Rational activity or elementary thinking of animals as a form of behavior regulation. Features of thinking and intelligence of man and animals Rational activity of man

The presence of the elements of reason in higher animals does not raise doubts among any of the scientists at the present time. Intellectual behavior represents the pinnacle of mental development in animals. At the same time, as L.V. Krushinsky, it is not something out of the ordinary, but only one of the manifestations of complex forms of behavior with their innate and acquired aspects. Intellectual behavior is not only closely related to various forms of instinctive behavior and learning, but it is itself composed of individually changeable components of behavior. It gives the greatest adaptive effect and contributes to the survival of individuals and the continuation of the genus with sharp, rapidly occurring changes in the environment. At the same time, the intellect of even the highest animals is undoubtedly at a lower stage of development than the intellect of man, therefore it would be more correct to call it elementary thinking, or the rudiments of thinking. The biological study of this problem has come a long way, and all major scientists have invariably returned to it. The history of the study of elementary thinking in animals has already been discussed in the first sections of this manual, therefore in this chapter we will only try to systematize the results of its experimental study.

According to leading Russian psychologists, the criteria for the presence of the rudiments of thinking in animals can be the following signs:

• - "emergency appearance of an answer in the absence of a ready-made solution" (Luria);
• - "cognitive highlighting objective conditions essential for action ”(Rubinstein);
• - “generalized, mediated nature of the reflection of reality; finding and discovering something essentially new ”(Brushlinsky);
• - "the presence and implementation of intermediate goals" (Leontiev).

Human thinking has a number of synonyms, such as: "mind", "intellect", "reason", etc. However, when using these terms to describe the thinking of animals, it must be borne in mind that, no matter how complex their behavior is, we can only talk about the elements and rudiments of the corresponding mental functions of humans.

The most correct is the one proposed by L.V. Krushinsky the term rational activity. It allows you to avoid the identification of thought processes in animals and humans. The most characteristic property of the rational activity of animals is their ability to grasp the simplest empirical laws that connect objects and environmental phenomena, and the ability to operate with these laws when constructing programs of behavior in new situations.

Rational activity is different from any form of learning. This form of adaptive behavior can be carried out at the first meeting of an organism with unusual situation created in its habitat. The fact that an animal immediately, without special training, can make a decision to adequately perform a behavioral act, is the unique feature of rational activity as an adaptive mechanism in diverse, constantly changing environmental conditions. Reasoning activity allows us to consider the adaptive functions of the body not only as self-regulating, but also self-selecting systems. This means the body's ability to make an adequate choice of biologically most appropriate forms of behavior in new situations. By definition L.V. Krushinsky, rational activity is the implementation of an adaptive behavioral act by an animal in an emergency situation. This unique way of adaptation of the organism to the environment is possible in animals with a well-developed nervous system.

Is there an insurmountable border between human thinking and the elements of the rational activity of animals? Is our species absolutely unique in this respect? And to what extent are these differences qualitative, or maybe they are only quantitative? And can we say that all our abilities, such as mind, consciousness, memory, speech, the ability to generalize, to abstraction, are so unique? Or, perhaps, all this is a direct continuation of those tendencies in the evolution of higher nervous activity that are observed in the animal kingdom?

These questions are answered by the head of the laboratory of physiology and genetics of behavior, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, doctor biological sciences Zoya Alexandrovna Zorina: “The unique abilities of a person, his thinking really have biological prerequisites. And between the human psyche and the psyche of animals there is no that impassable abyss that for a long time was somehow attributed and implied by default. Moreover, in mid XIX century Darwin said about this that the difference between the psyche of man and animals, no matter how great it is, this is a difference in degree, not in quality. "

Consequently, at some point, they stopped believing Darwin.

Maybe they didn’t believe it or were left aside. Then this thought was too prescient. And this is not a question of faith, but of facts and evidence. Experimental study of the psyche of animals began in the XX century, at the very beginning of the XX century. And the entire XX century is a history of discoveries, a history of approaching the recognition of the position that human thinking clearly has biological prerequisites, including its most complex forms, such as human speech. And proof of the latter position was achieved only at the end of the 20th century, the last third. And now these studies continue to develop rapidly and brilliantly. The fact that primates approach humans, especially anthropoids, is somehow imaginable. But a more unexpected and not so fitting fact is that the rudiments of thinking, in general, appeared at earlier stages of phylogenetic development in more primitive animals. Human thinking has far and deep roots.

Is there a definition of thinking at all? How to formally draw the line between instinctive, meaningless behavior and just thinking?

Let's start from the definition of thinking given by psychologists that thinking is primarily a generalized mediated reflection of reality. Do animals have it? There is. In various degrees, it is studied and shown to what extent it is generalized and with whom and to what extent it is mediated. Further: thinking is based on voluntary manipulation of images. And this side of the psyche of animals has also been studied and shown that it is. A good key is the definition of Alexander Luria, who said that the act of thinking occurs only when the subject has a motive that makes the task relevant, and its solution is necessary, and when the subject does not have a ready-made solution. What does finished mean? When there is no instinctive, sealed program, algorithm, instinct.

The algorithm can be written, but the solution to the problem is much more difficult to obtain.

When an animal does not have this hereditary algorithm, when there is no opportunity to learn it, there is no time and conditions to make trials and mistakes that underlie the acquired behavior, and when a solution needs to be created urgently, right now, based on some express information. Thinking is solving problems, on the one hand, on the other hand, a parallel process is a constant processing of information, its generalization, abstraction. In humans, this is the formation of verbal concepts, and in animals, since there are no words, it seems that there should not be generalizations. Modern research is one of the aspects of the development of the science of thinking animals, the study of their ability to generalize, that is, to mentally unite objects, phenomena, events according to their common essential properties. It turns out that animals are capable not only of such a primitive empirical generalization in color, in form, but they are able to highlight rather abstract features when information, as a result of generalization, acquires a highly abstract form, although it is not associated with a word. I will give an example from our research - this is a generalization of the sign of similarity. Here the crows we work for are able to learn to sort the pairs of stimuli presented to them for selection, to choose from them the stimulus that is similar to the sample offered to them. First, the bird is shown a black card, in front of it there are two feeders, covered with a black lid and a white lid. She long and hard learns to choose black if the sample is black, to choose white if the sample is white. This requires a lot of time and work from us and from the bird. And then we show her the numbers. And now she sees the number two, chooses two, not three or five. Number three - selects three, not four or five. Chooses the same. When we offer her to choose, say, cards with different types of shading, she learns faster. Then we offer her a set: choose three points on the sample, then choose any stimulus, where there are three elements, let it be crosses, zeroes, whatever you like, but three, and on the other cards there are four, two, one. And with successive steps each time she needs to learn less and less time, although quite a bit. But there comes a moment, we call it a transference test, when we offer completely new stimuli, for example, instead of numbers from 1 to 4 - numbers from 5 to 8. For the right choice, every time she gets her reinforcement. To a well-trained raven, we present stimuli to a different category, new, unfamiliar to it. A new set of squiggles, from the very first time they clearly and completely choose according to the principle - the same, similar. And then we offered them figures of different shapes and offered to choose: there is a small figure on the sample, and two other geometric figures are offered for selection - one small, the other large, there is no more similarity, only size. And a crow, seeing a small square, chooses a small square, if there is a small pyramid on the sample. And this is a sign of another category - this is similarity in size, nothing similar, in common with the initial moment, choose black, if black is gone. It's high abstract feature: choose any stimulus that matches the pattern. In this case, similar in size, regardless of shape. Thus, our classic Leonid Aleksandrovich Firsov, a Leningrad primatologist, formulated ideas about pre-verbal concepts, when animals reach such a level of abstraction that they form concepts, pre-verbal concepts of similarity in general. And Firsov even had such a work "The pre-verbal language of monkeys." Because a lot of information, apparently, is stored in such an abstract form, but not verbalized. But the works of the late 20th century, mainly of our American colleagues, work on great apes show that under certain conditions monkeys can associate pre-verbal representations, pre-verbal concepts also with certain signs, not with oral words, they simply cannot pronounce anything, but they associate it with gestures of the language of the deaf or with icons of a certain artificial language.

Zoya Alexandrovna, say a few words about the evolutionary development of thinking. You can tell if there is any connection between the complexity of the structure nervous system and the complexity of the behavior? How did it evolve?

Speaking from the most general positions, the key here, probably, can be the long-standing work of Alexei Nikolaevich Severtsev, who said that the evolution of the psyche went not only in the direction of developing specific programs, such as instincts, but in the direction of increasing the potential ability to solve various kind of tasks, increasing a certain general plasticity. He said that in animals, highly organized animals, due to this, a kind of potential psyche or a spare mind is created. That's the higher the animal is organized, we see, in fact, it is in the experiment, then it is these potential abilities that manifest themselves, are revealed by experiment and sometimes manifest themselves in real life. When they began to observe the behavior of gorillas in nature, then, reading Shaler's diaries, one would think that he was watching a herd of cows, because: they fed there, slept, ate, crossed, such trees, other trees. But at the same time, the same gorillas, the same chimpanzees and all anthropoids are capable of solving a heap of problems, up to the development of the human language, which are completely absent, not to mention cows, I apologize, but are simply not in demand in their real behavior. And the reserve of cognitive abilities in highly organized animals is enormous. But the lower we go down, we move on to not so highly organized animals, this reserve, this potential psyche becomes less and less. And one of the tasks biological prerequisites thinking of a person not only to understand where the upper bar is and how they approach a person, but also to grope for the simplest things, some universals, where, from which everything originates.

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Alexander Markov

A hypothesis is proposed, according to which the qualitative difference between the intelligence of humans and apes is the lack of the latter's ability to think recursively, that is, to apply logical operations to the results of previous similar logical operations. The inability to recursion is due to the small capacity " working memory", Which in monkeys cannot simultaneously accommodate more than two or three concepts (in humans - up to seven).

Anna Smirnova

Anna Smirnova's report took place on January 24, 2018 at the Moscow Ethological Seminar at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution. A.N. Severtsov with the technical support of the Cultural and Educational Center "Arche".

Konstantin Anokhin

What are the principles of modern fundamental scientific theory consciousness? When was the first experimental evidence for the existence of episodic memory in animals? Neurobiologist Konstantin Anokhin on the scientific principles of the theory of consciousness, the phenomenon of "time travel" and episodic memory in animals.

Zoya Zorina, Inga Poletaeva

Tutorial is devoted to elementary thinking, or rational activity - the most complex form of animal behavior. For the first time, a synthesis of classical works and the latest data in this area, obtained by zoopsychologists, physiologists of higher nervous activity and ethologists, is offered to the reader's attention. The manual reflects the content of the lecture courses that the authors have been reading for many years at the Moscow State University them. MV Lomonosov and other universities. An extensive list of references is intended for those wishing to independently continue their acquaintance with the problem. The manual is intended for students and teachers of biological and psychological faculties of universities and pedagogical universities

Before talking about the elementary thinking of animals, it is necessary to clarify how psychologists define human thinking and intelligence. Currently, in psychology, there are several definitions of these complex phenomena, however, since this problem goes beyond the scope of our training course, we will restrict ourselves to the most general information.
According to the point of view of A.R. Luria, "the act of thinking arises only when the subject has a corresponding motive that makes the task relevant, and its solution necessary, and when the subject finds himself in a situation, regarding the way out of which he does not have a ready-made solution - a familiar one (that is, acquired in the learning process ) or congenital ".
It is quite obvious that this author has in mind acts of behavior, the program of which must be created urgently, in accordance with the conditions of the problem, and by their nature does not require actions that are trial and error.
Thinking is the most complex form of human mental activity, the pinnacle of its evolutionary development. A very important apparatus of human thinking, which significantly complicates its structure, is speech, which allows you to encode information using abstract symbols.
The term "intelligence" is used both broadly and narrowly. In a broad sense intelligence is the totality of all the cognitive functions of an individual, from sensation and perception to thinking and imagination, in a narrower sense, intelligence is actually thinking.

