Read the book Cognitive resource. Structure, dynamics, development of Anatoly Voronin: online reading

Become smarter: cognotropic drugs

What is Our thinking is a chain of chemical reactions.
This means that intelligence and emotions can be influenced using chemicals. For centuries this has been done with the help of alcohol, drugs and other nasty things. But now science is ready to offer a set of relatively effective and seemingly safe drugs. “It has a positive effect on the processes underlying perception, information analysis, learning and memory...” is how the drug Semax is described by its creators from Moscow State University and the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Development began back in the 70s by order of the Ministry of Defense. Now Semax drops can be found in any pharmacy.

The drug does not “alter consciousness”, it only improves cognitive functions and brings them back to normal. In order to instill this substance into your nose, you do not have to suffer from some kind of disease - “healthy people can take Semax to stimulate memory and performance.”

Following Semax, Selank appeared on pharmacy shelves, which helps fight stress and relieves fear and anxiety.

“We continue to work on new drugs that affect the central nervous system and cognitive functions. They will have a different structure,” RAS academician Nikolai Myasoedov, who led these works, shared with RR. “But for now the developments are in the initial stages, and we cannot say what exactly will happen.

There are also more extravagant ideas. For example, Professor Konstantin Anokhin from the Institute of Normal Physiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences promises to release a substance that can erase unpleasant memories. And this is not a utopia; the drug is already being tested on animals.

What will happen At first, people who use intellectual doping will gain an advantage over more conservative opponents of all kinds of GMOs and other innovations. And then society will get used to this “cosmetics for the mind.” Pills that affect thinking will be taken by everyone - teachers, office workers, police officers. It will be as normal as taking vitamins now.

Text of the book “Cognitive resource. Structure, dynamics, development"

Anatoly Voronin, Natalya Goryunova Cognitive resource: structure, dynamics, development

Introduction

In the most general sense, resources are understood as certain means that allow one to obtain the desired result (from the French.

ressource – opportunity, ability). A more advanced definition of resources involves a quantitative measure of the ability to perform an activity. Actually, the core of the concept of “resources” is formed by three components: the means that make it possible to carry out any activity, its result and a quantitative measure of the severity of the possibility of achieving the result of the activity. The ordinary understanding of psychological resources comes down to some internal strengths of a person that allow him to withstand life’s adversities and achieve his goals no matter what. In this case, psychological resources mean various psychological properties and qualities of a person - abilities, skills, “mental energy”, will, character, etc. Often, psychological resources are hidden from the person himself and appear only when difficulties and problems arise. Often, resources include the entire set of factors associated with a difficult life situation and allowing a person to adapt to it. Thus, in S. Hobfoll’s concept of stress, resources include: material objects (income, housing, transport, clothing, tools and tools) and intangible objects (preferences, desires, goals); external (social support, family, friends, work, social status) and internal intrapersonal variables (self-esteem, professional skills, optimism, self-control, life values, belief system, etc.); mental and physical conditions; volitional, emotional and energetic characteristics that are necessary (directly or indirectly) for survival or preservation of health in difficult life situations or serve as means of achieving personally significant goals. Cognitive resource is not associated with all psychological aspects of overcoming problems by an individual. When considering a cognitive resource, we are talking only about the cognitive aspects of the problem, about the process of human processing of information. Essentially, this work examines the basics of human cognitive abilities to solve a variety of problems. Traditionally, the idea of the possibility of success in any intellectual activity was associated with the general factor of general intelligence by Charles Spearman. It was the g-factor of the general “mental energy” that determined the productivity of intellectual activity, the speed of transition from one type of activity to another, and the ease of recovery after work. V.N. Druzhinin proposed using the concept of “cognitive resource” as a more meaningful and specific alternative to the energy metaphor of Charles Spearman. In general, a cognitive resource is understood as a set of cognitive elements that are simultaneously used by a person in the process of processing complex information. A cognitive resource is defined as a quantitative characteristic of a cognitive system, namely, as the power of a set of related cognitive elements, which is responsible for the active creation of multidimensional models of reality in the process of solving problems of different levels of complexity. A cognitive element is considered as a functional minimal unit (for example, the dimension of cognitive space). The combination of active and free cognitive elements determines intellectual productivity. The concept of cognitive space is one of the versions of the concept of “set of cognitive elements”. It is this complex and extensive education that underlies a person’s general intelligence and determines the range of his intellectual productivity and the quality of intellectual processes.

