Simonov informational theory of emotions. Simonova informational theory of emotions. Emotions combine three components

The term "emotion" comes from the Latin words emoveo, emovere (to excite, excite). Despite the self-evidence and wide distribution of emotions in our psyche, there is still no generally accepted, concise and accurate definition of them. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1978) emotion are defined as "the subjective reactions of humans and animals to the impact of internal and external stimuli, manifested in the form of pleasure or displeasure, joy, fear, etc. Accompanying almost any manifestation of the body's vital activity, emotions reflect in the form of direct experience the significance (meaning) of phenomena and situations and serve as one of the main mechanisms of internal regulation of mental activity and behavior, aimed at satisfying urgent needs (motivations). "

The definition of emotion is most closely related to the concept of physiological mechanisms of emotions in the Dictionary of Physiological Terms (1987): "emotion is an active state of the system of specialized brain formations, prompting the subject to change behavior in the direction of maximizing or minimizing this state."

Emotions are an objective nervous phenomenon with a pronounced mental, subjectively felt component. At the same time, emotional reactions contain clear objective physiological components.

Usually emotion is defined as a special type of mental processes that express a person's experience of his relationship to the world around him and himself. A person not only perceives the objects and phenomena surrounding him, not only affects them. He has a certain attitude towards them. Communication with other people, nature, works of art, social activities - all this causes various experiences in a person. These experiences are called feelings or emotions. They play a big role in human life, without them any purposeful activity is impossible.

In general, the term "emotion" is understood either very broadly - as an external expression of sensations, motivations, motivations, or very narrowly - as any rather sharply expressed external manifestation of the organism's attitude to the environment. However, in all definitions of emotion there is the word "experience". It means that emotions are based on a person's subjective attitude to a specific situation or to the degree of reality of achieving a goal.

Classification of emotions. PC. Anokhin in 1964 in his article "Emotion" (TSB, T. 49, p. 31) wrote that "a classification reflecting the physiological essence of emotions has not yet been created." Almost 40 years have passed since that time, and it can be clearly noted that there is still no exhaustive classification of emotions.

Given the pragmatic nature of emotional states, P.V. Simonov divided actions into contact and distance, and the latter into possession, avoidance and overcoming. Thus, according to P.V. Simonov's action, need and pragmatic information are the coordinates in the system of which various emotions characteristic of a person are located.

Based on the above postulate, fear will correspond to the needs of self-preservation, and anger arises in the sphere of interspecies interaction, and again spreads to inanimate objects. Thus, a person may become enraged trying to fix a damaged car engine, although, of course, getting angry with the car is very ridiculous. Emotions of pleasure or disgust arise during contact interaction in connection with the satisfaction of any need. A person can enjoy delicious food, contemplation of a work of art, although these are very different types of pleasure.

Many physiologists and psychologists divide emotions into negative, associated with the emergence of a need, and positive, accompanying its satisfaction. It should be noted that positive emotion does not always correspond to the positive significance of the stimulus for the body (for example, when using alcohol or drugs), and negative emotion does not always correspond to its negative significance, for example, fear of certain situations or environmental objects.

Positive ones characterize a favorable state of the body, they can be considered as the result of meeting biological or social needs. They are accompanied by increased creative efficiency, high labor productivity, low fatigue, and increased body resistance to harmful factors.

Negative emotions include fear, horror, anger, rage, displeasure, disgust, grief, sadness, longing. To positive ones - pleasure, pleasure, joy. Taking into account the nature of the body's behavior in emotional states, they can be subdivided into sthenic, causing vigorous activity, and asthenic, depressing active forms of behavior.

Expressions of emotion... It is known that emotions have a bright psychological subjective coloration. At the same time, emotional reactions contain clear objective physiological components.

Somatic manifestations of emotions include contractions of facial muscles, changes in voice and speech, blinking movements, general motor restlessness, and the first and second are very characteristic of each emotion (facial expressions of grief and joy).

The vegetative manifestations of emotions include changes in the functions of the cardiovascular system (heart rate, blood pressure), changes in respiration, and gastrointestinal functions. Vegetative shifts often more objectively reflect the state of a person in comparison with the reactions of skeletal muscles. Everyone is familiar with such manifestations of emotions as a change in complexion, an accelerated heart rate, cold sweat, and dry mouth.

There are also significant changes in the endocrine system and in the level of metabolism. The hormonal component continues after the cessation of emotion, manifests itself within 12-24 hours, especially corticosteroids.

Negative emotions (melancholy, dissatisfaction, fear, anger, resentment, sadness) are characterized by a long aftereffect. They involve the vegetative sphere, sometimes causing negative consequences.

In addition, each emotion is externally manifested by a certain pattern of behavior and specific facial expressions, posture, etc. - everything that immediately allows others to understand what emotion a person or animal is experiencing. In humans, these reactions are joined by subjective experiences, which, in turn, reflect the activity of certain brain systems.

The meaning of emotions... The emotional state plays a huge role in a person's life.

1. They create optimal conditions for the fulfillment of various needs, which are more easily fulfilled against the background of emotions. Even a direct relationship has been established between the degree of emotional stress and the degree of fulfilled need. Emotions make it possible not only to contribute to the fulfillment of needs, but to evaluate it with the brain in perspective (a person buys a car not to be in the garage, but to use it for his own needs). In other words, emotion is a means of assessing biological and social needs, prompting a subsequent person to purposeful action.

2. Emotions play an important role in human mental activity. They determine its creative and exploratory nature. It is actually an enzyme, without which there is no creativity. This is one of the most important means of predicting events. Emotions make it possible to extract more information from events that are normally insignificant. However, it should be remembered that there are many scientists who work productively without significant emotional stress, and in some cases they even create certain difficulties in mental activity, which probably depends on the individual properties of a person's NS.

3. Emotions play an important role in the process of assimilating information (memorizing). The central nervous system has an emotional memory system. Against the background of an emotional state, information is recorded faster and for a long time. An emotionally colored event is remembered by a person for life (a successfully staged performance with the participation of outstanding artists, a meaningful and well-staged film, an artistically and life-like novel, tragic and happy life situations, etc.).

4. Emotions are of great importance in the formation of volitional reactions of the organism (reflex of "freedom" according to IP Pavlov). On the one hand, emotions contribute to education volitional qualities humans, on the other hand, prevent excessive generalization of emotional arousal and thereby help to keep them at a certain level.

5. Emotions are considered by many scientists as a reliable means of communication between people. An emotionally charged conversation or a lecture read is always appreciated with greater warmth and gratitude by people.

6. Emotion is a means of quick assessment of factors damaging the body and thus is considered as a protective phenomenon - for example, pain allows the patient to find the most painless position and thus ensures the best survival of the body.

7. Emotions give vitality to a person, thanks to which mood improves, efficiency increases, interest in life appears, etc.

8. Emotions are also of great importance in the behavioral activity of the organism and its adaptation to changing environmental conditions. In this case, both positive and negative emotions matter. Positive emotional states alone will not save the body in constantly changing environmental conditions. So, negative emotions have a certain protective value, they allow a person to get rid of an unwanted conflict, to protect himself from stressful situations. The most important thing is that negative emotions do not become stable and do not lead to emotional stress. In certain situations, negative emotions can turn into positive ones, in particular, if the risk pays off.

Emotion Study Techniques... Experimental studies of emotions and motivations are helped by experiments with stimulation of emotiogenic structures using Skiner's technique (pressing the pedal while serving food). Walt and Milner developed a technique for self-irritation. They noticed that in a number of cases, when in one corner the cells irritated certain brain structures, the rats always rushed to this corner. Then they combined this with Skiner's technique, and gave the rat the opportunity, by independently pressing the pedal, to turn on the effect of irritation of a particular area of \u200b\u200bthe brain through electrodes implanted there.

