). Wundt [For the history of the concept of sensation, see /78- Bd.I. S.350; 117; 118; 119/] also considers sensation one of the elementary mental phenomena. Sensation or the process of sensation is that psychological function that, through mediation, transmits physical irritation to perception. Therefore, sensation is identical with perception. Sensation should be strictly distinguished from feeling, because feeling is a completely different process, which can, for example, join sensation as a “sensory coloring”, “sensory tone”. Sensation refers not only to external physical irritation, but also to internal, that is, to changes in internal organic processes.

Therefore, sensation is, first of all, sensory perception, that is, perception accomplished through sensory organs and “bodily sense” (kinesthetic, vasomotor sensations, etc.). Sensation is, on the one hand, an element of representation, because it conveys to the representation a perceptual image of an external object, on the other hand, it is an element of feeling, because through the perception of a bodily change it gives the feeling the character of affect (see). By transmitting bodily changes to consciousness, sensation is also a representative of physiological drives. However, it is not identical with them, because it is a purely perceptual function.

One should distinguish between sensual (sensual) or concrete (q.v.) sensation and abstract sensation (q.v.). The first includes the forms discussed above. The latter designates an abstract type of sensation, that is, isolated from other psychological elements. The fact is that a specific sensation never appears in a “pure” form, but is always mixed with ideas, feelings and thoughts. On the contrary, abstract sensation is a differentiated kind of perception, which could be called "aesthetic" insofar as it, following its own principle, separates itself both from all admixture of differences inherent in the perceived object, and from all subjective admixture of feeling and thought, and because he is thereby elevated to a degree of purity never accessible to concrete sensation. For example, the specific sensation of a flower conveys not only the perception of the flower itself, but also its stem, leaves, the place where it grows, etc. Moreover, it is immediately confused with feelings of pleasure or displeasure caused by the sight of the flower, or with those caused by at the same time with olfactory perceptions, or with thoughts, for example, about its botanical classification. On the contrary, abstract sensation immediately singles out some conspicuous sensory attribute of a flower, for example its bright red color, and makes it the sole or main content of consciousness, apart from all the above-mentioned impurities. Abstract sensation is inherent mainly in the artist. It, like any abstraction, is a product of functional differentiation, and therefore there is nothing original in it. The initial form of functions is always concrete, that is, mixed (see archaism and concretism). A concrete sensation, as such, is a reactive phenomenon. On the contrary, abstract sensation, like any abstraction, is never free from will, that is, from the directing element. The will aimed at the abstraction of sensation is an expression and confirmation of the aesthetic attitude of sensation.

Sensation is especially characteristic of the nature of the child and primitive man, since it, in any case, dominates thinking and feeling, but not necessarily over intuition (see). For I understand sensation as conscious perception, and intuition as unconscious sensation. Sensation and intuition seem to me to be a pair of opposites or two functions that mutually compensate each other, like thinking and feeling. The functions of thinking and feeling develop as independent functions from sensation, both ontogenetically and phylogenetically. (Of course, also from intuition, as it necessarily complements the opposite of sensation.) An individual whose attitude as a whole is oriented by sensation belongs to the sensing (sensitive) type (see)

Sensation, since it is an elementary phenomenon, is something unconditionally given, not subject to rational laws, as opposed to thinking or feeling. Therefore, I call it an irrational function (see), although reason manages to introduce a large number of sensations into rational connections. Normal sensations are proportional, that is, when assessed, they correspond - to varying degrees - to the intensity of physical stimulation. Pathological sensations are disproportionate, that is, they are either abnormally reduced or abnormally elevated; in the first case they are delayed, in the second they are exaggerated. Retention arises from the predominance of another function over sensation; exaggeration comes from an abnormal merger with another function, for example, from the fusion of sensation with a still undifferentiated function of feeling or thought. But in this case, the exaggeration of the sensation stops as soon as the function merged with the sensation differentiates itself. Particularly clear examples are provided by the psychology of neuroses, where very often a significant sexualization of other functions is found (Freud), that is, the fusion of sexual sensations with other functions.

FEELING

constructing images of individual properties of objects in the external world in the process of direct interaction with them. From the standpoint of materialism, according to the theory of reflection, sensations are truly a direct connection between consciousness and the outside world, the transformation of the energy of external stimuli into facts of consciousness - into information. They provide a direct connection between consciousness and the external environment, reflecting the properties of objects in the objective world. Reflection in sensation is the result of not just the impact of an object on a living being, but the result of their interaction - the interaction of processes that meet each other halfway and give rise to an act of cognition; the result of the interaction of the organism with the physical and chemical properties of the environment when they directly affect the receptors.

