Dynamic stereotype

Dynamic stereotype - Integration of conditioned-reflex processes in the cerebral cortex, achieved by multiple presentation of the same positive or inhibitory conditioned stimuli following with constant time intervals between them.

Experiments show that if a dog develops a series of reflexes to different stimuli that recur in a certain sequence, then over time, the animal reproduces the entire system of responses when exposed to only one initial stimulus. This stable fixation of a specific sequence of reactions is called a dynamic stereotype (from Greek. ”—Solid and“ typos ”—the imprint).

The organism adapts to the stereotypically repeated external influences by developing a system of reactions. Dynamic stereotype is the physiological basis of many phenomena of human mental activity, for example, skills, habits, acquired needs, etc. The complex of dynamic stereotypes is the physiological basis of stable personality behaviors.

Dynamic stereotype is an expression of a special principle of the brain - system. This principle is that the brain reacts to complex complex effects of the environment not as a series of separate isolated stimuli, but as an integral system. External stereotype — the fixed sequence of effects is reflected in the internal neuro-dynamic stereotype. The external stereotypes are all integral objects and phenomena (they always represent a certain combination of features): the usual environment, the sequence of events, way of life, etc.

Breaking the usual stereotype is always a heavy nervous tension (subjectively, this is expressed in anguish, despondency, nervousness, irritability, etc.). No matter how difficult the breaking of the old stereotype is, the new conditions form a new stereotype (which is why it is called dynamic).

As a result of multiple functioning, it becomes more and more fixed and in turn becomes more and more difficult to change.

Dynamic stereotypes are particularly stable in the elderly and in individuals with a weak type of nervous activity, with reduced mobility of the nervous processes.

The habitual system of actions, causing relief of nervous labor, is subjectively felt in the form of positive emotions. “The processes of stereotype installation, completion of installation, support of stereotype and its violations are subjectively diverse positive and negative feelings.”

"Every century, acquiring new facts, acquires new eyes."