• In the process of human cognition of reality, psychologists note three main functions of intelligence:
  • ability to learn;
  • operating with symbols;
  • the ability to actively master the laws of the environment.
• Psychologists distinguish the following forms of human thinking:
  • demonstratively effective based on the direct perception of objects in the process of actions with them;
  • figurative based on ideas and images;
  • inductive based on a logical conclusion "from the particular to the general" (construction of analogies);
  • deductive based on a logical conclusion "from the general to the particular" or "from the particular to the particular", made in accordance with the rules of logic;
  • abstract-logical, or verbal, thinking, which is the most complex form.

8.2.1. Cognitive (cognitive) processes ()

Term "cognitive", or "cognitive", processes are used to designate those types of behavior of animals and humans, which are based not on a conditioned reflex response to external stimuli, but on the formation of internal (mental) perceptions of events and connections between them.
I.S. Beritashvili calls them psychic images, or psychic notions, L.A. Firsov (; 1993) - figurative memory... D. McFarland (1982) emphasizes that animal cognitive activity refers to thought processes, which are often inaccessible to direct observation, but their existence can be revealed in experiment.
Availability views is found in cases where the subject (man or animal) performs an action without the influence of any physically real stimulus. This is possible, for example, when he extracts information from memory or mentally replenishes the missing elements of the active stimulus. At the same time, the formation of mental representations may not manifest itself in any way in the executive activity of the organism and will be revealed only later, at some definite moment.
Internal views can reflect the most different types sensory information, not only absolute, but also relative signs of stimuli, as well as the relationship between different stimuli and between events of past experience. By figurative expression, the animal creates a kind of internal picture of the world, including a complex of ideas "what where When"... They underlie the processing of information about the temporal, numerical and spatial characteristics of the environment and are closely related to memory processes. There are also figurative and abstract (abstract) representations. The latter are considered as the basis for the formation of pre-verbal concepts.
Methods for studying cognitive processes.
The main methods for studying cognitive processes are as follows:
1. The use of differentiated conditioned reflexes to assess the cognitive abilities of animals.
Various techniques based on the development of conditioned differentiation reflexes and their systems in animals are widely used to study cognitive processes in animals.
Such techniques may differ in their main parameters. The order of presentation of stimuli can be sequential or simultaneous.
On sequential presentation the animal must learn to give a positive response in response to stimulus A and to refrain from reacting when stimulus B is turned on. Development of differentiation, thus, consists in inhibiting the response to the second stimulus. At simultaneous upon presentation of a specific pair of stimuli, the animal learns to distinguish stimuli according to several absolute signs. For example, when differentiating stimuli according to their configuration, the animal is simultaneously shown two figures - a circle and a square and reinforcing the choice of one of them, for example, a circle. This is the most common type of conditioned differentiation reflexes. The development and strengthening of such a reaction requires, as a rule, many tens of combinations. Presentation of stimuli can be carried out in accordance with two modes: repetition of one pair of stimuli until the criterion is reached, and alternation of several pairs of stimuli with systematic variation of secondary parameters.
With a systematic variation of the secondary parameters of stimuli, it is possible to assess the ability of animals to distinguish not only a given specific pair of stimuli, but also their "generalized" signs that are the same for many couples.
For example, animals can be trained to distinguish not a specific circle and a square, but any circles and squares, regardless of their size, color, orientation, etc. To this end, in the learning process, each next time they are offered a new pair of stimuli (new circle and square). The new pair differs from the others in all secondary signs of stimuli - color, shape, size, orientation, etc., but is similar in their main parameter - geometric shape, which is supposed to be distinguished. As a result of such training, the animal gradually generalizes the main feature and distracts from the secondary ones, in this case the circle.
Thus, it is possible to investigate not only the ability of animals to learn, but also generalizability, which is one of the most important properties of animal pre-verbal thinking. One of the global questions that constantly confronts researchers is the search for differences in learning ability in different taxonomic groups as an assessment of the characteristics of their higher nervous activity.
As has been shown by many scientists, animals with different levels of structural and functional organization of the brain practically do not differ in the ability and speed of the development of simple forms. Conditioned reflex - (temporary connection) 1) a reflex developed under certain conditions during the life of an animal or person; 2) the concept introduced by I.P. Pavlov - to designate the dynamic connection between the conditioned stimulus and the individual's response, originally based on the unconditioned stimulus. In the course of experimental studies, the rules for the development of conditioned reflexes were determined: joint presentation of initially indifferent and unconditioned stimuli with some delay of the second; in the absence of reinforcement of the conditioned stimulus by the unconditioned, the temporary connection is gradually inhibited; 3) an acquired reflex, in which functional connections between receptor excitation and the characteristic response of effector organs are established in the learning process. In Pavlov's classic experiments, dogs were trained to associate the sound of a bell with the time of feeding, so that in response to the ringing of the bell, they began to produce saliva, regardless of whether they were given food or not; 4) a reflex formed when any initially indifferent stimulus approaches in time with the subsequent action of the stimulus causing an unconditioned reflex. The term conditioned reflex was proposed by I.P. Pavlov. As a result of the formation of a conditioned reflex, an irritant that had not previously elicited a corresponding reaction begins to cause it, becoming a signal (conditioned, i.e., found under certain conditions) stimulus. There are two types of conditioned reflexes: classical, obtained by the specified method, and instrumental (operant) conditioned reflexes, during the development of which unconditioned reinforcement is given only after the occurrence of a certain motor reaction of the animal (see Operant conditioning). The mechanism of the formation of a conditioned reflex was originally understood as paving the way between two centers - a conditioned reflex and an unconditioned reflex. At present, the concept of the mechanism of the conditioned reflex is accepted as a complex functional system with feedback, that is, organized according to the principle of a ring, not an arc. The conditioned reflex of animals form a signaling system in which the agents of their habitat are signal stimuli. In humans, along with the first signaling system generated by environmental influences, there is a second signaling system, where the word ("onmouseout =" nd (); "href =" javascript: void (0); "> conditioned reflexes... It was not possible to find similar differences in the formation of separate differentiation conditioned reflexes. However, thanks to their use as elementary learning units and the creation of their various combinations, several experimental techniques have been developed that allow assessing the ability to "complex forms of learning", or serial learning(see video).
2. Formation "Installation- the state of the subject's predisposition to a certain activity in a certain situation. The phenomenon was discovered by the German psychologist L. Lange in 1888. The general psychological theory of the set was developed on the basis of numerous experimental studies by the Georgian psychologist D.N. Uznadze and his school. Along with the unconscious simplest attitudes, more complex social attitudes, value orientations of the individual, etc. are distinguished ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> attitudes towards learning. "One of such methods is the method of forming "training mindset"... This test has found very wide application for assessing both the individual abilities of an animal and as a comparative method.
This method is as follows. First, the animal is taught simple differentiation - the choice of one of two stimuli, for example: eating from one of the two feeding troughs standing next to each other - the one that is constantly on the left. After the animal has developed a strong conditioned reflex to the location of the food, they begin to put it in the feeder located on the right. When the animal develops a new conditioned reflex, food is again put into the left trough. Upon completion of the second stage of learning, the third differentiation is formed, then the fourth, etc. Usually, after a sufficiently large number of differentiations, the rate of their production begins to increase. In the end, the animal ceases to act by trial and error, and, not finding food at the first presentation in the next series, already at the second presentation, it acts adequately, in accordance with the rule that it has learned earlier, which is usually called training set.
This rule is to "choose the same item as in the first trial if it was accompanied by reinforcement, or a different item if no reinforcement was received."
There are many modifications of this technique, in addition to the described form "left - right", it is possible to develop differentiated conditioned reflexes to a variety of stimuli. In Harlow's classic experiments, rhesus monkeys were trained to differentiate toys or small household items. Upon reaching a certain criterion for the development of differentiation, the following series was started: the animal was offered two new stimuli that were nothing like the first.
For the first time, a broad Comparative characteristics learning ability of animals of different taxonomic groups, which to a certain extent correlated with indicators of brain organization. At the same time, it is obvious that these results testified to the existence in animals of some kind of processes that go beyond the simple formation of conditioned differentiation reflexes. Harlow believes that in the course of this procedure, the animal "learns to learn." It frees itself from the stimulus-response relationship and moves from associative learning to insight-like learning from one sample.
L. A. Firsov believes that this type of learning in its essence and on the mechanisms underlying it is close to the process of generalization, in which a general rule for solving many problems of the same type is revealed.
3. Method of delayed reactions. This method is used to study presentation processes. It was proposed by W. Hunter in 1913 to assess the ability of an animal to respond to remember about the stimulus in the absence of this real stimulus and named by it delayed reaction method.
In Hunter's experiments, the animal (in this case, a raccoon) was placed in a cage with three identical and symmetrically spaced exit doors. A light bulb was briefly lit over one of them, and then the raccoon was given the opportunity to approach any of the doors. If he chose the door over which the light was lit, then he received reinforcement. With appropriate training, the animals chose the desired door even after a 25-second delay — the interval between turning off the light and being able to make a choice.
Later, this problem was somewhat modified by other researchers. In front of an animal with a sufficiently high level of food excitability, food is placed in one of two (or three) boxes. After the grace period has elapsed, the animal is released from the cage or the barrier separating it is removed. His task is to select a box with food.
Successful completion of the delayed response test is considered proof that the animal has mental picture about a hidden object (its image), i.e. the existence of some kind of brain activity, which in this case replaces information from the senses. Using this method, a study of delayed reactions in representatives of various animal species was carried out and it was demonstrated that their behavior can be directed not only by those acting in this moment incentives, but also stored in memory traces, images or ideas about missing stimuli.
In the classic test for delayed reactions, representatives of different species manifest themselves in different ways. Dogs, for example, after the food has been placed in one of the boxes, orient the body towards it and maintain this motionless posture during the entire period of the delay, and at the end of this posture they immediately rush forward and select the desired box. Other animals in such cases do not maintain a certain posture and can even walk around the cage, which does not prevent them from correctly detecting the bait. In chimpanzees, it is not just an idea of ​​expected reinforcement that is formed, but an expectation of a certain kind of it. So, if instead of the banana shown at the beginning of the experiment, after the postponement, the monkeys found a salad (less favorite), they refused to take it and looked for a banana. Much more complex behaviors are also controlled by mental representations. Numerous evidence of this was obtained both in special experiments and in observations of the daily behavior of monkeys in captivity and natural environment a habitat.
One of the most popular directions in the analysis of cognitive processes in animals is analysis of learning "spatial" skills using the methods of water and radial labyrinths.
Spatial learning. Modern theory"cognitive maps".
4. The method of teaching in labyrinths. The maze method is one of the oldest and most widely used methods for studying complex forms of animal behavior. Labyrinths can have different shapes and, depending on their complexity, can be used both in the study of conditioned reflex activity and to assess the cognitive processes of animals. An experimental animal placed in a labyrinth is tasked with finding a path to a specific goal, most often a food bait. In some cases, the goal may be a shelter or other favorable environment. Sometimes, when an animal deviates from the correct path, it receives punishment.
In its simplest form, a labyrinth looks like a T-shaped corridor or tube. In this case, when turning in one direction, the animal receives a reward, when turning to the other, it is left without a reward or even punished. More complex labyrinths are composed of various combinations of T-shaped or similar elements and dead ends, entry into which is regarded as an animal's mistake. The results of the passage of the maze by the animal are determined, as a rule, by the speed of achieving the goal and by the number of mistakes made.
The labyrinth method allows one to study both issues related directly to the ability of animals to learn and issues of spatial orientation, in particular the role of musculocutaneous and other forms of sensitivity, memory, the ability to transfer motor skills to new conditions, to the formation of sensory sensations, etc. etc. (see video)
To study the cognitive abilities of animals, they most often use .
Radial maze training. The method for studying the ability of animals to learn in a radial maze was proposed by the American researcher D. Alton.
Typically, a radial maze consists of a central chamber and 8 (or 12) beams, open or closed (in this case, called compartments, or corridors). In experiments on rats, the length of the rays of the labyrinth varies from 100 to 140 cm. For experiments on mice, the rays are made shorter. Before starting the experiment, food is placed at the end of each corridor. After the procedure of accustoming to the experimental environment, the hungry animal is placed in the central compartment, and it begins to enter the rays in search of food. When re-entering the same compartment, the animal no longer receives food, and such a choice is classified by the experimenter as erroneous.
In the course of the experiment, the rats form a mental picture of the spatial structure of the labyrinth. Animals remember which compartments they have already visited, and in the course of repeated training, the "mental map" of this environment is gradually improved. Already after 7-10 training sessions, the rat unmistakably (or almost unmistakably) enters only those compartments where there is reinforcement, and refrains from visiting those compartments where it has just been.