In the act of sensation through the senses, a connection with the environment is established. It is in it that the transition of the energy of the external world into an act of consciousness takes place. Images of sensations perform regulatory, cognitive and emotional functions. Sensations and the preservation of their traces are the natural basis of the psyche in phylogenesis and ontogenesis.

The central pattern of sensations is the existence of a perception threshold.

Within the framework of the reflex concept of I.M. Sechenov and I.P. Pavlov conducted studies that showed that according to physiological mechanisms, sensation is an integral reflex that unites the peripheral and central parts of the analyzer through direct and reverse connections.

The problems of sensations are being intensively developed in the psychophysics of sensory processes and various branches of physiology. The variety of sensations reflects the qualitative diversity of the world.

Classification of sensations can be carried out on different grounds. They, like perceptions, can be classified by modality, highlighting visual, gustatory, auditory, tactile sensations, etc. Within individual modalities, a more detailed classification is possible - for example, spatial and color visual sensations. Intermodal sensations, or synesthesia, present known difficulties for such a classification.

You can divide sensations into contact and distant.

One of the classifications identifies three main classes of sensations:

1) exteroceptive sensations that arise when external stimuli act on receptors located on the surface of the body; they, in turn, are divided into two subclasses: a) distant - visual, auditory; b) contact - tactile, gustatory; olfactory sensations occupy an intermediate position between these subclasses.

2) proprioceptive (kinesthetic) sensations, reflecting the movement and relative position of body parts (due to the work of receptors located in muscles, tendons and joint capsules);

3) interoceptive (organic) sensations, signaling with the help of specialized receptors about the occurrence of metabolic processes in the internal environment of the body.

But this classification does not take into account the known independence of the function of sensations from the morphological localization of receptors. Thus, visual sensations can perform an important proprioceptive function.

There are known attempts to create a genetic classification of sensations (G. Head, 1918). Thus, the more ancient - eryopathic and younger - epicritic sensitivity are distinguished. Protopathic sensations, unlike epicritic ones, do not provide an exact localization of the source of irritation either in external space or in the space of the body, are characterized by a constant affective coloring and reflect subjective states rather than objective processes.

According to the concepts developed in Russian psychology, sensation arises in phylogenesis on the basis of elementary irritability - as sensitivity to stimuli that do not have direct environmental significance, reflecting the connection between biotic and abiotic environmental factors.

Unlike the sensations of animals, human sensations are mediated by his practical activities and the entire process of historical development of society. From the standpoint of materialism, in favor of understanding sensation as a product of the development of the entire world history, there are numerous data on the possibility of wide restructuring of sensitivity under the influence of objective work activity, as well as on the dependence of the perception of individual properties of objects on socially developed systems of sensory qualities (such as the system of phonemes of the native language, scales musical or color tones).

sensation) - feeling: the result of processing in the brain information about the objects surrounding a person, which enters it in the form of messages (signals) from receptors. Messages coming from exteroceptors are interpreted by the brain in the form of specific sensations - visual and auditory images, smell, taste, temperature, pain, etc. Messages coming from interoceptors usually very rarely reach consciousness and cause any sensations to arise in a person.

Feeling

Kinds. The classifications of sensations use different bases. According to modality, visual, gustatory, auditory, tactile and other sensations are distinguished. Based on the neurophysiological substrate, exteroceptive, proprioceptive and interoreceptive sensations are distinguished. On the basis of genetics, G. Head (1918) identified the more ancient protopathic and younger epicritic sensitivity.

FEELING

1. Any unprocessed, elementary experience of feeling or awareness of some conditions inside or outside the body, caused by the stimulation of some receptor or system of receptors, sensory data. This definition represents a kind of operational principle for a number of theories of sensory experience and is what is presented in most introductory textbooks, where sensation is usually distinguished from perception, the latter being characterized as resulting from the interpretation and detailed elaboration of sensations. However, many psychologists dispute the very idea that one can have any sensation at all without elaborating, interpreting, labeling, or recognizing what it is. 2. In Titchener’s structuralism, it is one of the three basic elements of consciousness (along with feelings and images). 3. The process of sensation. 4. The name of the field of psychology that studies these basic processes of sensory experience. The main focus here is on the study of physiological and psychophysical principles.