It turned out that there are areas of the brain, the irritation of which causes positive emotions (reward zones, or proximity zones). These are the areas of the septum, lateral hypothalamus, medial anterior cerebral bundle. The system of structures of negative reinforcement (zone of punishment, avoidance) includes the central gray matter, the ventromedial hypothalamus, and the tonsils. It turned out that structures related to sexual and food reflexes are associated with the system of positive reinforcement. The excitement of these structures leads to a change in both the vegetative sphere and in behavior (Delgado's experiments). Approach and avoidance responses to such stimuli were obtained in all animals.

There is an opinion that those zones, when stimulated, the animal prefers stimulation to all other motivations, are nonspecific mechanisms of reward. Emotions reflect the activity of non-specific areas of reward or punishment. They are needed in order to reward difficult stages of behavior on the way to the goal, which are accompanied by a violation of homeostasis. Strategically advantageous behaviors are rewarded. The pleasant effect is the extrapolation of the future positive result. Emotions are the apparatus of good-bad integration.

Emotion theory. The formed fixed skill, as a rule, is realized almost without the participation of emotions. Moreover, the emergence of emotions can only disrupt the action and make it difficult to achieve the goal. A dynamic stereotype is a stable system of animal and human responses corresponding to a certain combination of external and internal signals. Animals with elaborated dynamic stereotype represent a system with complete information about when, what and how to do it. Violation of a stereotype means the appearance of a lack of information, the need to search for information - that's when emotions arise.

From the very beginning of the history of the organic world, living things exist in conditions of a lack of information about possible changes in the environment. Hence, there is a need for internal reserves, which make it possible to compensate for an unfavorable set of circumstances. One of the mechanisms of such compensation is the principle of overcompensation.

This fundamental principle of self-regulation of living systems has left its mark on all adaptive behavior. The actions of living beings to satisfy their needs begin before any significant changes... Signaling from the stomach receptors, accompanied by feelings of hunger, promptly initiates the search for food, thereby preventing changes in blood chemistry.

The emotional background of sensations is intended to give an initial assessment of the usefulness or harmfulness of stimuli. Doctors advise avoiding emotions, but this is impossible. Anyone who is wary of emotions - when they arise, he becomes detrained. Emotion is a protective factor, but it becomes pathological if it exceeds a certain limit. This limit is purely individual. It is very important to be able to regulate the level of emotional stress, but it is unconscious, therefore control is possible only indirectly, with a certain knowledge of the mechanisms of triggering emotions.

There are several physiological theories of emotion (E). The most recognized are the following:

1.Biological Anokhin's theory of emotions is that emotions are viewed as the result of a mismatch between the acceptor of an action and the result of an action or the course of its execution at the stages of action. Anokhin considered E as a mechanism of punishment (negative E) or reward (positive E) of strategically harmful or useful behaviors.

2. But E often arise even before the start of action, when assessing only the forecast of the degree of fulfillment of the need. This fact is taken into account in information theory of emotions Simonov. According to Simonov, emotions arise every time a need is not satisfied, in other words, when an action does not reach its goal.

E \u003d -П (Н-С), where

E - emotion, P - need (motivation), N - information that is prognostically necessary to organize an action to satisfy this need, C - information that is and can be used to organize purposeful behavior.

4 consequences inevitably follow from this expression:

1) E \u003d 0 at P \u003d 0. Emotion does not arise in the absence of a need and disappears after its satisfaction.

2) E \u003d 0 at H \u003d C... Emotion does not arise in a well-informed system, even with a large value P.

3) E \u003d max, if C \u003d 0. If there is a goal (need), the living system, within certain limits, is the more emotional, the less informed it is.

4) When S\u003e N E changes its sign. Since in the above formula P is considered as a negative state in the biological sense, with C\u003e H a positive emotion arises.

Consequently, emotions depend on the need and the lack of information about the conditions for its satisfaction.

Emotions are a compensatory mechanism that makes up for the lack of information necessary to achieve a goal (satisfy a need). So, rage compensates for the lack of information necessary for organizing the struggle, fear arises when there is a lack of information required for protection, grief arises in a situation of complete absence of information about any possibility of making up for the loss.

3. Emotional stress theory... However, activity requires not only information about the possibility of its implementation, but also energy and time, and they are not taken into account in Simonov's theory.

According to Simonov, there are only two emotional states - negative and positive. Meanwhile, physiological studies have shown that although psychologists identify many manifestations of positive emotions (pleasure, pleasure, comfort, delight, joy, optimism, triumph, inspiration, etc.), the nature of physiological vegetative shifts is the same for them.

But among the negative emotions, physiologically, two types can be distinguished: a) sthenic negative ... emotions (anger, rage, indignation), in which there is a mobilization of forces, energy, all the resources of the body, when the forces multiply tenfold (jump on the wing of an airplane from a bear, etc.); and b) asthenic negative... emotions (horror, fear, melancholy), in which all body functions are suppressed, both in the field of physical and intellectual activity.

Objective physiological indicators for all these conditions are different. For example, dogs react differently to a scary alien. One begins to bark, torn, trying to attack, while she has an increase in coronary blood flow, blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, MO. The behavior is called rage. Another dog shows fear at the appearance of the same person - while it may have bowel movements, involuntary urination, paralysis, decreased coronary blood flow, up to complete ischemia, etc.

According to the theory of G.I. Kositsky, emotions are only a manifestation of a certain degree of development of the state of nervous and vegetative tension in conditions of a shortage of means to achieve the goal. Kositsky considers not only information as a means of achieving the goal ( AND), but also energy ( E) and time ( IN)required to complete the action.

Thus, Simonov's formula is transformed into the following: the state of emotional stress is directly proportional to the level (significance, difficulty) of the goal and the level of deficiency of means of achieving it, i.e.

CH \u003d C (I n ∙ V n ∙ E n - I s ∙ V s ∙ E s),

where CH is the state of tension, C is the goal, In, Vn, En are the necessary information, time and energy, Is, Vs, Es are information, time and energy existing in the body.

Kositskiy distinguishes four degrees of the state of tension, depending on the level of deficit of means to achieve the goal.

I degree - V.M.A... (attention, mobilization, activity). This is an active orienting reaction, a stage of adequate mobilization of forces, a rise in creative activity.

II degree - S.O.E... (sthenic negative emotions). If the shortage of means to achieve the goal grows, then there is a mobilization of reserves "under a whisk" (vegetative storm). At the same time, ES grows and equality of H and C is achieved. Rage makes even a weak person strong and contributes to victory.

III degree - A.S.O.E. (asthenic negative emotions). They arise when mobilization does not help, and N remains greater than C. Avoiding the task is also a peculiar way of protecting the body. For example, out of two birds with one stone, the one who freezes from fear in the bushes wins, since the fox prefers to chase the other, who relies on his legs. It is not yet known how this chase will end, but the first hare has already been saved! With fear, the so-called "vegetative chaos" occurs - the deregulation of vegetative functions. If this continues for a long time, it can be fatal.

IV degree - neurosis - observed if the body often experiences asthenic negative emotions. Then there is a breakdown of the autonomic regulation system and neuropsychic functions. Clinically, there is a neurosis, a breakdown of higher nervous activity.

The first three stages are reversible when the goal is achieved, the fourth is irreversible, leaves a stamp for life, increased sensitivity to some situations ("sore corn").

You can regulate emotional stress by understanding the conditions for their occurrence. For this, based on the Kositsky formula, one must either not set big goals, or build up one's own resources - be able to adequately allocate time, build up energy and information, i.e. life experience and skills.

Interestingly, people with different temperaments and types of GNI predominantly show different levels of EN. So, sanguine people are more characteristic of 1 degree EN (V.M.A.), choleric people - the second (S.O.E.) In people with a weak type, 3 and 4 degrees of EN more often occur, in people with a strong type - 1 and 2 degrees.