• The radial maze method allows you to evaluate:
  • formation of spatial memory animals;
  • the ratio of such categories of spatial memory as working and reference.

Working memory is usually called the preservation of information within one experience.
Reference memory stores information essential for mastering the labyrinth as a whole.
Division of memory into short and long term based on another criterion - the duration of the preservation of traces in time.
Work with a radial maze made it possible to identify in animals (mainly rats) the presence of certain search cmpame food.

• In the most general form such strategies are divided into allo- and egocentric:
  • at allocentric strategy when searching for food, an animal relies on its mental representation of the spatial structure of a given environment;
  • egocentric strategy based on the knowledge of specific landmarks by animals and comparison with them of the position of their body.

This division is largely arbitrary, and the animal, especially in the learning process, can use elements of both strategies in parallel. Evidence for the use of the allocentric strategy (mental map) by rats is based on numerous control experiments, during which either new landmarks "confusing" the path (or, conversely, prompts) are introduced, or the orientation of the entire maze relative to previously fixed coordinates changes, etc.
Training in the Morris water maze (water test). In the early 80s. Scottish researcher R. Morris suggested using the "water maze" to study the ability of animals to form spatial representations. The method became very popular and became known as the "Morris water maze".
The principle of the method is as follows. The animal (usually a mouse or rat) is released into a pool of water. There is no exit from the pool, but there is an invisible (the water is cloudy) underwater platform, which can serve as a refuge: having found it, the animal can get out of the water. In the next experiment, after a while, the animal is released to swim from another point of the pool perimeter. Gradually, the time that elapses from starting the animal to finding the platform is shortened, and the path is simplified. This testifies on the formation of his idea of ​​the spatial location of the platform on the basis of landmarks external to the basin... Such a mental map can be more or less accurate, and you can determine to what extent the animal remembers the position of the platform by moving it to a new position. In this case, the time the animal spends swimming above the old location of the platform will be an indicator of the strength of the memory trace.
The creation of special technical means for automating the experiment with a water labyrinth and software for analyzing the results made it possible to use such data for accurate quantitative comparisons of the behavior of animals in the test.
The "mental plan" of the labyrinth ... E. Tolman was one of the first to hypothesize the role of representations in animal learning in the 1930s. XX century (1997). Studying the behavior of rats in labyrinths of different designs, he came to the conclusion that the stimulus-response scheme generally accepted at that time could not satisfactorily describe the behavior of an animal that had mastered orientation in such a complex environment as a labyrinth. Tolman suggested that in the period between the action of the stimulus and the response, a certain chain of processes ("internal, or intermediate, variables") takes place in the brain that determine subsequent behavior. These processes themselves, according to Tolman, can be investigated strictly objectively by their functional manifestation in behavior.
In the process of learning, the animal forms a cognitive map - (from the Latin cognitio - knowledge, cognition) - an image of a familiar spatial environment. The cognitive map is created and modified as a result of the active interaction of the subject with the outside world. In this case, Cognitive maps of various degrees of generality can be formed, "onmouseout =" nd (); "href =" javascript: void (0); "> "cognitive map" all signs of a labyrinth, or "mental plan"... Then, on the basis of this "plan", the animal builds its behavior.
The formation of a "mental plan" can also occur in the absence of reinforcement, in the process of orientation-research activity. Tolman called this phenomenon Latent learning - the formation of certain skills in a situation where their direct implementation is not necessary and they are not in demand. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> latent learning .
I.S. Beritashvili (1974). He owns the term - "image-directed behavior"... Beritashvili demonstrated the ability of dogs to form ideas about the structure of space, as well as "psychic images" of objects. Pupils and followers of I.S. Beritashvili showed ways of modifying and improving figurative memory in the process of evolution, as well as in ontogenesis, based on data on the spatial orientation of animals.
The ability of animals to orientate in space. There are a number of approaches to the study of the formation of spatial representations in an animal. Some of them are related to the assessment of the orientation of animals in vivo. To study spatial orientation in a laboratory setting, two methods are most often used - radial and water mazes... The role of spatial representations and spatial memory in the formation of behavior is mainly studied in rodents, as well as in some species of birds.
Experimental study, mainly using the methods of labyrinths, of the ability of animals to navigate in space, has shown that when finding a path to a goal, animals can use different methods, which, by analogy with laying sea routes, these methods are called:

• dead reckoning;
• using landmarks;
• navigation on the map.

The animal can simultaneously use all three methods in different combinations, i.e. they are not mutually exclusive. At the same time, these methods are fundamentally different in the nature of the information that the animal relies on when choosing this or that behavior, as well as in the nature of those internal "ideas" that are formed in it.

• Let's take a closer look at the orientation methods.
  • Dead reckoning- the most primitive way of orientation in space; it is not related to external information. The animal tracks its movement, and the integral information about the traversed path, apparently, is provided by correlating this path and the elapsed time. This method is inaccurate, and precisely because of this, it is practically impossible to observe it in isolated form in highly organized animals.
  • Using landmarks often combined with "dead reckoning". This type of orientation is closely related to the formation of stimulus-response relationships. The peculiarity of "work on landmarks" is that the animal uses them strictly one at a time, "one at a time." The path that the animal remembers is a chain of associative links.
  • Terrain orientation("navigation on the map") the animal uses the objects and signs that it encounters as points of reference to determine its further path, including them in an integral picture of ideas about the terrain.

Numerous observations of animals in their natural habitat show that they are perfectly oriented in the area using the same methods. Each animal keeps in its memory a mental plan of its habitat.
So, experiments carried out on mice showed that the rodents living in a large aviary, which was a piece of forest, knew perfectly well the location of all possible shelters, sources of food, water, etc. An owl released into this enclosure was able to catch only individual young animals. At the same time, when mice and owls were released into the enclosure at the same time, owls caught almost all rodents during the first night. Mice that did not have time to form a cognitive plan of the area were not able to find the necessary hiding places.
Mental maps are also of great importance in the life of highly organized animals. Thus, according to J. Goodall (1992), the "map" stored in the memory of chimpanzees allows them to easily find food resources scattered over an area of ​​24 square meters. km within the Gombe nature reserve, and hundreds of square meters. km in populations living in other parts of Africa.
The spatial memory of monkeys stores not only the location of large food sources, for example large groups abundantly fruiting trees, but also the location of individual such trees and even single termite mounds. During, by at least several weeks, they remember where certain important events eg conflicts between communities. Long-term observations of V.S.Pazhetnov (1991) for brown bears in the Tver region made it possible to objectively characterize what role the mental plan of the area plays in the organization of their behavior. In the footsteps of the animal, the naturalist can reproduce the details of his hunt for large prey, the movements of the bear in the spring after leaving the den, and in other situations. It turned out that bears often use such techniques as "cutting off the path" during solitary hunting, walking around the victim for many hundreds of meters, etc. This is possible only if an adult bear has clear mental map area of ​​their habitat.
Latent learning. According to W. Thorp, latent learning is "... the formation of a connection between indifferent stimuli or situations in the absence of explicit reinforcement".
Elements of latent learning are present in almost any learning process, but can be identified only in special experiments.
In natural conditions, latent learning is possible due to the exploratory activity of the animal in a new situation. It is found not only in vertebrates. This or a similar ability for orientation on the ground is used, for example, by many insects. So, a bee or a wasp, before flying away from the nest, makes a "reconnaissance" flight over it, which allows it to fix in its memory the "mental plan" of a given area of ​​the terrain.
The presence of such "latent knowledge" is expressed in the fact that the animal, which was given a preliminary acquaintance with the experimental environment, learns faster than the control one, which did not have such an opportunity.
Learning "by choice"."Pattern selection" is one of the types of cognitive activity, also based on the formation of an animal's internal ideas about the environment. However, unlike learning in mazes, this experimental approach is associated with the processing of information not about spatial features, but about the relationships between stimuli - the presence of similarities or differences between them.
The "pattern selection" method was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. N.N. Ladygina-Kots and since then has been widely used in psychology and physiology. It consists in the fact that the animal is shown a stimulus-sample and two or more stimuli for comparison with it, reinforcing the choice of the one that corresponds to the sample.

• There are several options for "selection by pattern":
  • choice of two incentives - alternative;
  • choice from several incentives - multiple;
  • delayed choice- the animal selects a "pair" for the presented stimulus in the absence of a sample, focusing not on the real stimulus, but on its mental image, on representation about him.

When an animal selects the right stimulus, it receives reinforcement. After the reaction is consolidated, the stimuli begin to vary, testing how firmly the animal has learned the rules of choice. It should be emphasized that we are not talking about a simple development of a connection between a certain stimulus and a response, but about the process of forming regulations choice based on the idea of ​​the ratio of the sample and one of the stimuli.
The successful solution of the problem with a delayed choice also forces one to consider this test as a way to assess the cognitive functions of the brain and use it to study the properties and mechanisms of memory.

• There are basically two flavors of this method:
  • selection based on similarity with the sample;
  • selection based on differences from the sample.

Separately, it should be noted the so-called symbolic, or iconic, selection by sample. In this case, the animal is trained to select stimulus A when presented with stimulus X and stimulus B when presented with Y as a sample. In this case, stimuli A and X, B and Y should not have anything in common with each other. In teaching this technique, at first, purely associative processes play an essential role - memorizing the rule "if ... then ...".
Initially, the experiment was set up as follows: the experimenter showed the monkey an object - a sample, and she had to choose the same one from the other two or more objects offered to her. Then, direct contact with the animal, when the experimenter held the sample stimulus in his hands and took the stimulus chosen by the monkey, was replaced by modern experimental installations, including automated ones, which completely separated the animal and the experimenter. V last years for this purpose, computers with a touch-sensitive monitor are used, and the correctly selected stimulus automatically moves across the screen and stops next to the sample.
It is sometimes mistakenly believed that learning "by pattern" is the same as developing differentiating SDs. However, this is not so: during differentiation, only the formation of a reaction to the stimuli present at the moment of learning occurs.
When choosing by a model, the main role is played by the mental representation of the sample that is absent at the moment of choice and the identification, on its basis, of the relationship between the sample and one of the stimuli. The method of teaching selection by model, along with the development of differentiations, is used to reveal the ability of animals to generalize.

8.2.2. Investigation of the ability to reach the bait in the animal's field of view. Use of tools

With the help of problems of this type, a direct experimental study of the rudiments of animal thinking began. They were first used by V. Kehler (1930). In his experiments, problematic situations were created that were novelty for animals, and their structure allowed solve problems urgently, based on an analysis of the situation, without preliminary trial and error... V. Kohler offered his monkeys several tasks, the solution of which was possible only with the use of tools, i.e. foreign objects that expand the physical capabilities of the animal, in particular, "compensate" for the insufficient length of the limbs.
The problems used by W. Kohler can be arranged in the order of increasing complexity and different probabilities of using previous experience. Let's consider the most important of them.