Sensation is the simplest mental process that arises as a result of the impact on the senses of objects or phenomena of the material world and consists in reflecting the individual properties of these objects or phenomena.

With the help of sensations, we recognize the properties of things around us: their hardness or softness, roughness or smoothness, their heaviness, temperature, smell and taste, the colors of these things, the sounds they make. In addition, sensations give us information about changes in our own body: we feel the movement and position of individual parts of our body, disturbances in the functioning of internal organs, etc.

Sensations, being a reflection of the properties of the external world, provide material for other, more complex cognitive processes: perceptions, ideas, memories, thinking processes. “Otherwise, as through sensations,” Lenin wrote, “we cannot learn anything about any forms of matter or any forms of motion.”

Material things and processes that affect the senses are called stimuli, and the process of this impact is called irritation. The process that occurs in nervous tissue as a result of irritation is called excitation. When excitation along the centripetal nerves reaches the cerebral cortex, a sensation arises.

I. P. Pavlov proposed calling the entire anatomical and physiological apparatus necessary to obtain sensation an analyzer. Every analyzer consists of three parts: a sensory organ (receptor), centripetal nerves and corresponding parts of the brain. If any part of the analyzer is destroyed, the occurrence of the corresponding sensations becomes impossible. For example, visual sensations cease when the eyes are damaged, when the optic nerves are cut, and when the corresponding areas of the cortex are destroyed.

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the term “sense organs” has a conditional meaning. It became widespread at a time when science had not yet made a clear distinction between sensations and feelings. Now, as we know, the word “feeling” denotes a special mental process that is significantly different from sensations. It would therefore be more correct to call receptors not sense organs, but sensory organs.

In the same conventional sense, the word “sense” is used in the expressions: “sense of vision”, “sense of taste”, “vibrational sense”, etc., denoting the ability to have visual, gustatory, vibrational sensations, etc. When encountering such designations, we must remember that they do not refer to “feelings” in the real sense of the word, but to sensations.

The cerebral hemispheres represent the central ends of analyzers that distinguish between external influences and internal states of the body. “In the highest floor of the central nervous system,” notes I. P. Pavlov, “we have the ends of the finest and infinitely varied analyzers.” The brain end of the visual analyzer is located mainly in the occipital lobe of the cortex, the auditory analyzer - mainly in the temporal lobe.

Types of sensations

All sensations can be divided into two groups:

1) Sensations that reflect the properties of things or phenomena located outside of us. The organs of these sensations are located on the surface of the body or close to it.

2) Sensations that reflect the movements of individual parts of our body and the state of our internal organs. The organs of these sensations are located deep in the tissues (for example, muscles) or on the surface of internal organs (for example, in the walls of the stomach, respiratory tract).

The first group includes visual, vocal, olfactory, gustatory and skin sensations.

1. Visual sensations.

The irritant for the organ of vision is light, i.e. electromagnetic waves having a length from 390 to 800 millimicrons (a millimicron is a millionth of a millimeter).

Everything we see has some color. Only an object that is completely transparent and, therefore, invisible can be colorless. Therefore we can say that visual sensations are sensations of colors.

All colors are divided into two large groups: achromatic colors and chromatic colors. Achromatic colors include white, black and all grays, chromatic colors include all the rest, i.e. red, yellow, green, blue with all sorts of shades.

2. Auditory sensations.

The irritant for the organ of hearing is sound waves, i.e. longitudinal vibrations of air particles propagating in all directions from the sound source.

Sound waves are divided into: frequency of vibrations, amplitude, or range, of vibrations and shape of vibrations. Accordingly, auditory sensations have the following three sides: pitch, which is a reflection of the frequency of vibrations, volume - a reflection of the amplitude of vibrations, and timbre - a reflection of the shape of vibrations. Our hearing organ is sensitive to vibrations ranging from 16 vibrations per second to 20,000 vibrations per second. Vibrations with a frequency of more than 20,000 vibrations per second, inaccessible to our hearing, are called ultrasound.

Sounds, according to the nature of the sensations they cause, are divided into musical sounds (sounds of singing, musical instruments, tuning forks) and noises (all kinds of creaks, rustles, knocks, crackling, rumble, etc.). Speech consists of both musical sounds (mainly vowels) and noises (mainly consonants).