This book consistently sets out modern ideas about the structure of cognitive abilities and general intelligence, describes the resource model of general intelligence and provides the results of its empirical verification. A special place is given to the cognitive resource of joint intellectual activity, elucidating the influence of personal, environmental and situational factors on intellectual productivity. The review of research within the “cognitive resource” paradigm ends with an attempt to apply it to the study of professional self-realization and professional achievements.

The work that forms the basis of this book was carried out at the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors of the book are immensely grateful to their teacher, the wonderful scientist Vladimir Nikolaevich Druzhinin, whose ideas formed the basis of the concept of “cognitive resource” and made it possible to study the foundations of human intelligence. The tragic death of Vladimir Nikolaevich interrupted the cycle of research on this issue and the presented book is only an attempt to fill the gap. Happy memory to an outstanding researcher, teacher, and colleague.

The authors express their gratitude and appreciation to Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.L. Zhuravlev and Doctor of Psychological Sciences V.I. Belopolsky for scientific and organizational support, thanks to which this book was published. Special thanks to the candidate of psychological sciences S. D. Biryukov for the opportunity to discuss this work repeatedly and fruitfully.

Chapter I. The structure of cognitive abilities: basic definitions and approaches to study

1.1. General psychological discourse on the issue of abilities

The term "ability" is a polysemantic and widely used definition in psychological science. In D. Ushakov’s dictionary it is interpreted both as a natural talent and as an opportunity, the ability to do something. In V. Dahl’s dictionary, the concept of “capable” is defined through correlation with success in activity as “suitable for something or inclined, dexterous, suitable, convenient.” This interpretation reflects two main approaches to the problem of abilities: differential psychological and activity-based. Representatives of the first understand abilities as manifestations of individual differences, representatives of the other - as universal “essential forces” that can and should be developed in the learning process.

A psychometric approach to the study of abilities, starting with the works of Fr. Galton, C. Pearson and others, focuses on the study of the structure of abilities, their dependence on hereditary and environmental factors, problems of general and special abilities and the possibilities of their measurement. This understanding of abilities is based on the idea of the level of mental development, which determines the success of performing any cognitive, sensorimotor and other tasks and is manifested in some universal characteristics of human behavior. It was Galton who first began to study individual differences in mental abilities, suggesting that they were mainly determined by the biological characteristics of a person, i.e., heredity. He proposed to consider abilities as certain mental properties that distinguish people from each other and determine their creative achievements.

Unlike Galton, the French psychologist A. Binet noted the significant influence of the environment on the characteristics of cognitive development. He assessed intellectual abilities taking into account not only the formation of certain mental processes, but also the level of mastery of social experience (Anastasi, Urbina, 2001).

The uncertainty of what is meant by intellectual ability has been addressed in various ways. For example, according to Binet, a given construct represents exactly what its test measures. C. Spearman proposed a hypothesis about the existence of a general factor (g) that explains the correlation between the results of test tasks. Later, L. Thurstone replaced the single-factor paradigm with a multifactorial one. Cognitive abilities, manifested in behavioral characteristics and associated with successful adaptation to new life conditions, are considered the subject of differential psychology. If they are considered “as an independent reality, a carrier of properties,” they become the subject of general psychology. Due to dissatisfaction with factor models of abilities, researchers' attention has focused on studying the procedural characteristics of cognitive activity within the framework of cognitive psychology (Sternberg, 1986).

Research in Russian psychology primarily concerned the psychological content of the concept of “ability” and their manifestation in specific types of activity. In the works of S. L. Rubinstein, ability is considered as a complex synthetic formation, which includes a whole range of data, without which a person would not be capable of any specific activity, and properties that are developed only in the process of a certain way of organized activity (Rubinstein, 1997 ).

K. K. Platonov refers to abilities as any properties of the psyche that, to one degree or another, determine success in a specific activity: “... ability is a personality quality that determines the success of mastering a certain activity and improvement in it” (Platonov, 1981).

B. M. Teplov identified three signs of abilities that formed the basis of the most commonly used definition: these are individual psychological characteristics, manifested in the success of one or several types of activities, irreducible to knowledge, skills and abilities, although they determine the ease and speed of them acquisitions (Teplov, 1985).

Teplov’s works had a great influence on the study of abilities in Russian psychology, which was manifested in the studies of E. A. Golubeva, N. S. Leites, V. S. Merlin, V. D. Nebylitsin, I. V. Ravich-Shcherbo and others. The main idea of Golubeva’s research (1980) is a comprehensive study of abilities, based on an understanding of the unity of the natural and social in a person, in their specific relationship for different types of abilities. Within the framework of an integrated approach, abilities are considered not only as an already existing reality, but also as hidden potential capabilities, which include inclinations. Developing Teplov’s ideas, Golubeva considers abilities at three levels: psychophysiological, psychological and socio-psychological. Accordingly, the first level is associated with the diagnosis of the basic properties of the nervous system, the second – with the identification of individual characteristics of cognitive processes (perception, attention, memory, thinking, etc.), temperament and character, and the third – with determining the success of activities over a long period from its differential analysis (Golubeva, 1980).