Outwardly unexpressed emotions hit the regulatory mechanisms of the internal organs. Emotions cannot be contained, but they must - and this is the problem.

For the 1st degree there are no problems - it is not necessary to restrain it. Emotions of the 2nd degree sometimes need to be defused. The palliative outlet can be very strong muscular activity that decreases energy. You can, as the Japanese do, discharge yourself into a "stuffed master", etc. This does not eliminate the causes of EN, but removes the vegetative storm. Asthenic negative emotions should be avoided in every possible way, and if they appear, freezing at this stage must be eliminated. It is imperative to get out of this situation.

Why are we not in control of emotions? They turn on at the subconscious level. Our mental activity manifests itself in two forms - conscious and subconscious (unconscious - in a dream, automatism, habits, etc.). Both of these types of activity are carried out by all levels of the brain, but the conscious requires a general activation of the cortex from the RF side. In a sleeping person, when any receptors are irritated, just like in a waking person, evoked potentials arise in the cortex - the so-called. primary and secondary responses. Kositsky believes that the secondary response is a reflection of the processes associated with assessing the significance of the stimulus and drawing up a response program. In accordance with the result of this work, the desynchronization mechanism is turned on or not, and waking up occurs or does not occur.

The sleeper has 4 types of answers.

1. No response is a reaction to familiar signals that do not carry new information (the sound of a clock, the clink of dishes, ordinary house noises, etc.).

2. An active response that does not lead to awakening - automatic reactions such as kill a mosquito or brush away a fly. Many even conditioned reflex reactions can be carried out at the subconscious level.

3. Reaction to stimulus causes calm awakening.

4. The reaction to the stimulus causes awakening with a sharp emotional reaction.

Emotional stress occurs before awakening, unconsciously (fear). After awakening, he turns into fear if there are not enough resources for salvation, passes if there are enough resources, or turns into a rage if there is some kind of shortage, but resource mobilization is possible.

According to Kositsky, there is only one positive emotion. This is joy, which can manifest itself in various forms depending on the specific psychophysiological situation, but its mechanism is based on getting rid of negative emotions and achieving a goal. The higher the state of emotional stress, the greater the joy. Many people take fear (risk) in order to experience the joy after overcoming it - climbers, etc.

If everything is given on a silver platter, there is no joy. Joy comes through the removal of difficulties. It is no coincidence that the children of millionaires are looking for the most risky hobbies, as they are satiated with the conditions of their lives. They want to overcome difficulties and have joy. Joy is one of the engines of biological evolution, a factor in natural selection. Difficulties can be overcome by the most prepared representatives of the population, but everyone strives to do it. The strongest survives and gives offspring.

Central nervous apparatus of emotions represented by a set of brain formations, which are commonly called the "visceral brain". The name emphasizes the close connection of all formations of the visceral brain with the regulation of the activity of internal organs. This connection has a double meaning. On the one hand, it reminds of the dependence of emotions on internal needs, on the other, it makes clear those profound changes in vegetation that occur during the realization of emotions.

The visceral brain includes: the hypothalamic region (hypothalamus), the anterior nuclei of the thalamus, the septum, the fornix, the mammillary bodies, the amygdala, and the formations of the ancient cortex (coronal groove, hippocampus, pear-shaped lobe). This complex of education is called the limbic system of the brain. The visceral brain is closely associated with the neocortex, especially with its frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes.

The functional influences of the central apparatus of emotions can be divided into 2 types - ascending and descending. Upward influences consist of the activation of the higher brain and sense organs. Exercising this influence, the visceral brain closely interacts with the reticular formation of the brain stem. The hippocampus inhibits the reticular formation of the brain stem.

The action of the physiological apparatus of emotions through the RF does not exclude direct influence on the bark, as well as influences through the autonomic nervous system. Extensive descending effects of emotional arousal are realized through the autonomic nervous system, the highest centers of which are located in the hypothalamus.

Beauward (1962) proposed a hypothesis about the existence of two functionally opposite systems in the brains of higher animals and humans. One of them has a parasympathetic (cholinergic) nature and represents the physiological basis of positive emotions. Second, adrenergic. the system turns on with negative emotions. Irritation of the first of these creates a feeling of pleasure and serves as a reward. The stimulation of the negative system is accompanied by anxiety, anxiety and terror.

There is a reciprocal relationship between these two systems, which are regulated by the amygdala. However, the relationship between these systems is more complex than simple reciprocity. There are clearly sympathetic effects in the structure of positive emotions, and parasympathetic in negative ones.

Part I
EMOTIONS AND WILL

P.V. Simonov. Information theory of emotions

Our approach to the problem of emotions belongs entirely to Pavlov's direction in the study of the higher nervous (mental) activity of the brain.

The information theory of emotions ... is not only "physiological", nor only "psychological", much less "cybernetic". It is inextricably linked with the Pavlovian systemic approach to the study of higher nervous (mental) activity. This means that the theory, if it is correct, should be equally productive for the analysis of phenomena attributed to the psychology of emotion, and in the study of the cerebral mechanisms of emotional reactions in humans and animals.

In Pavlov's writings, we find indications of two factors that are inextricably linked with the involvement of the brain mechanisms of emotion. Firstly, these are the needs and drives inherent in the body, identified by Pavlov with innate (unconditioned) reflexes. “Who would separate,” Pavlov wrote, “in the most complex unconditioned reflexes (instincts), the physiological somatic from the mental, that is, from the experiences of the powerful emotions of hunger, sex drive, anger, etc.? " However, Pavlov understood that the endless variety of the world of human emotions cannot be reduced to a set of innate (even "most difficult", even vital) unconditioned reflexes. Moreover, it was Pavlov who discovered the key mechanism due to which the brain apparatus responsible for the formation and realization of emotions is involved in the process of conditioned reflex activity (behavior) of higher animals and humans.

For example, a positive emotion when eating occurs due to the integration of hunger arousal (need) with afferentation from the oral cavity, indicating a growing likelihood of satisfying this need. In a different state of need, the same afferentation will be emotionally indifferent or generate a feeling of disgust.

So far we have talked about the reflective function of emotions, which coincides with their evaluative function. Please note that price in the most general sense of this concept is always a function of two factors: demand (demand) and supply (the ability to satisfy this need). But the category of value and the function of evaluation become unnecessary if there is no need for comparison, exchange, i.e. the need to compare values. That is why the function of emotions is not limited to a simple signaling of influences, beneficial or harmful to the body, as supporters of the "biological theory of emotions" believe. Let's use the example given by P.K. Anokhin. When the joint is damaged, the feeling of pain limits the motor activity of the limb, contributing to the reparative processes. In this integral signaling of "harmfulness" P.K. Anokhin saw the adaptive value of pain. However, a similar role could be played by a mechanism that automatically, without the participation of emotions, inhibits movements harmful to the damaged organ. The feeling of pain turns out to be a more plastic mechanism: when the need for movement becomes very great (for example, when the very existence of the subject is threatened), movement is carried out regardless of pain. In other words, emotions act as a kind of "brain currency" - a universal measure of values, and not a simple equivalent, functioning according to the principle: harmful - unpleasant, useful - pleasant.

EMOTION TOGGLE FUNCTION

From a physiological point of view, emotion is an active state of a system of specialized brain structures that induces changes in behavior in the direction of minimizing or maximizing this state. Since a positive emotion indicates an approaching satisfaction of a need, and a negative emotion indicates a distance from it, the subject seeks to maximize (strengthen, prolong, repeat) the first state and minimize (weaken, interrupt, prevent) the second. This hedonistic principle of maximization - minimization, equally applicable to humans and animals, will make it possible to overcome the seeming inaccessibility of animal emotions for direct experimental study.