3. Olfactory sensations.

The olfactory organs are the olfactory cells located in the upper part of the nasal cavity. The olfactory organ is irritated by particles of odorous substances that enter the nose along with the air.

4. Taste sensations.

The irritants for the taste organ - taste buds - are dissolved (in water or saliva) flavoring substances.

The sense of taste has four different qualities: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. The variety of tastes of various foods largely depends on the addition of olfactory sensations to the taste sensations. If the sense of smell is completely excluded, the taste of tea, coffee and quinine in the corresponding solutions becomes the same.

5. Skin sensations.

The skin, as well as the mucous membrane of the mouth and nose, can give sensations of four types: a) sensations of touch, or tactile sensations, b) sensations of cold, c) sensations of warmth and d) sensations of pain. Some points of the skin give only tactile sensations (touch points), others - only sensations of cold (cold points), others - only sensations of warmth (heat points), and fourth - only sensations of pain (pain points). It is easy to verify by simple experiment the existence of cold spots. To do this, you need to slowly draw the tip of a pencil, lightly touching the skin, over your closed eyelids; From time to time you will get a momentary feeling of cold.

The sensitivity of different areas of the skin to each of these four types of sensations is different. Sensitivity to touch is greatest at the tip of the tongue and at the tips of the fingers, that is, on the most mobile organs; the back, for example, is very little sensitive to touch. Pain sensitivity is distributed completely differently: the skin of the back and cheeks is most sensitive to pain, and the least sensitive is the skin on the fingertips and palms. Thus, those areas of the skin that we use most to feel are the least painful; they are most “hardened” against pain. As for the sensations of heat and cold, those parts of the skin that are usually covered by clothing are most sensitive to them: the skin of the lower back, abdomen, and chest.

The second group includes motor sensations, sensations of balance and organic sensations.

1. Motor sensations.

Their receptors are located in muscles, tendons and on articular surfaces. Motor sensations provide signals about the degree of muscle contraction and the position of our limbs, for example, how much the arm is bent at the shoulder, elbow or wrist joint.

The combination of skin and motor sensations obtained by feeling objects, that is, by touching them with a moving hand, is called touch. The organ of touch is the hand with all its skin, muscle and joint receptors. The hand as an organ of touch first appears in monkeys, but reaches full development only in humans, becoming a tool for him.

Skin sensations themselves signal only the fact of an object touching the body and the location of this touch. When a fly lands on our forehead, we easily notice it, but we can just as easily be misled and mistake the touch of a straw, brush, blade of grass or piece of paper for a fly. To more accurately determine the properties of an object touching the skin, its hardness, softness, roughness, smoothness, shape, outline, etc., you need to feel it. For example, the sensations of hardness and softness depend mainly on how much resistance the body provides when pressure is applied to it; therefore, it is impossible to determine the degree of hardness or softness of objects without the participation of motor sensations.

2. Feelings of balance.

Their receptors are located in the inner ear and provide signals about the movement and position of the head. These sensations play an extremely important role in flying; Therefore, when determining a pilot’s suitability for work, the activity of these organs is always tested.

3. Organic feel.

Their receptors are located in the walls of most internal organs: the esophagus, stomach, intestines, blood vessels, lungs, etc. Organic include the sensations that we have during hunger, thirst, satiety, nausea, internal pain, etc. So far we are completely healthy, well-fed, in general, when the internal organs work normally, we do not notice almost any organic sensations; they mainly give signals about disturbances in the functioning of internal organs. Research by the Pavlovian school, primarily the work of K. M. Bykov, showed that impulses directed to the cortex from the internal organs, without being clearly conscious, underlie the general “well-being” of a person. Internal analyzers monitor, check the chemical composition and blood pressure, the condition of organs and their functioning; at the same time, they can enter into temporary communication with analyzers that bring information about external objects.

Sensation is a reflection of specific, individual properties, qualities, aspects of objects and phenomena of material reality affecting the senses at a given moment.
The physiological basis of sensations is the complex activity of the sense organs.
An anatomical and physiological apparatus specialized for receiving the effects of certain stimuli from the external and internal environment and processing them into sensations is called an analyzer. Each analyzer consists of three parts:

1. Receptor is a sensory organ that converts the energy of external influence into nerve signals. Each receptor is adapted to receive only certain types of influence (light, sound), i.e. has a specific excitability to certain physical and chemical agents.
2. Nerve pathways - along them nerve signals are transmitted to the brain.
3. Brain center in the cerebral cortex.