8.2.2.1. Basket experience

This is a relatively simple task for which there seem to be analogs in vivo. The basket was hung under the roof of the enclosure and rocked with a rope. The banana lying in it could not be reached otherwise than by climbing the rafters of the aviary in a certain place and catching the swinging basket. Chimpanzees easily solved the problem, but this cannot be regarded with full confidence as an urgent new intelligent solution, since it is possible that they could have faced a similar task earlier and had experience of behavior in a similar situation.
The tasks described in the following sections represent the most famous and successful attempts to create problematic situations for an animal, to get out of which it has no ready-made solution but which can I decide b without prior trial and error.

8.2.2.2. Pulling the bait up by the strings

In the first variant of the problem, the bait lying behind the grate could be obtained by pulling the strings attached to it. This task, as it turned out later, was available not only to chimpanzees, but also to lower monkeys and some birds. A more complex version of this problem was proposed by chimpanzees in experiments D.3. Roginsky (1948), when the bait had to be pulled at the two ends of the ribbon at the same time. Chimpanzees failed to cope with this task in his experiments (see video).

8.2.2.3. Using sticks

Another variant of the problem is more common, when a banana, located behind the cage, out of reach, could only be reached with a stick. Chimpanzees have successfully accomplished this task as well. If the stick was near, they took it up almost immediately, if aside - the decision required some time to think. Along with sticks, chimpanzees could use other objects to achieve the goal.
W. Koehler discovered diverse ways of handling objects by monkeys both in experimental conditions and in everyday life. Monkeys, for example, could use a stick as a pole when jumping after a banana, as a lever to open lids, as a shovel in defense and attack; for cleaning wool from dirt; for fishing out termites from a termite mound, etc. (see video)

8.2.2.4. Chimpanzee weaponry

8.2.2.5. Removing the bait from the pipe (R. Yerkes' experiment)

This technique exists in different versions. In the simplest case, as it was in the experiments of R. Yerkes, the bait was hidden in a large iron pipe or in a long, narrow, through box. Poles were offered to the animal as tools, with the help of which it was necessary to push the bait out of the pipe. It turned out that such a problem is successfully solved not only by chimpanzees, but also by the Gorilla - the great ape. The growth of males is up to 2 m, weight is up to 250 kg or more; females are almost half the size. The build is massive, the muscles are well developed. The volume of the brain is 500-600 cm?. They live in the dense forests of Equatorial Africa. Herbivorous, peaceful animals. The number is small and declining, mainly due to deforestation. In the IUCN Red List. Breeds in captivity. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> gorilla and Orangutan - 1) one of the largest, great apes in Africa and the Indian Islands; 2) a large anthropoid monkey with long arms and tough red hair, living in trees. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> orangutan.
The use of sticks by monkeys as tools is considered by scientists not as the result of random manipulations, but as a deliberate and purposeful act.

8.2.2.6. Constructive activity of monkeys

When analyzing the ability of chimpanzees to use tools, V. Kohler noticed that in addition to using ready-made sticks, they made tools: For example, breaking off an iron bar from a shoe rack, bending bunches of straw, straightening a wire, connecting short sticks if the banana was too far away, or shortening a stick if it was too long.
Interest in this problem, which arose in the 1920s and 1930s, prompted N.N. Ladygin-Kots for a special study of the question of the extent to which primates are capable of using, modifying and making tools. She conducted an extensive series of experiments with the chimpanzee Paris, who was offered dozens of various items for obtaining inaccessible food. The main task that was offered to the monkey was to extract the bait from the pipe.
The technique of experiments with Paris was somewhat different from that of R. Yerkes: they used an opaque tube 20 cm long.The bait was wrapped in cloth, and this bundle was placed in the central part of the tube, so that it was clearly visible, but it was only possible to get it with the help of some device. It turned out that Paris, like the anthropoids in the experiments of Yerkes, was able to solve the problem and used any suitable tools for this (a spoon, a narrow flat plate, a torch, a narrow strip of thick cardboard, a pestle, a toy wire ladder and other, a wide variety of objects). When given a choice, he clearly preferred longer objects or massive, heavy sticks.
Along with this, it turned out that the chimpanzee has rather wide possibilities of using not only ready-made "tools", but also items that require constructive action, - various kinds of manipulations to "fine-tune" the workpieces to a state suitable for solving the problem.
The results of more than 650 experiments have shown that the range of instrumental and constructive activities of chimpanzees is very wide. Paris, like the monkeys in the experiments of V. Koehler, successfully used objects of various shapes and sizes and performed all kinds of manipulations with them: he bent, gnawed off excess branches, untied the bundles, untwisted coils of wire, took out unnecessary parts that did not allow insertion of the weapon into the tube ... Ladygina-Kots classifies the tool activity of chimpanzees as a manifestation of thinking, although she emphasizes its specificity and limitations in comparison with human thinking.
The question of how "meaningful" the actions of chimpanzees (and other animals) are when using tools has always raised and continues to raise great doubts. So, there are many observations that, along with the use of sticks for their intended purpose, chimpanzees make a number of random and meaningless movements. This is especially true of constructive actions: if in some cases chimpanzees successfully lengthen short sticks, in others they connect them at an angle, thus obtaining completely useless structures. Experiments in which animals have to "guess" how to get bait out of a tube show the ability of chimpanzees to make tools and use them in a targeted manner according to the situation. There are qualitative differences in such abilities between inferior and great apes. Great apes (chimpanzees) are capable of " Insight - (from English insight - insight, insight, understanding) 1) sudden understanding, ". =" "Onmouseout =" nd (); "href =" javascript: void (0); "> insight"- deliberate" planned "use of tools in accordance with their available mental plan (see video).

8.2.2.7. Achieving the bait by constructing "pyramids" ("towers")

The most famous is the group of V. Kohler's experiments with the construction of "pyramids" to achieve the bait. A banana was hung from the ceiling of the aviary, and one or more boxes were placed in the aviary. To get the bait, the monkey had to move the box under the banana and climb onto it. These tasks significantly differed from the previous ones in that they clearly had no analogues in the species repertoire of the behavior of these animals.
Chimpanzees have proven capable of solving this kind of problem. In most of the experiments of V. Kohler and his followers, they carried out the actions necessary to achieve the bait: they substituted a box or even a pyramid of them under the bait. It is characteristic that before making a decision, the monkey, as a rule, looks at the fetus and begins to move the box, demonstrating that he catches the presence of a connection between them, although he cannot immediately realize it.
The actions of the monkeys were not always unambiguously adequate. So, the Sultan tried to use people or other monkeys as a tool, climbing on their shoulders or, conversely, trying to lift them above him. Other chimpanzees willingly followed his example, so that the colony at times formed a "living pyramid". Sometimes the chimpanzee would place the box against the wall or build a "pyramid" away from the suspended bait, but at the level necessary to reach it.
Analysis of the behavior of chimpanzees in these and similar situations clearly shows that they produce assessment of the spatial components of the problem.
At the next stages, V. Kohler complicated the problem and combined its different versions. For example, if a box was filled with stones, the chimpanzees would unload some of them until the box became "lifting".
In another experiment, several boxes were placed in the aviary, each of which was too small to get the treat. The behavior of the monkeys in this case was very varied. For example, the Sultan pushed the first box under a banana, and with the second he ran for a long time around the enclosure, taking out his rage on it. Then he suddenly stopped, put the second box on the first, and picked a banana. The next time the Sultan built a pyramid not under the banana, but where it hung last time. For several days he built the pyramids carelessly, and then suddenly he began to do it quickly and accurately. Often the structures were unstable, but this was compensated by the agility of the monkeys. In some cases, the pyramid was built together by several monkeys, although they interfered with each other.
Finally, the "limit of complexity" in V. Kohler's experiments was the problem in which a stick was hung high from the ceiling, several boxes were placed in the corner of the enclosure, and the banana was placed behind the fence of the enclosure. The Sultan first began to drag the box around the enclosure, then looked around. Seeing the stick, after 30 seconds he put a box under it, took it out and pulled the banana closer to him. The monkeys coped with the task both when the boxes were weighted with stones, and when various other combinations of the conditions of the problem were applied.
It is noteworthy that the monkeys constantly tried to apply different solutions. So, V. Kohler mentions the case when the Sultan, taking him by the hand, led him to the wall, quickly climbed onto his shoulders, and pushing himself off the top of his head, grabbed a banana. Even more revealing is the episode when he put the box to the wall, while looking at the bait and, as it were, estimating the distance to it.
The successful solution of chimpanzees of tasks requiring the construction of pyramids and towers also indicates that they have a "mental" plan of action and the ability to implement such a plan (see video).

8.2.2.8. The use of weapons in experiments with "extinguishing the fire"

8.2.2.9 Intellectual Behavior in Chimpanzees Outside of Experiments

Concluding the description of this group of methods for studying the thinking of animals, it should be noted that the results obtained with their help have convincingly proved the ability of great apes to solve such problems.
Chimpanzees are capable of intelligent problem solving in a new situation for them without prior experience. This decision is not made by gradually "feeling" the correct result by trial and error, but by Insight - (from the English insight - insight, insight, understanding) 1) sudden understanding, ". =" "Onmouseout =" nd (); "href =" javascript: void (0); "> insight - insight into the essence of the problem through the analysis and assessment of its conditions. Confirmation of this idea can be gleaned simply from observing the behavior of chimpanzees. A convincing example of the ability of chimpanzees to "work according to plan" was described by L. A. Firsov when a bunch of keys was accidentally forgotten in a laboratory near the enclosure. Despite the fact that his young experimental monkeys Lada and Neva could not reach them with their hands, they somehow got them and found themselves free. It was not difficult to analyze this case, because the monkeys themselves eagerly reproduced their actions, when they repeated the situation, leaving the keys in the same place already deliberately.
It turned out that in this completely new situation for them (when a "ready-made" solution was obviously absent) the monkeys invented and performed a complex chain of actions. First, they tore off the edge of the table top from the table, which had been in the aviary for a long time, which had not been touched by anyone until now. Then, with the help of the resulting stick, they pulled up the curtain from the window, which was quite far outside the cage, and captured it. Having taken possession of the curtain, they began to throw it on the table with the keys, located at some distance from the cage, and with its help they pulled the bundle closer to the grate. When the keys were in the hands of one of the monkeys, she opened the lock that hung on the outside of the enclosure. They had seen this operation many times before, and it was not difficult for them, so all that remained was to be released.
In contrast to the behavior of the animal, planted in Thorndike's "problem box", in the behavior of Lada and Neva everything was subordinated to a certain plan and there were practically no blind "trial and error" or previously learned suitable skills. They broke the table at the very moment when they needed to get the keys, whereas in all the past years it had not been touched. The monkey curtain was also used in different ways. At first it was thrown like a lasso, and when it covered the bundle, they pulled it up very carefully so that it would not slip out. The very same opening of the lock, they repeatedly observed, so that it was not difficult.
To achieve their goal, the monkeys performed a number of "preparatory" actions... They ingeniously used various objects as tools, clearly planned their actions and predicted their results. Finally, in solving this unexpectedly arisen task, they acted extremely harmoniously, perfectly understanding each other. All this allows us to regard actions as an example. reasonable behavior in a new situation and attributed to the manifestations of thinking in the behavior of chimpanzees. Commenting on this case, Firsov wrote: “One must be too prejudiced towards psychic possibilities Anthropoid is a great ape. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> anthropoids to see only a simple coincidence in everything described. Common to the behavior of monkeys in this and similar cases is the absence of a simple enumeration of options. These acts of a precisely unfolding behavioral chain are likely to reflect implementation of a decision already made, which can be carried out on the basis of both current activities and the monkeys' life experience "(; italics ours. - Auth.).