The switching function of emotions is found both in the sphere of congenital forms of behavior and in the implementation of conditioned reflex activity, including its most complex manifestations. We just need to remember that a scene of the likelihood of satisfying a need can occur in a person not only at a conscious, but also at an unconscious level. A striking example of unconscious forecasting is intuition, where the assessment of approaching a goal or moving away from it is initially realized in the form of an emotional “premonition of a decision” prompting a logical analysis of the situation that gave rise to this emotion (Tikhomirov).

The switching function of emotion is especially clearly revealed in the process of competition of motives, when the dominant need is singled out, which becomes a vector of purposeful behavior. So, in a combat situation, the struggle between the natural instinct of self-preservation for a person and the social need to follow a certain ethical norm is experienced by the subject in the form of a struggle between fear and a sense of duty, between fear and shame. The dependence of emotions not only on the magnitude of the need, but also on the likelihood of its satisfaction makes the competition of coexisting motives extremely difficult, as a result of which behavior often turns out to be reoriented towards a less important, but easily achievable goal: "a bird in hand" wins a "pie in the sky."

REINFORCING EMOTION FUNCTION

The phenomenon of reinforcement occupies a central position in the system of concepts of the science of higher nervous activity, since the formation, existence, extinction and features of any conditioned reflex depend on the fact of reinforcement. By reinforcement, “Pavlov meant the action of a biologically significant stimulus (food, harmful stimulus, etc.), which gives a signal value to another, biologically insignificant stimulus combined with it” (Asratyay).

The need to involve the cerebral mechanisms of emotion in the process of developing a conditioned reflex becomes especially demonstrative in the case of instrumental conditioned reflexes, where reinforcement depends on the subject's response to the conditioned signal. Depending on their intensity, the functional state of the organism and the characteristics of the external environment, a wide variety of "indifferent" stimuli - light, sound, tactile, proprioceptive, smell, etc. can be pleasant. On the other hand, animals often refuse vital ingredients of food if it is not tasty. In rats, it was not possible to develop an instrumental conditioned reflex when food is introduced through a cannula into the stomach (i.e., bypassing taste buds), although such a reflex is developed when morphine is introduced into the stomach, which very quickly induces a positive emotional state in the animal. The same morphine, due to its bitter taste, ceases to be a reinforcement if it is administered through the mouth.

We believe that the results of these experiments are in good agreement with the data of T.N. Oniani, who used direct electrical stimulation of the limbic structures of the brain as a reinforcement to develop a conditioned reflex. When an external stimulus was combined with irritation of the brain structures, which caused food, drink, aggression, rage and fear in a well-fed cat, after 5-50 combinations it was possible to develop only a conditioned avoidance reaction, accompanied by fear. It was not possible to obtain conditioned reflexes of food and drink.

From our point of view, the results of these experiments once again testify to the decisive role of emotions in the development of conditioned reflexes. Fear has a pronounced aversiveness for the animal and is actively minimized by it through the avoidance reaction. Irritation of the food and drinking systems of the brain in fed and thirstless animals causes stereotypical acts of eating and drinking without the involvement of the nervous mechanisms of emotions, which excludes the development of conditioned reflexes.

COMPENSATORY (REPLACING) FUNCTION OF EMOTION

As an active state of the system of specialized brain structures, emotions affect other cerebral systems that regulate behavior, the processes of perceiving external signals and extracting engrams of these signals from memory, and the autonomic functions of the body. It is in the latter case that the compensatory significance of emotions is especially clearly revealed.

The fact is that when emotional stress arises, the volume of autonomic shifts (increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, release of hormones into the bloodstream, etc.), as a rule, exceeds the real needs of the body. The process of natural selection appears to have reinforced the desirability of this excess resource mobilization. In a situation of pragmatic uncertainty (namely, it is so characteristic of the emergence of emotions), when it is not known how much and what will be needed in the next few minutes, it is better to go for unnecessary energy expenditures than in the midst of intense activity - fight or flight - to be left without sufficient oxygen and metabolic "Raw material".

But the compensatory function of emotions is by no means limited to hypermobilization of vegetation. The emergence of emotional stress is accompanied by a transition to other than in a calm state, forms of behavior, the principles of assessing external signals and responding to them. Physiologically, the essence of this transition can be defined as a return from finely specialized conditioned responses to responses according to the principle of the dominant A.A. Ukhtomsky. V.P. It was not by chance that Osipov called the first stage in the development of a conditioned reflex, the stage of generalization, "emotional".

The most important feature of a dominant is the ability to respond with the same reaction to a wide range of external stimuli, including stimuli that first met in the life of the subject. It is interesting that ontogeny, as it were, repeats the dynamics of the transition from dominant to conditioned reflex. Newly hatched chickens begin to peck at any objects contrasting with the background, commensurate with the size of their beak. Gradually, they learn to peck only those that can serve as food.

If the process of strengthening the conditioned reflex is accompanied by a decrease in emotional tension and at the same time a transition from a dominant (generalized) response to strictly selective responses to a conditioned signal, then the emergence of emotions leads to secondary generalization. "The stronger the need becomes," writes J. Nyutten, "the less specific is the object that causes the corresponding reaction." An increase in emotional stress, on the one hand, expands the range of epgrams retrieved from memory, and on the other hand, reduces the criteria for "decision making" when comparing these engrams with available stimuli. Thus, a hungry person begins to perceive certain stimuli as associated with food.

It is quite obvious that a presumed dominant response is advisable only under conditions of pragmatic uncertainty. With the elimination of this uncertainty, the subject can turn into a "frightened crow, which is afraid of the bush." That is why evolution has formed a mechanism for the dependence of emotional stress and its characteristic type of response on the size of the deficit of pragmatic information, a mechanism for eliminating negative emotions as the information deficit is eliminated. We emphasize that emotion by itself does not carry information about the world around, the missing information is replenished through search behavior, skills improvement, and mobilization of memorized memory. The compensatory meaning of emotions lies in their substitutional role.

As for positive emotions, their compensatory function is realized through the influence on the need that initiates behavior. In a difficult situation with a low probability of achieving the goal, even a small success (increasing probability) generates a positive emotion of excitement, which increases the need to achieve the goal according to the rule
P-E / (AND N - I s) arising from the formula of emotions.

In other situations, positive emotions induce living beings to disrupt the achieved "equilibrium with the environment". In an effort to re-experience positive emotions, living systems are forced to actively seek unmet needs and a situation of uncertainty, where the information received could exceed the previously available forecast. Thus, positive emotions compensate for the lack of unmet needs and pragmatic uncertainty, which can lead to stagnation, to degradation, to a halt in the process of self-movement and self-development.

P.V. Simonov The emotional brain. M, 1981, p. 4, 8, 13-14, 19-23, 27-39

Reflective-evaluative function of emotions

“The first concepts with which any science begins,” wrote NI Lobachevsky, “should be clear and reduced to the smallest number. Then only they can serve as a solid and sufficient basis for teaching. " Summarizing the results of our own experiments and literature data, we came in 1964 to the conclusion that that emotion is a reflection by the brain of humans and animals of any actual need (its quality and magnitude) and the likelihood (possibility) of its satisfaction, which the brain evaluates on the basis of genetic and previously acquired individual experience.

In its most general form, the rule for the emergence of emotions can be represented as a structural formula:

E \u003d f [P, (AND n - I from), …. ],

where E - emotion, its degree, quality and sign; P - the strength and quality of the actual need; ( ANDn - Ifrom) - an assessment of the likelihood (possibility) of satisfying a need based on innate and ontogenetic experience; ANDn - information about the means that are predictively necessary to meet the need; ANDfrom -information about the means available to the subject at the moment.