G. Heine

Opening I.P. Pavlov's conditioned reflex turned out to be the main bridge connecting the psychology and physiology of the higher nervous activity of man. Thus, a correspondence was found between learning, including mastering complex skills and human language, and neurophysiological processes. Further studies of numerous students and followers of Pavlov substantially supplemented the knowledge of the conditioned reflex. One of such discoveries was the conviction that the indicative reflex plays an active role in the formation of a conditioned-reflex connection ( Khananashvili , 1972).
More detailed studies show that one orienting reflex for the formation of a conditioned reflex connection is not enough. It turns out that, in addition to the orienting reflex, the research reflex also acts ( Obukhovsky , 1971). The difference between them is quite significant: with an orienting reflex, the sensitivity of animal analyzers increases, while with research this sensitivity is, on the contrary, suppressed (a peculiar manifestation of "professorial" absent-mindedness: when you think about something, you don’t pay attention to what is happening around). All this means that the consolidation of new traces in the memory of animals most effectively occurs when, at the same time, a peculiar "reaction to novelty" occurs and some semblance of research activity is activated.
In addition to the discovery and numerous experimental confirmations of the conditioned reflex, Pavlov also belongs to the theory of dynamic stereotype. The concept of "dynamic stereotype" is not often recalled now, many neurophysiologists and psychologists have tried to build a neurophysiological generalizing theory after Pavlov in a different way, using other terms (for example, "afferent synthesis"), but perhaps it makes sense to recall the definition of I.P. Pavlova.
“In the big hemispheres, both from the external world and from the internal environment of the organism itself, countless stimuli of various quality and intensity continuously fall. Some of them are only being explored (orienting reflex), others already have various unconditioned and conditional actions. it interacts and should eventually be systematized, balanced, so to speak, end with a dynamic stereotype "[ Pavlov , 1949, p. 390].
"I think there are reasonable grounds for assuming that the described physiological processes in the big hemispheres correspond to what we subjectively call feelings in the general form of positive and negative feelings and in a wide range of shades and variations due to either combining them or various tensions. Here - a sense of difficulty and lightness, vigor and fatigue, satisfaction and grief, joy, celebration and despair, etc. It seems to me that often heavy feelings when you change your normal lifestyle, when you stop habitual activities, with the loss of loved ones, not to mention mental crises, have their physiological basis largely in change, in violation of the old dynamic stereotype and in the difficulty of installing the new "(ibid., p. 393-394).
Pavlov believed (and not only he alone - see [ Khananashvili , 1971]) that only heavy feelings are associated with a change, a violation of a dynamic stereotype. But still there are cases when a drastic change in a well-established dynamic stereotype does not cause hard experiences. It is clear that the dynamic stereotype changes in the process of learning, but after all the study itself can bring not only disappointment, but also joy. One of these "exceptional" cases is also the "insight". During this period, when the process of thinking is unexpectedly activated by some kind of internal or external information that is insignificant at first glance, there is a sharp jump in emotional tension, in a dynamic stereotype a structural reorganization takes place in a short time, and a person becomes an owner of new knowledge.
But here, of course, is not without acute angles and collisions. A new knowledge may later be discovered by someone else previously or erroneous, the restructuring of a dynamic stereotype may in some cases lead to some minor or serious mental disorders. But this is only later. In the very period of illumination and some time after it, a person experiences an unprecedented surge of creative energy, a feeling of delight and celebration.
With the complication of the animal's control body associated with the acquisition of the possibility of complex adaptive behavior in a changing environment, a violation of hard behavioral determinism, which is currently observed, for example, in insects, was required. And here the most adapted were those species that had a flexible adaptation mechanism, thanks to which it was possible to acquire the necessary skills and training in the process of life activity. This mechanism turned out to be a conditioned reflex, which plays a crucial role in the formation of a dynamic stereotype.
The peculiar conservatism of the dynamic stereotype is manifested not only when the prevailing ideas change, but even when unusual phenomena are perceived. Not always such a "meeting" with the unexpected and unusual causes purely negative emotions. In addition, the formation of a new structure of perception can occur not only in the process of meeting a person with the "surprises" of the surrounding world, but also in the course of intellectual communication between people. The well-known physiologist A.A. Ukhtomsky.
"The way the reception (perception - B.K.) has developed for the other environment can often serve us as a surprise and irritation no less powerful than the new, still unknown subject of our environment. Getting familiar with the artistic image left by the great artist , we are rebuilding and growing, just like when we’ve got to know new things directly, and we’re going through the same process that we’ve got to know things: first, in the true sense of the word, irritation can be unpleasant and even painful impressed ie from the unexpected and new way of reflection of things; then a gradual development of the subject, its inclusion into the fabric of our experience, and at the same time cultivating our reception, setting it to a new level in the future "[Ukhtomsky 1966, 176 pp.].
Here A.A. Ukhtomsky cites as an example the statement of Goethe, in which he describes his experiences from the first acquaintance with Italian art:
"My attention was riveted on Michelangelo by the fact that it was alien and unpleasant to me how nature was perceived by him, because I could not look at her with such huge eyes as he looked at her. For one thing I had to do: to capture his images ... From Michelangelo we moved to Raphael’s lodge, and need we say that it shouldn’t have been done! Eyes that were tuned and extended under the influence of previous huge forms and magnificent completeness of all parts could no longer be considered an ingenious game of arabesques ... May i was in It’s the same, I still felt altered to the bone ... I consider myself a day of rebirth, of a true rebirth, the moment when I ended up in Rome. And yet, all this was rather a matter of work for me and caring than pleasure. Recycling me from the inside went on as usual. I could, of course, assume before that that there would be something for me to learn, but I could not think that I would have to go back so far to the position of a schoolboy and that so much study again and rebuild again. "
Another example of the change in the level of perception under the influence of masterpieces of world art can be found in the memoirs of Bernard Shaw, expressed in his characteristic ironic style:
"It is hardly necessary to explain that Ibsen was the one who made me uncompromisingly oppose entertainment shows ... Last Monday, I was fascinated by Ibsen, meekly sat in chock-full theater from three o'clock to half past six. I paid for it by another time, I was not able to spend even five minutes on a pre-ibsen play, such unbearable irritation and boredom seized me ”( Hughes , 1968).
In the memoirs of scientists, it is more difficult to find similar examples, since psychological observation and, in particular, the ability for self-observation are characteristic of them to a lesser degree than masters of the artistic word. But it is unlikely that those who somehow got acquainted for the first time with a strictly logically substantiated and experimentally reasoned scientific point of view will object to the fact that the process of this acquaintance consists of several stages, among which two can be clearly identified:
1) difficult initial perception;
2) further easier understanding of work related to the perceived scientific point of view.
So, probably, it always happens when meeting with something unexpected, unusual. Perception initially rejects it or is alarming (dynamic stereotype through perception strives for sustainability), then either perception moves to a new level (changing dynamic stereotype), or remains in its previous state (dynamic stereotype has not changed). In accordance with this, the level of our perception changes or remains unchanged.
On the other hand, the perception of certain works of art or scientific works can also change over time, but this happens not only from the first acquaintance with this work, but also due to the fact that a person is in the process of his conscious life, enriched by experience and knowledge, changes the level of their perception and accordingly deeper perceives favorite things, re-reading them. Enjoying the re-reading of your favorite books, we simply discover in them what was previously hidden to us by a lower level of our perception. This, apparently, is one of the secrets of longevity of many talented works, which not only enrich the level of our perception, but also provide food for thought and experience even if our level of perception after the first acquaintance with them was enriched due to other circumstances.
In the general case, a change in the level of perception is a change in a person’s cognitive means in the process of his intellectual development. "The development of knowledge is at the same time the development of human cognitive tools" (MK Mamardashvili). And this pattern, which is observed in a historical perspective, undoubtedly takes place in the consciousness of every person.

see also Ideomotor movements