8.2.2.10. Tool actions of anthropoids in their natural habitat

In monkeys living in freedom, it is not often possible to "catch" such cases, but for long years a lot of such observations have accumulated. Here are just a few examples.
Goodall (1992), for example, describes one of them related to the fact that scientists fed bananas to animals that visited their camp. Many people liked it very much, and they stayed nearby, waiting for the next portion of the treat (). One of the adult males named Mike was afraid to take a banana from a man's hands. One day, torn apart by the struggle between fear and the desire for a treat, he fell into a great excitement. At some point, he even began to threaten Goodall, shaking a bunch of grass, and noticed how one of the grass touched a banana. At the same moment, he released a bunch from his hands and plucked a plant with a long stem. The stem turned out to be rather thin, so Mike immediately threw it away and tore off another, much thicker one. With this stick, he knocked the banana out of Goodall's hands, picked it up and ate it. When she took out the second banana, the monkey immediately used his weapon again.
Male Mike has shown remarkable ingenuity more than once. Having reached puberty, he began to fight for the title of dominant and won it thanks to a very peculiar use of weapons: he frightened rivals with the roar of gasoline cans. Nobody thought of using them, except for him, although the cans were scattered around in many. Subsequently, one of the young males tried to imitate him. Other examples of the use of objects for solving new problems are noted.
For example, some males used sticks to open a container of bananas. It turned out that in various spheres of their life, monkeys resort to complex actions, including drawing up a plan and foreseeing their result.
Systematic observations in nature make it possible to make sure that reasonable actions in new situations are not an accident, but a manifestation of a general strategy of behavior. In general, such observations confirm that the manifestations of the thinking of anthropoids in experiments and during life in captivity objectively reflect the real characteristics of their behavior.
Initially, it was assumed that any use of a foreign object to expand the animal's own manipulative abilities can be regarded as a manifestation of reason. Meanwhile, along with the considered examples of the individual invention of methods of using tools in emergency, sudden situations, it is known that some populations of chimpanzees regularly use tools in standard situations of daily life... So, many of them "fish out" termites with twigs and grass blades, and palm nuts are carried on solid bases ("anvils") and smashed with stones ("hammers"). Cases are described when monkeys, seeing a suitable stone, picked it up and dragged it along until they reached the fruit-bearing palms.
In the last two examples, the chimpanzee's tool activity is of a completely different nature than Mike's. The use of twigs to "bite" termites and rocks to break nuts, which make up their usual food, monkeys gradually learn from childhood imitating the elders.
An analysis of the tool activity of anthropoids convincingly proves that anthropoids have the ability to purposefully use tools in accordance with a certain "mental plan." All the experiments described above carried out by V. Keler, R. Yerkes, N. Ladygina-Kots, G. Roginsky, A. Firsov and others also assumed the use of certain tools. Thus, the tool activity of primates can be considered convincing evidence of the manifestation of rational activity.

8.3.1. The concept of "empirical laws" and an elementary logical problem

L.V. Krushinsky introduced the concept elementary logic problem, i.e. a task that is characterized by a logical connection between its constituent elements. Thanks to this, it can be solved urgently, at the very first presentation, through a mental analysis of its conditions. Such tasks, by their very nature, do not require preliminary trials with inevitable errors. Similar to tasks requiring the use of tools, they can serve alternative and Thorndike's "problem box", and the development of various systems of differential conditioned reflexes.
As L.V. Krushinsky, in order to solve elementary logical problems, animals need possession of some empirical laws:
1. The law of "non-extinction" of objects... Animals are able to preserve the memory of an object that has become inaccessible to direct perception. Animals that "know" this empirical law are more or less persistently looking for food, which in one way or another has disappeared from their field of vision. So, crows and parrots are actively looking for food, which in front of them was covered with an opaque glass or fenced off from them with an opaque barrier. In contrast to these birds, pigeons and chickens do not operate with the law of "non-extinction" or operate to a very limited extent. This is expressed in the fact that in most cases they hardly try to look for food after they stop seeing it.
The concept of the "non-disappearance" of objects is necessary for solving all types of problems associated with finding a bait that has disappeared from the field of vision.
2. Traffic law, - one of the most universal phenomena of the surrounding world, which any animal encounters, regardless of its lifestyle. Each of them, without exception, from the very first days of life, observes the movements of parents and siblings, predators that threaten them, or, conversely, their own victims. At the same time, animals perceive changes in the position of trees, grass and surrounding objects during their own movements. This creates the basis for the formation of the idea that the movement of an object always has a certain direction and trajectory. Knowledge of this law underlies the solution of the extrapolation problem.
3. The laws of "containment" and "displacement"... Animals possessing these laws, based on the perception and analysis of the spatial and geometric features of the surrounding objects, "understand" that some voluminous objects can contain other voluminous objects and move with them.
In the laboratory of L.V. Krushinsky, two groups of tests were developed with the help of which it is possible to assess the ability of animals of different species to operate with the indicated empirical laws.
As Krushinsky believed, the laws he listed did not exhaust everything that could be available to animals. He admitted that they also operate with ideas about the temporal and quantitative parameters of the environment, and planned to create the corresponding tests.
The proposed L.V. Krushinsky (1986) and the methods described below for the comparative study of mental activity using elementary logical problems are based on the assumption that animals catch these "laws" and can use them in a new situation.

8.3.2. Methods for studying the ability of animals to extrapolate the direction of movement of a food stimulus that disappears from the field of vision

Under extrapolation understand the ability of an animal to carry out a function known on a segment beyond its limits. Extrapolation of the direction of movement by animals in natural conditions can be observed quite often. One of the typical examples is described by the famous American zoologist and writer E. Seton-Thompson in the story "Silver Spot". Once a male crow, Silver Spot, dropped the crust of bread he had gotten into a stream. The current caught her and carried her into a brick chimney. First, the bird peered deep into the pipe for a long time, where the crust disappeared, and then confidently flew to its opposite end and waited until the crust floated out from there. L.V. has repeatedly encountered similar situations in nature. Krushinsky. Thus, the observation of the behavior of his hunting dog led him to the idea of ​​the possibility of experimental reproduction of the situation. While hunting in the field, the pointer found a young black grouse and began to chase him. The bird quickly disappeared into the dense bushes. The dog ran around the bushes and stood in a "stand" exactly opposite the place from which the black grouse, moving in a straight line, jumped out. The behavior of the dog in this situation turned out to be the most expedient - the pursuit of a black grouse in the thicket of bushes was completely meaningless. Instead, sensing the direction of the bird's movement, the dog intercepted it where it least expected. Krushinsky commented on the dog's behavior as follows: "It was a case that fit the definition of a reasonable act of behavior."
Observations of the behavior of animals in natural conditions were led by L.V. Krushinsky to the conclusion that the ability to extrapolate the direction of movement of a stimulus can be regarded as one of the rather elementary manifestations of the rational activity of animals. This makes it possible to approach an objective study of this form of behavior.
To study the ability of animals of different species to extrapolate the direction of movement of the food stimulus L.V. Krushinsky suggested several elementary logic tasks.
The most widespread is the so-called "screen experiment". In this experiment, the animal receives food through a gap in the middle of an opaque screen from one of two feeders standing next to each other. Soon after it begins to eat, the feeders disperse symmetrically in different directions, and, having passed a short segment of the path in full view of the animal, they hide behind opaque valves, so that the animal no longer sees their further movement and can only imagine it mentally.
The simultaneous expansion of both feeders does not allow the animal to make a choice of the direction of movement of the food, being guided by the sound, but at the same time gives the animal the opportunity to make an alternative choice. When working with mammals, a feeder with the same amount of food, covered with a net, is placed at the opposite edge of the screen. This allows you to "equalize the odors" coming from the bait on both sides of the screen, and thus prevent the search for food by smell. The width of the opening in the screen is adjusted so that the animal can freely insert its head there, but does not crawl through entirely. The size of the screen and the chamber in which it is located depends on the size of the experimental animals.
To solve the problem of extrapolating the direction of movement, the animal must imagine the trajectories of movement of both feeders after disappearing from the field of view and, based on their comparison, determine from which side it is necessary to go around the screen in order to receive food. The ability to solve this problem is manifested in many vertebrates, but its severity varies considerably in different species.
The main characteristic of the ability of animals for mental activity are the results of the first presentation tasks, because when they are repeated, the influence on animals and some other factors is connected. In this regard, to assess the ability to solve a logical problem in animals of a given species, it is necessary and sufficient to carry out one experiment on a large group. If the proportion of individuals who correctly solved the problem at its first presentation reliably exceeds the random level, it is considered that animals of a given species or genetic group have the ability to extrapolate (or to another type of rational activity).
As studies by L.V. Krushinsky, animals of many species (predatory mammals, dolphins, corvids, turtles, rat-rats were capable of solving the problem of extrapolating the movement of a food stimulus. At the same time, animals of other species (fish, amphibians, chickens, pigeons, most rodents) bypassed In repeated experiments, the behavior of an animal depends not only on the ability or inability to extrapolate the direction of movement, but also on whether it remembered the results of previous decisions. groups for extrapolation, they must be taken into account with certain reservations.
Multiple presentations make it possible to more accurately analyze the behavior in the experience of animals of those species that poorly solve the extrapolation problem at its first presentation (which can be judged by the low proportion of correct solutions, which does not differ from the random 50% level). It turns out that most of these individuals behave in a purely random way and when the task is repeated. With a very large number of presentations (up to 150), animals such as, for example, chickens or laboratory rats, gradually learn to walk around the screen more often from the side into which the food disappeared. On the contrary, in well extrapolating of species, the results of repeated applications of the problem may be slightly lower than the results of the first, for example, in foxes and dogs. The reason for such a decrease in test scores may be, apparently, the influence of various tendencies in behavior that are not directly related to the ability to extrapolate as such. These include the tendency to spontaneous alternation of runs, the preference for one of the sides of the set, which is characteristic of many animals, etc. In the experiments of Krushinsky and his co-workers, in some animals, for example, corvids and some predatory mammals, after the first successful solutions to the problems presented to them, errors and refusals began to appear. In some animals, overstrain of the nervous system when solving difficult problems led to the development of a kind of neuroses (Phobias - (from the Greek phуbos - fear) 1) overwhelming obsessive fear; a psychopathic condition characterized by such unmotivated fear; 2) obsessive inadequate experiences of fears of a specific content, covering the subject in a certain (phobic) environment and accompanied by autonomic dysfunctions (heartbeat, profuse sweat, etc.). Phobias are found in the framework of neuroses, psychosis and organic diseases of the brain. With neurotic Phobias, patients, as a rule, realize the groundlessness of their fears, treat them as painful and subjectively painful experiences, which they cannot control. If the patient does not reveal a clear critical understanding of the groundlessness, unreasonableness of his fears, then more often these are not Phobias, but pathological doubts (fears), delirium. Phobias have certain behavioral manifestations, the purpose of which is to avoid the subject of the Phobia or to reduce fear through obsessive, ritualized actions. Neurotic Phobias, in "onmouseout =" nd (); "href =" javascript: void (0); "> phobias), expressed in the development of a fear of the experiential environment. After a period of rest, the animals began to work normally. This suggests that mental activity requires a lot of tension in the central nervous system.
With the help of a test for extrapolating the direction of movement, which allows an accurate quantitative assessment of the results of its solution, a broad comparative characteristic of the development of the rudiments of thinking in vertebrates of all major taxonomic groups was given for the first time, their morphophysiological foundations, some aspects of formation in the process of ontogeny and phylogenesis, were studied. e. practically the entire range of questions, the answer to which, according to N. Tinbergen, is necessary for a comprehensive description of behavior (see video).