Of course, emotion also depends on a number of other factors, some of which are well known to us, and the existence of others, we may not even suspect. Notable ones include:

Individual (typological) characteristics of the subject, first of all, the individual characteristics of his emotionality, motivational sphere, volitional qualities, etc .;

The time factor, depending on which the emotional reaction takes on the character of a rapidly developing affect or moods, lasting for hours, days and weeks;

Qualitative features of the need. So, emotions arising on the basis of social and spiritual needs are usually called feelings. Low likelihood of avoiding unwanted exposure will generate in the subject anxiety, and the low probability of achieving the desired goal - frustration.

But all of these and similar factors cause only variations of the infinite variety of emotions, while necessary and sufficient there are two, only two, always and only two factors: the need and the likelihood (possibility) of its satisfaction.

To avoid misunderstandings, let us focus on clarifying the concepts we use. We use the term "information" in view of its pragmatic meaning, i.e. the change in the probability of achieving the goal (satisfying the need) due to the receipt of this message. Thus, we are not talking about information that actualizes a need (for example, about a hazard that has arisen), but about information necessary to satisfy a need (for example, how to avoid this danger). By information we mean the reflection of the entire set of means to achieve the goal: the knowledge that the subject has, the perfection of his skills, the energy resources of the body, sufficient or insufficient time to organize the appropriate actions, etc. The question is, is it worth using the term "information" ? We believe it is, and here's why. First, the brain that generates emotions does not deal with the skills themselves (which includes training of the peripheral executive apparatus), not with the energy resources of the body, etc., but with afferentation from the external and internal environment of the body, that is, with information about available funds. Secondly, all the variety of information about what is necessary to satisfy the emerging need and what is actually available at the given moment in the subject is transformed by the brain into a single integral indicator - into an assessment of the probability of achieving the goal (satisfying the need). The assessment of probability, by its very nature, is a category informational.

We use the term “need” in its broad understanding, which is by no means reducible to mere preservation (survival) of an individual and a species. "Give a man only that which he cannot live without, - you will equate him with an animal," Shakespeare wrote in King Lear, but the needs of animals are not limited to self-preservation. Need is often qualified as a need for something, but such a definition is nothing more than a game of synonyms. In our opinion, need is a selective dependence of living organisms on environmental factors that are essential for self-preservation and self-development, the source of the activity of living systems, the motivation and goal of their behavior in the surrounding world. Respectively behavior we define as a form of life that can change the likelihood and duration of contact with an external object that can satisfy the body's need.

The phenomenon of motivation is most closely related to the concept of "need". A good idea of \u200b\u200bthe history of the study of motivation is provided by the collection of articles collected by V.A. Russell. Motivation represents the second stage in the organization of purposeful behavior in comparison with the actualization of the need, it can be considered as an "objectified need". There are no motivations without needs, but it is quite possible to meet a need that has not become motivation. So, a person may experience an acute need for vitamins and not be motivated, since he does not know about the cause of his condition. A dog, deprived of the cerebral cortex, under the influence of hunger (need for food) comes into a state of strong motor excitement. Nevertheless, we cannot talk about food motivation here, since the dog does not touch the food lying under its feet. So, motivation is a physiological mechanism for activating traces (engrams) stored in memory of those external objects that are capable of satisfying the body's need, and those actions that can lead to its satisfaction.

Let's return to the analysis of the consequences arising from the “formula of emotions”. Low probability of satisfying the need ( ANDn more than ANDfrom) leads to the emergence of negative emotions. An increase in the likelihood of satisfaction compared to the previously available forecast ( ANDfrom more than ANDn) generates positive emotions.

The information theory of emotions is valid not only for relatively complex behavioral and mental acts, but for the genesis any emotional state. For example, a positive emotion when eating occurs due to the integration of hunger arousal (need) with afferentation from the oral cavity, indicating a growing likelihood of satisfying this need. In a different state of need, the same afferentation will be emotionally indifferent or generate a feeling of disgust.

Literature

1. Lobachevsky N.I. About the beginnings of geometry. // Science and life. 1976.vol. 5. P. 39.

2. Kharkevich A.A. On the value of information. // Problems of Cybernetics. 1960.v.4. P.53.

3. Russell W.A. (Ed.) Milestones in Motivation. N.Y .: Appleton-Cen-tury-Crofts, 1970.

P.V. Simonov The emotional brain. - M .: Nauka, 1981 .-- pp. 19-23, 27 (with abbreviations)

The information theory of emotions is inextricably linked with Pavlov's systemic approach to the study of higher nervous (mental) activity.

Reflective-evaluative function of emotions

Summarizing the results of our own experiments and literature data, we came to the conclusion in 1964 that emotion is a reflection by the brain of humans and animals of some actual need (its quality and magnitude) and the probability (possibility) of its satisfaction, which the brain estimates on based on genetic and previously acquired individual experience.

In its most general form, the rule for the emergence of emotions can be represented as a structural formula:

E \u003d F (P, (I n - I s, ...)),

where E - emotion, its strength and quality;

P - the size and specificity of the actual need; (I n - I s) - an assessment of the likelihood (possibility) of satisfying a given need on the basis of innate life acquired experience;

And n - information about the means that are predictively necessary to meet the existing need;

And c - information about the means that a person has at a given moment in time.

According to Simonov's theory of emotions, the emergence of emotion is due to a lack of pragmatic information (when IN is greater than IS), this is what causes negative emotions: disgust, fear, anger, etc. Positive emotions, such as joy and interest, appear in a situation where the information received increases the likelihood of satisfying the need in comparison with the already existing forecast, in other words, when I is greater than I.

Of course, emotion also depends on a number of other factors, some of which are well known to us, and the existence of others, we may not even suspect. Notable ones include:

Individual (typological) characteristics of the subject, first of all, the individual characteristics of his emotionality, motivational sphere, volitional qualities, etc .;

The time factor, depending on which the emotional reaction takes on the character of a rapidly developing affect or mood, which persists for hours, days and weeks;

Qualitative features of the need. So, emotions arising on the basis of social and spiritual needs are usually called feelings. A low probability of avoiding undesirable effects will generate anxiety in the subject, and a low probability of achieving the desired goal - frustration, etc., etc.

But all of these and similar factors cause only variations of an infinite variety of emotions, while two, only two, always and only are necessary and sufficient. two factors: the need and the likelihood (possibility) of its satisfaction.

The low probability of satisfying the need leads to the emergence of negative emotions. The increase in the likelihood of satisfaction in comparison with the previously available forecast generates positive emotions.

Emotion switching function

From a physiological point of view, emotion is an active state of a system of specialized brain structures that induces changes in behavior in the direction of minimizing or maximizing this state. Since a positive emotion indicates an approaching satisfaction of a need, and a negative emotion indicates a distance from it, the subject seeks to maximize (strengthen, prolong, repeat) the first state and minimize (weaken, interrupt, prevent) the second. The switching function of emotions is especially clearly revealed in the process of competition of motives, when the dominant need is identified, which becomes a vector of purposeful behavior.

Reinforcing function of emotions

In many cases, immediate reinforcement is not the satisfaction of any need, but the receipt of desirable (pleasant, emotionally positive) or the elimination of unwanted (unpleasant) stimuli. Animals often refuse vital food ingredients if they are not tasty. Fear has a pronounced aversiveness for the animal and is actively minimized by it through the avoidance reaction. This indicates the decisive role of emotions in the development of conditioned reflexes.

Compensatory (substitute) function of emotions

As an active state of the system of specialized brain structures, emotions affect other cerebral systems that regulate behavior, the processes of perceiving external signals and extracting engrams of these signals from memory, and the autonomic functions of the body. It is in the latter case that the compensatory significance of emotions is especially clearly revealed.