Sensations are objective, since they always reflect an external stimulus, and on the other hand, they are subjective, since they depend on the state of the nervous system and individual characteristics.

The English physiologist I. Sherrington identified three main classes of sensations:
1. Exteroceptive sensations reflect the properties of objects and phenomena in the external environment (“five senses”). These include visual, auditory, taste, temperature and tactile sensations. Receptors are located on the surface of the body.
2. Interoreceptive sensations reflect the state of the internal organs. These include sensations of pain, hunger, thirst, nausea, suffocation, etc. Painful sensations signal damage and irritation of human organs and are a unique manifestation of the body’s protective functions.
3. Proprioceptive sensations (muscular-motor). These are sensations that reflect the position and movements of our body. With the help of muscle-motor sensations, a person receives information about the position of the body in space, the relative position of all its parts, the movement of the body and its parts, the contraction, stretching and relaxation of muscles, the condition of joints and ligaments, etc.
Group I - distant sensations:
1. Vision - electromagnetic vibrations, reflection of light from objects.
2. Hearing - sound vibrations.
3. Smell - odorous particles, chemical analysis.
Group II - contact sensations:
4. Tactile - sensations of touch and pressure. Even a slight decrease in tactile sensitivity negatively affects the psyche. Most sensitive:
a) tongue
b) lips,
c) fingertips.
5. Temperature - separate receptors for cold and heat. Body temperature is taken as 0.
6. Taste - receptors in the papillae of the tongue that respond to the chemical composition of food.
7. Vibration sensitivity - reaction to low-frequency environmental vibrations. The most ancient sensitivity. The progenitor of hearing and tactile sensations. There are no special receptors; all body tissues are involved in transmitting information.
8. Pain sensitivity - serves the instinct of self-preservation. People without pain sensitivity do not live to be 10 years old.
Group III - sensations related to the body itself:
Sensations about events inside the body.
9. Vestibular - determine how the body is positioned in relation to gravity. Needed to understand where is up and where is down. Receptors in the inner ear.
10. Muscular – kinesthetic, dynamic, musculoskeletal, proprioception. Special sensors in all muscles, tendon attachments and joints. React to tension and relaxation. Thanks to them, we can tell what our body is doing with our eyes closed. All types of skeletal movements are regulated by the psyche with the participation of muscle sensations.
11. Introceptive sensations - interoreception - the combined result of the work of several types of sensors inside the body (chemoreceptors - chemical events inside the body, baroreceptors - react to changes in pressure, pain, etc.). Often they do not reach the psyche, the realization. Controlled by subcortical structures. What comes to consciousness (Sechenov): “the dark gross feeling of the body” is poorly understood, undifferentiated. Events within the body influence types of sensory sensitivities externally.

Properties of sensations:
1. Adaptation is the adaptation of sensitivity to constantly acting stimuli.
2. Contrast - a change in the intensity and quality of sensations under the influence of a previous or accompanying stimulus.
3. Sensitization - increased sensitivity under the influence of the interaction of sensations and exercises.
4. Synesthesia manifests itself in the fact that sensations of one modality can be accompanied by sensations of another modality.
Not every stimulus that affects the receptor endings of one or another analyzer is capable of causing a sensation. To do this, it is necessary that the stimulus has a certain magnitude or strength.
The lower absolute threshold of sensation is the minimum magnitude, or strength, of a stimulus at which it is capable of causing nervous excitation in the analyzer sufficient for the occurrence of sensation.
The absolute sensitivity of one or another sense organ is characterized by the value of the lower threshold of sensation. The lower the value of this threshold, the higher the sensitivity of this analyzer. Most analyzers have very high sensitivity. For example, the absolute lower threshold of auditory sensation, measured in units of pressure of air sound waves on the eardrum, is on average 0.001 boron in humans. How great this sensitivity is can be judged by the fact that one boron is equal to one millionth of normal atmospheric pressure. The sensitivity of the visual analyzer is even higher. The absolute lower threshold for the sensation of light is 2.5-10" erg/sec. With such sensitivity, the human eye can detect light at a distance of one kilometer, the intensity of which is only a few thousandths of a normal candle.
The upper absolute threshold of sensation corresponds to the maximum value of the stimulus, above which this stimulus ceases to be felt. Thus, the absolute upper threshold of audibility of tones in humans is on average 20,000 vibrations of sound waves per second.