8.3.3. Methods for studying the ability of animals to operate with spatial and geometric features of objects

For a normal orientation in space and an adequate exit from a variety of life situations animals need an accurate analysis of spatial characteristics. As shown, in the brain of animals a certain "mental plan" or "cognitive map" is formed, in accordance with which they build their behavior. The ability to construct "spatial maps" is currently the subject of intense study.
As Zorina and Poletaeva (2001) point out, elements of spatial thinking in monkeys were also discovered in the experiments of V. Kohler. He noted that in many cases, when planning the way to reach the bait, the monkeys preliminarily compared, as it were, "estimated" the distance to it and the height of the boxes offered for "construction". Understanding the spatial relationships between objects and their parts is a necessary element of more complex forms of tool and constructive activity of chimpanzees (;).
Such volumetric and geometric qualities of objects as shape, dimension, symmetry, etc. also refer to spatial features. Formulated by L.V. Krushinsky empirical laws "storage" and "mobility" are based precisely on the analysis of the assimilation of the spatial properties of objects by animals. Thanks to the possession of these laws, animals are able to understand that voluminous objects can contain each other and move, being one in the other. This circumstance allowed L.V. Krushinsky to create a test to assess one of the forms of spatial thinking - the ability of an animal in the process of searching for a bait to compare objects of different dimensions: three-dimensional (volumetric) and two-dimensional (flat).
It was called a test for "operating with the empirical dimension of figures", or a test for "dimension".

• To successfully solve this problem, animals must possess the following empirical laws and perform the following operations:
  • mentally imagine that the bait, which has become inaccessible for direct perception, does not disappear (the law of "non-extinction"), or it can be placed in another volumetric object and move with it in space (the law of "containment" and "displacement"), evaluate the spatial characteristics of the figures;
  • taking advantage of way the disappeared bait as a standard, mentally compare these characteristics with each other and decide where the bait is hidden;
  • throw off volumetric figure and get hold of the bait.

Initially, the experiments were carried out on dogs, but the experimental technique was complex and unsuitable for comparative studies. A little later B.A. Dashevsky (1972) constructed a setup that can be used to study this ability in any vertebrate species, including humans. This experimental setup is a table, in the middle of which there is a device for expanding rotating demonstration platforms with figures. The animal is on one side of the table, the figures are separated from it by a transparent partition with a vertical slit in the middle. On the other side of the table is the experimenter. In some of the experiments, the animals did not see the experimenter: he was hidden from them behind a glass partition with one-sided visibility.
The experience is stated as follows. A hungry animal is offered bait, which is then hidden behind an opaque screen. Under its cover, the bait is placed in a volumetric figure (OF), for example a cube, and a flat figure (PF) is placed next to it, in this case a square (projection of a cube onto a plane). Then the screen is removed, and both figures, rotating around their own axis, move apart in opposite directions using a special device. To get the bait, the animal must go around the screen from the right side and overturn the volumetric figure.
The experimental procedure made it possible to repeatedly present a task to the same animal, while ensuring the maximum possible novelty of each presentation. For this, the experimental animal in each experiment was offered a new pair of figures, which differed from the others in color, shape, size, method of construction (flat-faced and bodies of rotation) and size. The results of the experiments showed that monkeys, dolphins, bears and about 60% of corvids are able to successfully solve this problem. Both at the first presentation of the test, and during repeated tests, they choose a predominantly three-dimensional figure. In contrast to them, predatory mammals of the canine family and some of the corvids react to figures purely by chance and only after dozens of combinations gradually are trained making the right choices.
As already mentioned, the supposed mechanism for solving such tests is a mental comparison of the spatial characteristics available when choosing figures and the bait that is absent at the time of choosing, which serves as a standard for their comparison. Raven birds, dolphins, bears and monkeys are capable of solving elementary logical problems based on the operation of spatial-geometric features of objects, while for many other animals that successfully cope with the task of extrapolating the direction of movement, this test turns out to be too difficult. Thus, the test for operating with the empirical dimension of figures turns out to be less universal than the test for extrapolating the direction of movement (see Video).

8.3.4. The results of a comparative study of the mental activity of animals of different taxonomic groups, obtained using the methods described above

Thus, numerous studies carried out in the laboratory of L.V. Krushinsky, showed that using the above methods, it was possible to assess the level of mental activity of vertebrates of different taxonomic groups.
Mammals. Representatives of this taxonomic group showed a wide range of variability in the level of rational activity. A thorough comparative analysis showed that, according to the ability to solve the proposed problems, the studied mammals can be divided into the following groups, which are significantly different from each other.
1. The group includes animals with the most high level development of cerebral activities such as non-human monkeys, dolphins and brown bears. These animals successfully passed the test "the ability to operate with the empirical dimension of figures."
2. This group is characterized by a fairly well-developed intellectual activity. It includes wild canines such as red foxes, wolves, dogs, corsacs, and raccoon dogs. They successfully cope with all tasks of extrapolating the direction of movement, but the test for "the ability to operate with the empirical dimension of figures" turns out to be too difficult for them.
3. Representatives of this group are characterized by a slightly lower level of development of intellectual activity than the animals of the previous group. These include silver-black foxes and arctic foxes, which belong to populations that have been bred for generations in fur farms.
4. In this group should be placed cats, which, undoubtedly, can be evaluated as animals with developed intellectual activity. However, they solve the problem of the ability to extrapolate somewhat worse than carnivorous mammals from the canine family.
5. The group includes the studied species of murine rodents and lagomorphs. On the whole, representatives of this group can be characterized as animals with a significantly lower degree of severity of intellectual activity than carnivores. The highest level was observed in the Pasyuk Rat - (Pasyuk - barn rat), a mammal of the genus of rats. Body length up to 20 cm, tail is slightly shorter than body. Widespread. Lives in human buildings. Causes great damage to food spoilage. Carrier of the causative agent of plague and other infectious diseases. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> goose rats, which is quite correlated with the highest plasticity of the behavior of this species.
Birds. Despite the fact that the number of investigated in the laboratory of L.V. Krushinsky's species of birds were significantly less than species of mammals; among them, a wide variability in the level of their rational activity was also found. Among the studied bird species, it was possible to distinguish three groups of species that significantly differed in their ability to solve the problems proposed to them.
1. This group includes representatives of the raven family. In terms of the level of rational activity, the birds of this family are high. They are comparable to carnivorous canine mammals.
2. The group is represented by diurnal birds of prey, domestic ducks and chickens. In general, these birds poorly solved the extrapolation problem at its first presentation, but learned to solve it at multiple times. In terms of their rational activity, these birds roughly correspond to rats and rabbits.
3. This group is made up of pigeons who hardly learn to solve the most simple tests... The level of development of the rational activity of these birds is comparable to the level of laboratory mice and rats.
Reptiles. Turtles, both aquatic and terrestrial, as well as green lizards, solved the proposed extrapolation problems with approximately equal success. In terms of their ability to extrapolate, they are lower than ravens, but higher than most bird species classified in the second group.
Amphibians. The ability to extrapolate was not found in the representatives of tailless amphibians (grass frogs, common toads) and axolotls that were in the experiment.
Fishes. All studied fish, including carps, Minnows are a genus of fish of the carp family. Length no more than 20 cm, weigh up to 100 g. 10 species, in rivers and lakes of Eurasia and North. America. Some species are an object of fishing (lake minnow in Yakutia). ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> minnows, chemichromis, common and silver carp were not capable of extrapolating the direction of food movement. Fish can be trained to solve these problems, but they need hundreds of test runs to train them.
The studies carried out show that the level of development of rational activity can be used to characterize individual taxonomic groups of animals.
The given systematization of animals according to the level of development of their rational activity, of course, cannot claim to be more accurate. However, it undoubtedly reflects the general tendency in the development of rational activity in the studied taxonomic groups of vertebrates.
The differences between the studied animals in terms of the level of development of their rational activity turned out to be extremely large. They are especially large within the class of mammals. Such a great difference in the level of the rational activity of animals is obviously determined by the paths along which the development of the adaptive mechanisms of each branch of the phylogenetic tree of animals took place.