The emergence of emotional stress is accompanied by a transition to other than in a calm state, forms of behavior, the principles of assessing external signals and responding to them. Physiologically, the essence of this transition can be defined as a return from finely specialized conditioned reactions to a response according to the principle of the dominant of A.A. Ukhtomsky.

The growth of emotional stress, on the one hand, expands the range of engrams retrieved from memory, and, on the other hand, reduces the criteria for “decision making” when comparing these engrams with available stimuli. Thus, a hungry person begins to perceive vague stimuli as associated with food.

It is quite obvious that a presumed dominant response is advisable only under conditions of pragmatic uncertainty. With the elimination of this uncertainty, the subject can turn into a "frightened crow, which is afraid of the bush."

As for positive emotions, their compensatory function is realized through the influence on the need that initiates behavior. In a difficult situation with a low probability of achieving the goal, even a small success (increasing probability) generates a positive emotion of excitement, which increases the need to achieve the goal.

IN. Simonov.

Let us present the information theory of emotions by P.V. Simonov, trying, on the one hand, to convey the author's point of view as accurately as possible, and, on the other hand, to highlight the role and meaning of the concept probabilistic forecasting and predictions as a principle of this theory.

Relationship between P.V.Simonov's information theory of emotions and P.K. Anokhin's biological theory of emotions ... The information theory of emotions by P. V. Simonov, according to the author himself, is a refinement of the biological theory of emotions by P. K. Anokhin: “The answer to the question about the relation of our theory to P. K. Anokhin's theory can be formulated very clearly: information theory of emotions is a generalization of a wider scale, where biological theory (emotions .- E. V.) Anokhina enters as a special case» [

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 76; from. 61]. We will not go into the details of the discussion between P.V. Simonov and P.K. Anokhin, but only note the main differences in their views and further we will present P.V. Simonov's information theory of emotions as a generalization of P.K. Anokhin.

The main meaning of P.V.Simonov's information theory of emotions, in contrast to P.K. Anokhin's biological theory of emotions, is that it is necessary to know not only the achievability or non-achievability of the result, but also its probability.

Biological theory of emotions P.K.Anokhin ... The biological theory of emotions by PK Anokhin can be summarized as follows: “As a rule, any motivational excitement is subjectively emotionally unpleasant ... Negative emotion accompanying motivation has an important biological significance. It mobilizes the animal's efforts to satisfy the arisen need ... Unpleasant emotional experiences are intensified in all cases when the animal's behavior in the external environment does not lead to the satisfaction of the arisen need ... Satisfaction of the need (the effect of a reinforcing stimulus on the body), on the contrary, is always associated with positive emotional experiences ... Biological significance positive emotion in satisfying needs is understandable, since they seem to sanction the success of the search. However, this value is not limited to this. Positive emotions are recorded in memory and subsequently as a kind of "representations" ("appetite." E. V.) about the future result appear whenever a corresponding need arises. The organism, trained to repeatedly satisfy its needs, is subsequently stimulated to purposeful activity not only by the negative emotion of the motivational state, but also by the idea of \u200b\u200bthat positive emotion that is associated with possible future reinforcement ”[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 78; from. 91, 92]. Under the concept of a positive emotion, one must mean its anticipation according to the principle of anticipatory reflection of reality. Therefore, if we know how to achieve the goal, then the achievement of the goal will be provided not only by the influence of the negative emotion of motivational excitement, but also by the energetic influence from anticipating the positive emotion by “appetite”. Thus, the achievement of the goal will be ensured by two emotional influences at once - positive and negative, so to speak, “ carrot and stick».

In the biological theory of PK Anokhin, emotions are assigned only an energetic role - to "mobilize" and "stimulate" the animal to achieve the goal. It is said, of course, that in the event of obstacles, negative emotions intensify, but how much and why is already beyond the scope of the biological theory of emotions and the theory of functional systems. From the further presentation it will be seen why such subtleties do not in principle fit into the theory of functional systems.

P. V. Simonov's criticism of the biological theory of emotions ... “... The vast majority of the concepts considered mismatch semantics goals ("acceptor of action", "nervous model of stimulus", "attitude", "model of the required future", etc., etc.) with the actually obtained result. Such a semantic mismatch is quite enough for the emergence of negative emotions. As for positive emotional states, they have traditionally been considered and continue to be considered as the result of satisfying a need, i.e. coincidence of the forecast ("acceptor", "afferent model", etc.) with the available afferentation "[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 76; from. 89]. “In none of the works of P. K. Anokhin we did not find a mention of the fact that, along with the content (semantics) of the goal, the brain predicts probability her achievements. As for our theory, this moment is key for it ... The introduction of the category of probabilistic forecasting immediately expands the limits of applicability of the theory to actually observed facts ”[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 60].

P. V. Simonov gives the following examples: “The literature is overflowing with experimental data testifying to dependence of emotional stress on the magnitude of the need (motivation) and predicting the likelihood of its satisfaction... For example, it was found that the heart rate of bank employees depends on the degree of their responsibility (account of banknotes of various denominations) and the amount of information contained in one operation ... The greatest emotional stress in dogs (squealing, barking, scratching, scratching the feeder) was observed when the probabilities of reinforcement are 1: 4, and as the experiment continues - at 1: 2. The value of the information factor appears especially clearly in experiments with paired animals, when both partners receive an equal number of electric shocks, but only one of them can prevent punishment by the corresponding instrumental reaction. It is shown that in this particular animal the signs of fear gradually disappear. "

Formula of emotions of information theory of emotions P.V. Simonov ... Probability is an informational concept and is associated with the assessment of information coming from the external environment to predict the probability of achieving a goal. This forces P.V. Simonov to try to redefine all physiological concepts, such as motivation, need, behavior, etc., also in terms of information from the external environment. But this attempt seems to us unsuccessful: firstly, it gives absolutely nothing, and you cannot build a theory on such concepts (the information that a person extracts from the external environment is so diverse, often unconscious that at present there is no theory that would described); secondly, from the point of view of the concept of a goal, need and motivation are purely internal tasks of the organism and information from the external environment, about the probability of achieving these goals can only have an auxiliary role. This puts the concept of goal, motivation and need first, and the concept of probabilistic forecasting and emotion second. Nevertheless, emotions, as we will see from the theory of P.V. Simonov, play in the organization of purposeful behavior, maybe even more important rolethan motivation and needs, which may be what made Simonov try to redefine these concepts. But the essence of the matter does not change from this, despite the importance of emotions, they are secondary in relation to the concept of purpose.

Let us briefly describe the formula of emotions introduced by P.V. Simonov, although we will not use it. This formula is given in order to make it possible to more accurately understand how emotions are related to probability and what is meant by probability.

“Summarizing the results of our own experiments and literature data, we came to the conclusion in 1964 that emotion is a reflection by the brain of humans and animals of any actual need (its quality and magnitude) and the likelihood (possibility) of its satisfaction, which the brain evaluates based on genetic and previously acquired individual experience ... In its most general form, the rule of the emergence of emotions can be represented in the form of a structural formula

E \u003d f [P, (AND p- And c), ...],

where E - emotion, its degree, quality and sign; P - the strength and quality of the actual need (the need also has its own sign; the need that causes motivational excitement has a negative sign. E. V.); (AND p- And c) - an assessment of the likelihood (possibility) of satisfying a need based on innate and ontogenetic experience; AND p- information about the means that are predictively necessary to meet the need; AND c- information about the means available to the subject at the moment. Of course, emotion also depends on a number of other factors, some of which are well known to us, but we may not even suspect the existence of others ... (for example, spiritual - E. V.). But all of these and similar factors cause only variations of the infinite variety of emotions, while necessary and sufficient are two ... and only two factors: the need and the likelihood (possibility) of its satisfaction... it is not about information that actualizes a need (for example, about a hazard that has arisen), but about information necessary to satisfy a need (for example, how to avoid this danger). Under informationwe understand the reflection of the entire set of means to achieve the goal: the knowledge that the subject has, the perfection of his skills, the energy resources of the body, sufficient or insufficient time to organize the appropriate actions, etc. The question is, is it worth using the term "information" in this case? We believe it is, and here's why. Firstly, the brain that generates emotions does not deal with the skills themselves ... not with the energy resources of the body, etc., but with afferentation from the external and internal environment of the body, that is, with information about the available funds. Secondly, all the variety of information necessary to satisfy the arisen need and actually available at the given moment in the subject is transformed by the brain into a single integral indicator - in assessing the probability of achieving the goal (satisfaction of the need). The assessment of probability, by its very nature, is a category informational» [

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 20, 21]. The concept of information as informational will not be used further. Only the mentioned assessment of the probability of achieving the goal will be used as an integral indicator participating in the formation of emotions. To obtain this estimate, it is enough to assume that it is determined at the stage of decision making, using all the information obtained at the stage of afferent synthesis.