8.5. The role of mental activity in animal behavior

The rational activity underwent a long evolution in the animal ancestors of man, before giving a truly gigantic flash of the human mind.
It inevitably follows from this position that the study of the rational activity of animals as any adaptation of the organism to its environment should be the subject of biological research. Relying primarily on biological disciplines such as evolutionary teaching, Neurophysiology is a section of animal and human physiology that studies the functions of the nervous system and its main structural units - neurons. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> neurophysiology and Genetics - (from the Greek. genesis - origin) - the science of the laws of heredity and variability of organisms and methods of managing them. Depending on the object of research, the genetics of microorganisms, plants, animals and humans are distinguished, and on the level of research - molecular genetics, cytogenetics, etc. Basics modern genetics were laid down by G. Mendel, who discovered the laws of discrete heredity (1865), and the school of T.Kh. Morgan, who substantiated the chromosomal theory of heredity (1910s). In the USSR in the 20-30s. outstanding contributions to genetics were made by the works of N.I. Vavilov, N.K. Koltsova, S.S. Chetverikova, A.S. Serebrovsky and others. From ser. In the 1930s, and especially after the 1948 session of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the antiscientific views of T.D. Lysenko (unreasonably named by him "onmouseout =" nd (); "href =" javascript: void (0); "> genetics, you can achieve success in objective knowledge of the process of forming thinking.
The study showed that the most accurate assessment of the level of elementary mental activity can be given at the first presentation of the problem, until its solution was supported by a biologically significant stimulus. Any reinforcement of solutions to the problem introduces elements of learning during its subsequent presentation. The speed of learning to solve a logical problem can only be an indirect indicator of the level of development of intellectual activity.
In general terms, we can say that what more laws binding elements outside world, catches an animal, the more developed rational activity it possesses. Obviously, using such a criterion for assessing elementary intellectual activity, it is possible to give the most complete comparative assessment of different taxonomic groups of animals.
The use of the tests developed by us made it possible to assess the level of development of mental activity in different taxonomic groups of vertebrates. It was clearly revealed that fish and amphibians are practically unable to solve the problems available to reptiles, birds and mammals. It is important to note that among birds and mammals there is a great variety in the success of solving the proposed problems. Ravens are comparable to carnivorous mammals in terms of the level of development of rational activity. It can hardly be doubted that the exceptional adaptability of birds from the raven family, which are distributed almost throughout the entire globe, is largely associated with the high level of development of their rational activity.
The developed criteria for the quantitative assessment of the level of development of the elementary rational activity of animals made it possible to approach the study of the morphophysiological and genetic foundations of this form of higher nervous activity. Studies have shown that an objective study of mental activity in model experiments on animals is quite possible. Main results experimental research can be formulated as the following provisions.
Firstly, it was possible to identify the connection between the level of development of elementary rational activity with the size of the end brain, the structural organization of Neuron - (from the Greek neuron - nerve) 1) a nerve cell, consisting of the body and the processes extending from it; basic structural and functional unit of the nervous system; 2) a nerve cell, consisting of a body and processes extending from it - relatively short dendrites and a long axon; the basic structural and functional unit of the nervous system (see diagram). Neurons conduct nerve impulses from receptors to the central nervous system (sensory neuron), from the central nervous system to the executive organs (motor neuron), connect several other nerve cells (intercalary neurons). Neurons interact with each other and with cells of the executive organs through synapses. A rotifer has 102 neurons, a human has more than 1010. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> neurons and establish the leading role of some parts of the brain in the implementation of the studied form Higher nervous activity - activity higher departments central nervous system (cerebral cortex and subcortical centers), providing the most perfect adaptation of animals and humans to the environment. Higher nervous activity is based on conditioned reflexes and complex unconditioned reflexes (instincts, emotions, etc.). The higher nervous activity of a person is characterized by the presence of not only the 1st signal system, which is characteristic of animals, but also the 2nd signal system, associated with speech and peculiar only to humans. The doctrine of higher nervous activity was created by IP Pavlov. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> higher nervous activity... We believe that the research results provide a basis for extending the principle generally accepted in physiology that the functions of the nervous system are confined to its structure and to rational activity.
Secondly, it turned out that taxonomic groups of animals with different cytoarchitectonic organization of the brain can have a similar level of development of rational activity. This becomes obvious when comparing not only individual classes of animals, but also when comparing within the same class (for example, primates and dolphins). One of the general biological provisions on the greater conservatism of the final result of formative processes than the paths leading to this is obviously applicable to the implementation of the act of understanding.
Thirdly, behavior is built on the basis of three main components of higher nervous activity: instincts, learning and reason. Depending on the specific gravity of each of them, one or another form of behavior can be conditionally characterized as instinctive, conditioned-reflex or rational. In everyday life, the behavior of vertebrates is an integrated complex of all these components.
One of the most important functions of intellectual activity is the selection of that information about structural organization environment, which is necessary for building a program of the most adequate act of behavior in the given conditions.
The behavior of animals is carried out under the leading influence of stimuli that carry information about the habitat immediately surrounding them. The system that perceives such information was named by I.P. Pavlov as the first signaling system of reality.
The process of forming Thinking - 1) the most generalized and mediated form mental reflection , establishing connections and relationships between cognizable objects. Thinking is the highest level of human knowledge. It allows you to gain knowledge about such objects, properties and relationships of the real world that cannot be directly perceived at the sensory level of cognition. The forms and laws of thinking are studied by logic, the mechanisms of its course are studied by psychology and neurophysiology. Cybernetics analyzes thinking in connection with the tasks of modeling some mental functions; 2) an indirect reflection of the external world, which relies on impressions from reality and enables a person, depending on the knowledge and skills he has acquired, to correctly operate with information, to successfully build their plans and programs of behavior. The intellectual development of a child is carried out in the course of his objective activity and communication, in the course of mastering social experience. Visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical M. - successive stages of intellectual development. Genetically, the earliest form of M. is visual-effective M., the first manifestations of which in a child can be observed at the end of the first - beginning of the second year of life, even before he has mastered active speech. Already the child's first objective actions have a number of important features. When a practical result is achieved, some signs of an object and its relationship with other objects are revealed; the possibility of their cognition acts as a property of any subject manipulation. The child collides with objects created by human hands, and so on. enters into substantive and practical communication with other people. Initially, an adult is the main source and mediator of the child's acquaintance with objects and ways of using them. Socially developed generalized ways of using objects are the first knowledge (generalizations) that a child learns with the help of an adult from social experience. Visual-shaped M. occurs in preschoolers at the age of 4-6 years. Although M.'s connection with practical actions is preserved, it is not as close, direct and immediate as before. In some cases, practical manipulation with the object is not required, but in all cases it is necessary to clearly perceive and visualize the object. Those. preschoolers think only in visual images and do not yet know concepts (in the strict sense). Significant shifts in the intellectual development of a child occur at school age, when teaching aimed at mastering systems of concepts in various subjects becomes his leading activity. These shifts are expressed in the cognition of ever deeper properties of objects, in the formation of the necessary mental operations for this, in the emergence of new motives. cognitive activities... The mental operations that are taking shape in younger schoolchildren are still associated with specific material and are not sufficiently generalized; the resulting concepts are of a specific nature. M. children of this age is conceptually specific. But junior schoolchildren are already mastering some more complex forms of inference, they realize the power of logical necessity. On the basis of practical and visual-sensory experience, they develop - first in the simplest forms - verbal-logical M., i.e. M. in the form of abstract concepts. M. now appears not only in the form of practical actions and not only in the form of visual images, but above all in the form of abstract concepts and reasoning. Middle and senior school ages more complex cognitive tasks become available to schoolchildren. In the process of solving them, mental operations are generalized, formalized, thereby expanding the range of their transfer and application in new situations. A system of interrelated, generalized and reversible operations is being formed. The ability to reason, to substantiate one's judgments, to realize and control the process of reasoning, to master its general methods, to move from its expanded forms to curtailed forms develops. There is a transition from conceptual-concrete to abstract-conceptual M. The intellectual development of a child is characterized by a regular change of stages, in which each previous stage prepares the next. With the emergence of new forms of M., the old forms not only do not disappear, but are preserved and developed. Thus, the visual-effective M., characteristic of preschoolers, acquires a new content among schoolchildren, finding, in particular, its expression in the solution of increasingly complex constructive and technical problems. Verbal-figurative M. also rises to a higher level, manifesting itself in the assimilation of works of poetry, fine arts, music by schoolchildren. ");" onmouseout = "nd ();" href = "javascript: void (0);"> human thinking is carried out not only with the help of the first signaling system of reality, but mainly under the influence of the information that he receives through speech. This system of Perception is a holistic reflection of objects, situations and events that occurs when physical stimuli are directly exposed to the receptor surfaces (see Receptor) of the sense organs. Together with the processes of sensation, Perception provides direct sensory orientation in the surrounding world. Being a necessary stage of cognition, it is always more or less connected with thinking, memory, attention, is directed by motivation and has a certain affective-emotional coloring (see Affect, Emotions). It is necessary to distinguish between Perception, adequate to reality, and illusion. Of decisive importance for the verification and correction of the perceptual image (from the Latin.perceptio - perception) is the inclusion of Perception in the processes of practical activity, communication and scientific research... The emergence of the first hypotheses about the nature of Perception dates back to antiquity. In general, early theories of Perception were consistent with the provisions of traditional associative psychology. A decisive step in overcoming associationism in the interpretation of Perception was made, on the one hand, thanks to the development of I.M. Sechenov of the reflex concept of the psyche, and on the other, thanks to the works of representatives of Gestalt psychology, who showed the conditioning of the most important phenomena of Perception (such as constancy) by unchanging relationships between the components of the perceptual image. The study of the reflex structure of Perception has led to the creation of theoretical models of Perception, in which important role is assigned to efferent (centrifugal), including motor, processes that adjust the work of the perceptual system to the characteristics of the object (A.V. Zaporozhets, A.N. Leontiev). Examples include the movement of the hand feeling an object, the movement of the eyes tracing the visible contour, the tension of the muscles of the larynx, which reproduce an audible sound. The dynamics of the recognition process in most cases is adequately described by the so-called "onmouseout =" nd (); "href =" javascript: void (0); "> Pavlov called the perception of reality the second signal system. knowledge and traditions accumulated by humanity in the process of its historical development... In this respect, the limits of the possibilities of human thinking are colossally different from the possibilities of the elementary rational activity of animals, which in their daily life operate only with very limited ideas about the structural organization of their environment. Unlike animals with the most highly developed elementary rational activity and, probably, from their cave ancestors, man was able to grasp not only empirical laws, but also formulate theoretical laws that formed the basis for understanding the world around and the development of science. All this, of course, is in no way available to animals. And this is a huge qualitative difference between animals and humans.

Glossary of terms

1. Thinking
2. Intelligence
3. Intellectual activity
4. Elementary intellectual activity
5. Visual-Action Thinking
6. Creative thinking
7. Inductive thinking
8. Deductive thinking
9. Abstract logical thinking
10. Verbal thinking
11. Analysis
12. Synthesis
13. Comparison
14. Generalization
15. Abstraction
16. Concept
17. Judgment
18. Inference
19. Cognitive processes
20. Psychic image
21. Psychotic performance
22. Figurative memory
23. Working memory
24. Reference memory
25. Short term memory
26. Long term memory
27. Procedural memory
28. Declarative memory
29. Figurative representations
30. Abstract views
31. Differential conditioned reflexes
32. Installation for training
33. Transitive conclusion
34. Delayed reaction method
35. Latent learning
36. Learning by example
37. Radial maze
38. T-shaped maze
39. Maurice's water maze
40. Alocentric strategy
41. Egocentric strategy
42. Cognitive map
43. Empirical laws
44. The law of invisibility
45. Accommodation law
46. The law of transferability
47. Elementary logic problem
48. Extrapolation of the direction of travel
49. Spatial thinking
50. Dimension test

Self-test questions

1. What are the main functions of human intelligence?
2. List the main forms of human thinking.
3. What is the 1st signaling system?
4. What is 2nd signaling system?
5. What, from the point of view of psychologists, are the main criteria for the rudiments of thinking in animals?
6. What is the most characteristic property of rational activity?
7. What is rational activity according to L.V. Krushinsky? What is the role of "Lloyd Morgan's Canon" in the study of the mind of animals?
8. What are the requirements for intelligence tests?
9. What are cognitive processes?
10. List the main methods of studying cognitive processes.
11. What methods of studying cognitive processes are based on the development of differential conditioned reflexes?
12. What is a learning mindset?
13. What is a transitive conclusion?
14. What is Delayed Response Method?
15. What are cognitive maps?
16. What is the maze learning method used for?
17. What strategies for finding bait do animals use when learning in a maze?
18. Who is the author of the water maze?
19. What methods do animals use for orientation in space?
20. What is Latent Learning?
21. What is the "selection by pattern" method?
22. What methods of studying the intelligence of great apes did O. Koehler use?
23. Tell us about the intellectual behavior of monkeys in natural settings.
24. What tests show differences between the level of cognition of great apes and other apes?
25. What is instrumental activity and what mechanisms can underlie it in animals of different species?
26. What aspects of mental activity are revealed by the tests proposed by L.V. Krushinsky?
27. On the knowledge of what empirical laws the solution of elementary logical problems is based?
28. What is the methodology for studying the ability to extrapolate the direction of travel?
29. What is spatial thinking?
30. Which animals have the highest ability to extrapolate direction of travel?
31. What is the essence of the test for operating with the empirical dimension of figures?
32. What animals were able to solve the "dimension" test?

Bibliography

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6. Zorina Z.A., Poletaeva I.I. Elementary thinking of animals. M., 2001.
7. Koehler V. Research of the intelligence of humanoid apes. M., 1925.
8. L.V. Krushinsky Formation of animal behavior in health and disease. M., 1960.
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11. Ladygina-Kots N.N. Constructive and instrumental activity of higher apes. M., 1959.
12. Mazokhin-Porshnyakov G.A. How to assess the intelligence of animals? // Nature. 1989. No. 4. S. 18-25.
13. McFarland D. Animal Behavior. M., 1988.
14. Menning O. Animal Behavior Introductory Course. M., 1982.
15. Orbeli L.A. Questions of higher nervous activity. M .; L., 1949.
16. Pavlov I.P. Pavlovsk Wednesday. M .; L., 1949.
17. Pazhetnov B.C. My friends are bears. M., 1985.
18. Pazhetnov B.C. Brown bear. M., 1990.
19. Roginsky G.Z. Skills and rudiments of intellectual actions in anthropoids (chimpanzees). L., 1948.
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21. A.I. Schastny Complex forms of behavior of anthropoids. L., 1972.
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25. Firsov L.A. The behavior of anthropoids in natural conditions. L., 1977.
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Topics of term papers and abstracts

1. Cognitive processes of animals and methods of their study.
2. Using the method of differentiated conditioned reflexes to study the cognitive processes of animals.
3. Orientation of animals in space and methods of its study.
4. Labyrinth methods in the study of complex forms of animal behavior.
5. The intelligence of great apes and methods of studying it.
6. Comparative study of the rational activity of animals by the methods proposed by L.V. Krushinsky.
7. Rational activity of mammals.
8. Studying the ability of animals to operate with the empirical dimension of figures.
9. Intelligent behavior of birds.
10. Studying the ability of animals to generalize and abstract.
11. Study of the ability of animals to symbolize.
12. Ability of animals to count and its study.

The presence of the elements of reason in higher animals does not raise doubts among any of the scientists at the present time. Intellectual behavior represents the pinnacle of mental development in animals. At the same time, as L.V. Krushinsky, it is not something out of the ordinary, but only one of the manifestations of complex forms of behavior with their innate and acquired aspects. Intellectual behavior is not only closely related to various forms of instinctive behavior and learning, but it is itself composed of individually changeable components of behavior. It gives the greatest adaptive effect and contributes to the survival of individuals and the continuation of the genus with sharp, rapidly occurring changes in the environment. At the same time, the intellect of even the highest animals is undoubtedly at a lower stage of development than the intellect of man, therefore it would be more correct to call it elementary thinking, or the rudiments of thinking. The biological study of this problem has come a long way, and all major scientists have invariably returned to it. The history of the study of elementary thinking in animals has already been discussed in the first sections of this manual, therefore in this chapter we will only try to systematize the results of its experimental study.

Definition of thinking and intelligence of a person

Before talking about the elementary thinking of animals, it is necessary to clarify how psychologists define human thinking and intelligence. Currently, there are several definitions of these complex phenomena in psychology, however, since this problem is beyond the scope of our training course, we will restrict ourselves to the most general information.

According to the point of view of A.R. Luria, “the act of thinking arises only when the subject has a corresponding motive that makes the task relevant, and its solution necessary, and when the subject finds himself in a situation, regarding the way out of which he does not have a ready-made solution - the usual (i.e., acquired in learning process) or congenital ".

Thinking is the most complex form of human mental activity, the pinnacle of its evolutionary development. A very important apparatus of human thinking, which significantly complicates its structure, is speech, which allows you to encode information using abstract symbols.

The term "intelligence" is used both broadly and narrowly. In a broad sense, intelligence is the totality of all the cognitive functions of an individual, from sensation and perception to thinking and imagination, in a narrower sense, intelligence is actually thinking.

In the process of human cognition of reality, psychologists note three main functions of intelligence:

● ability to learn;

● operating with symbols;

● the ability to actively master the laws of the environment.

Psychologists distinguish the following forms of human thinking:

● visual-effective, based on the direct perception of objects in the process of actions with them;

● figurative, based on ideas and images;

● inductive, based on a logical conclusion "from the particular to the general" (construction of analogies);

● deductive, based on a logical conclusion "from the general to the particular" or "from the particular to the particular", made in accordance with the rules of logic;

● abstract-logical, or verbal, thinking, which is the most complex form.

Human verbal thinking is inextricably linked with speech. It is thanks to speech, i.e. the second signaling system, human thinking becomes generalized and mediated.

It is generally accepted that the process of thinking is carried out with the help of the following mental operations - analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization and abstraction. Concepts, judgments and inferences are the result of the human thinking process.

The problem of animal intelligence

Intellectual behavior is the pinnacle of the mental development of animals. However, speaking about the intelligence, the "mind" of animals, they must first of all be noted that it is extremely difficult to indicate precisely which animals can be talked about of intellectual behavior, and about which not. Obviously, we can only talk about higher vertebrates, but obviously not only about primates, as was accepted until recently. At the same time, the intellectual behavior of animals is not something isolated, out of the ordinary, but only one of the manifestations of a single mental activity with its innate and acquired aspects. Intellectual behavior is not only closely related to various forms of instinctive behavior and learning, but also itself (on an innate basis) consists of individually changeable components of behavior. It is the highest result and manifestation of the individual accumulation of experience, a special category of learning with its inherent qualitative features. Therefore, intellectual behavior gives the greatest adaptive effect, to which A.N. Severtsov paid special attention, showing the decisive importance of higher mental abilities for the survival of individuals and procreation with sharp, rapidly occurring changes in the environment.

The prerequisite and basis for the development of animal intelligence is manipulation, above all with biologically "neutral" objects. This is especially true for monkeys, for whom manipulation serves as a source of the most complete information about the properties and structure of the objective components of the environment, because in the course of manipulation, the deepest and most comprehensive acquaintance with new objects or new properties of objects already familiar to the animal occurs. In the course of manipulation, especially when performing complex manipulations, the experience of the animal's activity is generalized, generalized knowledge about the objective components of the environment is formed, and it is this generalized motor-sensory experience that constitutes the main basis of the intellect of monkeys.

Destructive actions are of particular cognitive value, since they allow one to obtain information about internal structure items. When manipulating, the animal receives information simultaneously through a number of sensory channels, but the combination of musculocutaneous sensitivity of the hands with visual sensations is of predominant importance. As a result, animals receive complex information about the object as a single whole and possessing different quality properties. This is precisely the meaning of manipulation as the basis of intellectual behavior.

An extremely important prerequisite for intellectual behavior is the ability to broadly transfer skills to new situations. This ability is fully developed in higher vertebrates, although it is manifested in different animals to varying degrees. The abilities of higher vertebrates for a variety of manipulations, for broad sensory generalization, for solving complex problems and transferring complex skills to new situations, for full orientation and adequate response in a new environment on the basis of previous experience are the most important elements of animal intelligence. And yet, by themselves, these qualities are still insufficient to serve as criteria for the intelligence, thinking of animals.

A distinctive feature of the intelligence of animals lies in the fact that, in addition to the reflection of individual things, there is a reflection of their relationships and connections. This reflection occurs in the process of activity, which in its structure, according to Leontiev, is two-phase.

With the development of intellectual forms of behavior, the phases of solving problems acquire a clear difference in quality: previously merged into one process the activity is differentiated into the preparation phase and the implementation phase. It is the preparation phase that makes characteristic feature intellectual behavior. The second phase includes a certain operation, fixed in the form of a skill.

Of great importance as one of the criteria for intellectual behavior is the fact that when solving a problem, an animal does not use one stereotypically performed method, but tries different methods that are the result of previously accumulated experience. Consequently, instead of trying different movements, as is the case with non-intellectual actions, with intellectual behavior, there are tests of various operations, which makes it possible to solve the same problem in different ways. The transfer and trial of various operations in solving a complex problem find expression in monkeys, in particular, in the fact that they practically never use tools in exactly the same way.

Along with all this, it is necessary to clearly imagine the biological limitations of the intelligence of animals. Like all other forms of behavior, it is entirely determined by the way of life and purely biological laws, the framework of which even the most intelligent monkey cannot step over.

In conclusion, we have to admit that the problem of the intelligence of animals is still completely insufficiently studied. In essence, detailed experimental studies have been carried out only on monkeys, mainly higher ones, while there is still almost no experimental evidence about the possibility of intellectual actions in other vertebrates. However, it is doubtful that intelligence is unique to primates.

Human thinking and rational activity of animals

According to leading Russian psychologists, the criteria for the presence of the rudiments of thinking in animals can be the following signs:

● "emergency appearance of an answer in the absence of a ready-made solution" (Luria);

● "cognitive selection of objective conditions essential for action" (Rubinstein);

● "the generalized, mediated nature of the reflection of reality; the search and discovery of something essentially new" (Brushlinsky);

● "the presence and implementation of intermediate goals" (Leontiev).

Human thinking has a number of synonyms, such as: "mind", "intellect", "reason", etc. However, when using these terms to describe the thinking of animals, it must be borne in mind that, no matter how complex their behavior is, we can only talk about the elements and rudiments of the corresponding mental functions of humans.

The most correct is the one proposed by L.V. Krushinsky the term rational activity. It allows you to avoid the identification of thought processes in animals and humans. The most characteristic property of the rational activity of animals is their ability to grasp the simplest empirical laws that connect objects and environmental phenomena, and the ability to operate with these laws when constructing programs of behavior in new situations.

Rational activity is different from any form of learning. This form of adaptive behavior can be carried out at the first encounter of an organism with an unusual situation created in its environment. The fact that an animal immediately, without special training, can make a decision to adequately perform a behavioral act, is the unique feature of rational activity as an adaptive mechanism in diverse, constantly changing environmental conditions. Reasoning activity allows us to consider the adaptive functions of the body not only as self-regulating, but also self-selecting systems. This means the body's ability to make an adequate choice of biologically most appropriate forms of behavior in new situations. By definition L.V. Krushinsky, rational activity is the implementation of an adaptive behavioral act by an animal in an emergency situation. This unique way of adaptation of the organism to the environment is possible in animals with a well-developed nervous system.



According to leading Russian psychologists, the criteria for the presence of the rudiments of thinking in animals can be the following signs:

"emergency response in the absence of a ready-made solution"(Luria) the act of thinking arises only when the subject has a corresponding motive that makes the task urgent, and its solution necessary, and when the subject finds himself in a situation, regarding the way out of which he does not have a ready-made solution - the usual (i.e., acquired in learning process) or congenital ”;

"cognitive selection of objective conditions essential for action"(Rubinstein);

"the generalized, mediated nature of the reflection of reality; the search and discovery of an essentially new"(Brushlinsky);

"the presence and implementation of intermediate goals"(Leontiev).

Human thinking has a number of synonyms, such as: "mind", "intellect", "reason", etc. However, when using these terms to describe the thinking of animals, it must be borne in mind that, no matter how complex their behavior is, we can only talk about the elements and rudiments of the corresponding mental functions of humans.
The most correct is the proposed L.V. Krushinsky term rationalactivity b. It allows you to avoid the identification of thought processes in animals and humans. Rational activity is different from any form of learning. This form of adaptive behavior can be exercised at the first meeting of the body with an unusual situation created in its habitat. The fact that the animal immediately, without special training, can make a decision to adequate the performance of a behavioral act, and there is a unique feature of rational activity as an adaptive mechanism in diverse, constantly changing environmental conditions. Reasoning activity allows us to consider the adaptive functions of the body not only as self-regulating, but also self-selecting systems. This means the body's ability to make an adequate choice of biologically most appropriate forms of behavior in new situations. By definition L.V. Krushinsky, rational activity is the performance of an adaptive behavioral act by an animal in an emergency situation... This unique way of adaptation of the organism to the environment is possible in animals with a well-developed nervous system.
To date, the following ideas about the thinking of animals have been formulated.

The rudiments of thinking are found in a fairly wide range of vertebrate species - reptiles, birds, mammals of various orders. In the most highly developed mammals - great apes - the ability to generalize allows you to learn and use intermediate languages ​​at the level of 2-year-old children.

The elements of thought are manifested in animals in different forms. They can be expressed in the performance of many operations, such as generalization, abstraction, comparison, inference.

Reasonable acts in animals are associated with the processing of multiple sensory information (sound, olfactory, different types of visual-spatial, quantitative, geometric) in different functional areas - food, defensive, social, parental, etc.

Animal thinking is not just the ability to solve a particular problem. This is a systemic property of the brain, and the higher the phylogenetic level of an animal and the corresponding structural and functional organization of its brain, the greater the range of intellectual capabilities it possesses. "

In highly organized animals (primates, dolphins, corvids), thinking is not limited to the ability to solve individual problems, but is a systemic function of the brain, which manifests itself when solving various tests in an experiment and in the most different situations in their natural habitat.

V. Koehler(1925), who first investigated the problem of animal thinking in an experiment, came to the conclusion that great apes possess intelligence that allows them to solve some problem situations not by trial and error, but through a special mechanism - "insight" ("penetration" or " insight ”), i.e. by understanding the connections between stimuli and events.

The basis of insight, according to V. Kohler, is the tendency to perceive the whole situation as a whole and, thanks to this, make an adequate decision, and not only automatically react with separate reactions to individual stimuli. ( insight"- deliberate" planned "use of tools in accordance with their mental plan)