Information theory of emotions P. V. Simonov as a generalization of the biological theory of emotions P. K. Anokhin ... Both in the theory of P.K.Anokhin and in the theory of P.V. Simonov, the emergence of motivational excitement causes negative emotions. In both theories, the occurrence of obstacles enhances negative emotions, although the motivational arousal itself remains the same. The theory of P.V. Simonov is more accurate in that the assessment of the probability of achieving the goal allows, firstly, to assess the possibility of achieving the goal even before any actions at the stage of the decision-making process (and, perhaps, even abandon actions and prefer “a tit in hands, than a crane in the sky ”); secondly, adequately, in accordance with the likelihood of mobilizing the body to achieve the goal (compensatory function of emotions) and, finally, using the will to overcome obstacles.

The concept of "appetite", considered in the biological theory of emotions, is an anticipation of a positive emotion, but not the positive emotion itself. In the theory of P.V. Simonov, the very anticipation of achieving the goal with some probability is the cause of positive emotions. " Pleasure there is always a result of an already occurring (contact) interaction (satisfaction of a need - E. V.), while joy (emotion .- E. V.) there is an expectation of pleasure due to the growing likelihood of satisfying the need» [

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 90]. In the future, we will adhere to the point of view of PV Simonov and the concept of "appetite" of the biological theory of emotions will not be used.

The emergence of positive emotions in the theory of functional systems associated with the satisfaction of a need and the achievement of a set goal (the coincidence of the achieved result with its anticipation in the acceptor of the results of action) is explained in the information theory of emotions in a different way: as an increase in the probability of achieving the final result due to its actual achievement (the probability estimate becomes equal or close to 1). “The information theory of emotions is valid not only for relatively complex behavioral and mental acts, but also for the genesis any emotional state. For example, a positive emotion while eating arises due to the integration of hunger arousal (need) with afferentation from the oral cavity, indicating a growing likelihood of satisfying this need (the probability of food assimilation has become almost equal to 1, since food got into the mouth - E. V.)» [

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 27].

The emergence of positive emotions as a result of a positive mismatch, when, for example, the received exceeds the expected, really cannot be explained without probabilistic forecasting. “Relying on our experimental research, we insist that for the emergence of positive emotions, as well as for the emergence of negative emotions, an unmet need and a mismatch between the forecast and the current reality are necessary... Only now we are talking not only about the semantics (content, qualities) of the goal, but about the likelihood of achieving it... It is the forecasting of the probability that makes it possible to obtain a positive mismatch, the excess of the obtained over the expected. The introduction of the parameter of the probability of achieving the goal, which makes possible a positive mismatch, is the kernel of our concept of emotions ”[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 76; from. 89, 90]. An illustration of the emergence of a positive emotion as a result of a positive mismatch is the following experiment: “In our experiments, sets of five digits — ones and zeros — were projected on a screen placed in front of the subject. The subject was warned that some of the frames containing a common feature (for example, two zeros in a row 00) would be accompanied by a beep. The subject's task was to detect this common feature ... Before the first (as a rule, erroneous, for example 01) hypothesis regarding the feature being reinforced, neither new frames nor a beep caused GSR ( galvanic skin reflex - E. V.) ... The emergence of a hypothesis is accompanied by GSR ... After the formation of the hypothesis, two situations are possible, which we consider as experimental models of negative and positive emotional reactions ... The hypothesis is not correct, and a frame ... containing a reinforced sign (two zeros and, therefore, not confirming the hypothesis about 01 - E. V.) does not cause GSR. When the beep shows the subject that he was mistaken, the GSR is registered as a result of a mismatch between the hypothesis and the existing stimulus - a case provided for by the concepts of the “acceptor of the result of action” by PK Anokhin, “nervous model of stimulus” by EN Sokolov and the like. The subject changes the hypothesis several times, and at some point it begins to correspond to reality. Now the very appearance of a reinforced frame causes GSR, and its reinforcement with a beep leads to even stronger skin galvanic shifts. How to understand this effect? Indeed, in this case, there was a complete coincidence of the hypothesis ("acceptor of the result of action", "nervous model", etc.) with the available stimulus. The absence of mismatch should have resulted in the absence of GSR and other vegetative shifts. In fact, in the latter case, we also encounter a mismatch, but a mismatch of a different kind than when testing a false hypothesis. The forecast formed in the process of repeated combinations contains not only the afferent model of the goal, not only its semantics, but also probability achieving this goal. At the moment of frame reinforcement ... with a beep, the predicted probability of solving the problem (the correctness of the hypothesis) increased sharply, and this mismatch of the forecast with the received information led to a strong GSR as a vegetative component of a positive emotional reaction "[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 26].

In the information theory of emotions, several functions of emotions are distinguished.

Emotion switching function ... In the theory of functional systems, the stage of decision-making was not well defined. The development of a specific action plan based on all possible ways to achieve the goal, extracted from memory at the stage of afferent synthesis, is impossible without probabilistic forecasting and the active participation of emotions. Indeed, if there are many different ways to achieve a goal (for example, when driving over a certain area), having different probabilities, different energy costs and different possible dangers associated with negative emotions, etc., then the task becomes at least three-parameter - the probability of achieving the goal; the total value of negative emotions (from energy costs, hazards, risks, difficulties, etc.); and the meaning of positive emotions (from achieving the goal (s)). Moreover, many decisions will obviously be incomparable. For effective mechanism decision making requires the synthesis of all these indicators into one parameter, which is what emotions do, including both the probability of achieving the goal and positive and negative emotions, expressed in the variety of the quality of emotions. Emotions are the integral parameter on the basis of which a decision is made. “The dependence of emotions not only on the magnitude of the need, but also on the likelihood of its satisfaction makes the competition of coexisting motives extremely difficult, as a result of which behavior often turns out to be reoriented towards a less important, but easily achievable goal: the“ bird in hand ”wins the“ pie in the sky ”.. From a physiological point of view, emotion is an active state of a system of specialized brain structures that induces a change in behavior in the direction of minimizing or maximizing this state. Because the positive emotion indicates the approach of satisfying the need, and negative emotion - about distance from it, the subject seeks to maximize(strengthen, continue, repeat) first state and minimize (loosen, abort, prevent) second...» [

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 28].

Reinforcing function of emotions ... In the theory of functional systems, reinforcement was understood as an authorizing afferentation and the positive emotion caused by it, arising when a goal is achieved and a result is obtained. “The purposeful act of behavior thus ends with the last authorizing stage. At this stage, under the action of a stimulus that satisfies the leading need - reinforcement in the generally accepted sense - the parameters of the achieved result through stimulation of the corresponding receptors ... cause flows of reverse afferentation, which in all its properties corresponds to the previously programmed properties of the reinforcing stimulus in the acceptor of the results of the action. In this case, the leading need is satisfied and the behavioral act ends ”[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 78; from. 89, 90]. At the same time, the theory of functional systems assumes that for all purposeful acts, if they lead to the achievement of a result, there is a corresponding authorizing afferentation and positive emotion that consolidates the result, even for actions to eliminate pain or, for example, sneezing: “You can take such a rude emotional act as an act of sneezing. Everyone knows that hedonic and protopathic the nature of the sensation that a person receives with a successful sneezing act. In the same way, the opposite is also known: a failed sneeze creates for a while a feeling of dissatisfaction, an unpleasant feeling of something unfinished. Such fluctuations in emotional states are inherent in absolutely all vital functions of animals and humans. " The necessity of the existence of positive emotions completing any purposeful act of action is also argued by the following considerations: “It should be emphasized, however, that emotional arousal of a negative nature, as it has been established, has a long-term aftereffect and summation ... Unlike negative emotions ... positive emotions have a relaxing effect and are characterized by a slight aftereffect. However, their main biological significance lies in the fact that they are capable of completely eliminating the central and peripheral aftereffects of previous negative emotions. Thus, any achievement of the goal ... eliminates any consequences of short-term and even long-term emotional stresses ... That is why there is no pace of life, if it is properly organized, if a person correctly uses the mechanisms worked out during evolution to replace negative emotional experiences with positive ones in the process of individual and social purposeful activity, not dangerous to health "[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 79; from. 18–20].

P.V.Simonov shows that necessary condition for reinforcement it is not the action of a reinforcing stimulus (sanctioning afferentation), and the action of positive emotions in the presence of motivation: “However, no afferentation from the oral cavity (authorizing afferentation - E. V.), nor hunger excitement (motivation - E. V.) by themselves cannot play the role of a reinforcement that ensures the formation of an instrumental conditioned reflex. Only the integration of hunger arousal from a factor capable of satisfying a given need, i.e., a mechanism that generates positive emotion, provides the development of a conditioned reflex "[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; c. 34].

Thus, for reinforcements are necessary two factors - motivational excitement and positive emotion, meaning an increase in the likelihood of achieving the goal set by the motivation, if the goal has not yet been achieved. The involvement of the likelihood estimate in emotion immediately makes the reinforcement more local and accurate. For any step forward in achieving the goal set by the motivation, which is fixed by reverse afferentation from the achievement of a certain milestone result (bringing the achievement of the final goal closer and thereby increasing the assessment of the likelihood of its achievement) causes positive emotion and reinforcement of those brain structures that have taken this step. Hence, emotion, based on probabilistic forecasting, reinforce each successful action step that increases the likelihood of achieving the final goal (while sanctioning afferentation and positive emotions in P.K.Anokhin's theory only reinforce the entire sequence of actions that led to the achievement of the goal).

We will not consider the so far controversial possibility of “negative reinforcement”. “In addition, the term“ negative reinforcement ”is interpreted ambiguously by various authors, and in many cases, especially in relation to instrumental techniques of active avoidance, the independence of the physiological mechanism of negative reinforcement is generally rejected or questioned.” [

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 84; from. 225]

Compensatory function of emotions . Hypermobilization vegetatics: “... When emotional stress arises, the volume of vegetative shifts (increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, release of hormones into the bloodstream, etc.), as a rule, exceeds the real needs of the body. The process of natural selection appears to have reinforced the desirability of this excess resource mobilization. In a situation of pragmatic uncertainty (namely, it is so characteristic of the emergence of emotions), when it is not known how much and what will be needed in the next few minutes, it is better to go for unnecessary energy expenditures than in the midst of intense activity - fight or flight - to be left without sufficient oxygen and metabolic "Raw material" [

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; c. 35].

Emotion Replacement Function This function, in a sense, is the reverse of the enrichment of functional systems in the process of orientation and research activities. Developed functional systems have a rich acceptor of action results and, therefore, a large number of controlled triggering, situational and signaling the achievement of intermediate results stimuli. In a new unusual environment, some of these stimuli may be absent and, therefore, functional systems in it will not be able to work. In this case, it is necessary to weaken the requirements for incoming stimuli, which is done by emotions. In a new unusual environment, it is impossible to obtain a good estimate of the probability and, consequently, negative emotions of anxiety, fear, or anxiety will arise, changing the forms of behavior: “If the process of strengthening the conditioned reflex is accompanied by a decrease in emotional stress and, at the same time, a transition from dominant ( generalized) reaction to strictly selective responses to the conditioned signal, then the emergence of emotions leads to secondary generalization. # The stronger the need becomes, - writes J. Nyutten ... - the less specific is the object that causes the corresponding reaction #. So, a hungry person begins to perceive vague stimuli as associated with food "[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 38]. The increase in emotional stress, on the one hand, expands the range of engrams retrieved from memory, and on the other hand, reduces the criteria for “decision making” when comparing these engrams with available stimuli. “The emergence of emotional stress is accompanied by a transition to other than in a calm state, forms of behavior, the principles of assessing external signals and responding to them. Physiologically, the essence of this transition can be defined as a return from finely specialized conditioned reactions to a response according to the principle of the dominant of A. A. Ukhtomsky ”[Ibid; from. 35]. " The compensatory meaning of emotions lies in their replacement (missing information. - E. V.) role"[Ibid; from. 38, 39]. “As for positive emotions, their compensatory function is realized through the influence on the need that initiates behavior. In a difficult situation with a low probability of achieving the goal, even a small success (increasing probability) generates a positive emotion of excitement, which increases the need to achieve the goal. " [Ibid; from. 39].

Psychophysiology of will ... The concept of "will" has many meanings in philosophical, spiritual, psychological and mystical literature. We will consider it only as a physiological concept.

We said above that when obstacles appear, negative emotions intensify, giving additional energy support to overcome the obstacle. But such an increase is carried out within the energy capabilities of a given need. If the obstacle is significant, then the achievement of this goal may nevertheless be suspended. So that the suspension of actions does not occur with every serious obstacle, and even though it sometimes continues despite the obstacle, it is necessary to have additional energy supply independent of the need. Such energy supply is will... “... The difficulty of comprehending the true motives of behavior and gave rise to the belief in the presence of some overregulatorsthat manage needs, although they do not always cope with them ... will and consciousness... Below we will try to show that the will does not control needs, but by joining any of them contributes to its satisfaction. As for consciousness, it is engaged in arming needs with the means and methods of their satisfaction. Thus, both will and consciousness are the result of the transformation of needs, the stage of their further development ”[

\\\\ * MERGEFORMAT ""\u003e 75; from. 160]. “We believe that the phylogenetic prerequisite for volitional behavior is“ freedom reflex", Described by I.P. Pavlov. Pavlov saw incomparably more in the dog's resistance to limit its motor activity than a kind of defensive reaction. " Freedom reflex"Is an independent form of behavior for which an obstacle serves as no less adequate stimulus than food for food-procuring actions, pain - for a defensive reaction, and a new and unexpected stimulus - for an approximate ... Faced with an obstacle on the way to food, the animal begins to use not the options that previously led to food reinforcement, but stored in memory ways to overcome similar obstacles... It is the nature of the obstacle, and not the primary motive, that determines the composition of actions that are sorted out in the process of organizing behavior that can ensure the achievement of the goal ... Activity caused by the obstacle, in certain cases, can push the initial impulse into the background, and then we will meet stubbornness, with behavior, where overcoming has become an end in itself, and the original motive has lost its meaning and even forgotten ”[Ibid; from. 162]. “So, will is the need to overcome obstacles. Like any other need, it can be a source of positive or negative emotions caused by the very fact of overcoming (or not overcoming) the obstacle before the final goal is achieved ... Note that the intervention of the will does not cancel the universal regulating function of emotions, since the will interferes with competition of motives, again at the level of emotions ”. [Ibid; from. 162]