However, the phenomenological description does not provide insight into the ontological aspect of the problem of abilities, their structure and functioning mechanisms. The studies of O.K. Tikhomirov, M.A. Kholodnaya and others are devoted to studying the problem of the ontological status of abilities. Working within the framework of a general psychological approach, the authors try to identify general patterns of functioning of the mechanisms of intellectual activity.

Tikhomirov's works present an activity-based approach to analyzing the nature of thinking and the mechanisms of intellectual activity. One of the main provisions of his concept is that understanding the nature of thinking involves analyzing all aspects of mental activity, primarily operational and motivational (Tikhomirov, 1969).

According to Kholodnaya, intelligence is the organization of individual mental (mental) experience in the form of mental structures, the mental space of reflection generated by them, and mental representations of what is happening within this space (Kholodnaya, 2002).

A different approach to the problem of abilities is being developed by V.D. Shadrikov. From the position of the functional genetic approach, the concept of cognitive abilities is represented by a set of both genetically determined and intravitally formed components. This concept is based primarily on the theory of functional systems by P.K. Anokhin and on the ideas of B.G. Ananyev about the development of functional (psychophysiological, innate) and operational (psychological, acquired during activity) mechanisms of cognitive processes, as well as on the works of L. S. Vygotsky, D. A. Oshanin, A. R. Luria (Shadrikov, 1994, 2001).

According to Shadrikov, the most general concept that describes psychological reality is a mental functional system that ensures the achievement of some useful result. Based on this, “abilities are properties of functional systems that implement individual mental functions, have an individual measure of expression and are manifested in the success and qualitative originality of mastering and implementing activities” (Shadrikov, 2001, p. 26). Within this concept, abilities are related to cognitive processes (perception, attention, memory, thinking, etc.).

The study of operational mechanisms allows us to consider abilities as mental functions and mental processes that are described by different characteristics and mechanisms. When describing processes, the researcher is interested in their dynamics, while describing functions - their limiting values, optimal conditions and efficiency of manifestation (Shadrikov, 2001).

According to Shadrikov, the definition of abilities can be legitimately given in three dimensions: the individual, the subject of activity and the personality. An individual’s abilities are defined as the properties of functional systems that implement individual mental functions that have an individual degree of expression and are manifested in the success of cognition of the surrounding world and the organization of adaptive behavior. The abilities of an individual can be identified with general abilities. The abilities of the subject of activity are considered as the abilities of the individual, adapted to the requirements of the activity and developed in it. In other words, these are the properties of functional systems that have acquired the features of efficiency under the influence of activity requirements and are manifested in success, qualitative originality and implementation of activities. Personal abilities are personality properties that determine social success and the qualitative originality of social cognition and actions, in the structure of which the abilities of the individual and the subject of activity function. As the author notes, if an individual’s abilities were formed in phylogenesis to reflect the physical world and build behavior that ensures survival, then the individual’s abilities are determined by values and meanings, providing social cognition (ibid.).

As a matter of fact, the definition of abilities implicitly contains a metric for this ability and a method for diagnosing it. Thus, in the study of V. N. Druzhinin it is shown that based on the definition of abilities given by Rubinstein, they can be considered as a “thing”, and, therefore, they may or may not have certain properties and have relationships with other objects or pseudo-objects. In this case, it is possible to measure the variability of the ability over time, its productivity, etc. Based on the definition, Thermal ability should be considered as a ratio of differences in a set of people, which gives rise to a new class of objects - “people capable of activity.” This involves determining the measure of similarity of each person to the standard - “a capable person.” If the ability is quantified and considered as a linear or multidimensional property (Shadrikov’s definition), then this makes it possible to determine an individual measure of the severity of the property that characterizes each person. In the most general form, the possibility of measuring abilities depending on the topology of properties, the type of relationships between subjects and the nature of relationships between attributes was proposed by Druzhinin in a generalized test model (Druzhinin, 1991).

In the approach proposed by Druzhinin, “general abilities” are considered as some properties of the psyche as a whole. There are three most common forms of operating experience: acquisition, application and transformation. These forms, or ways of handling experience, can be identified in any specific type of activity. The ability to acquire knowledge is called learning ability, the ability to apply experience is called intelligence, and the ability to transform experience is called creativity.

Thus, general abilities are associated with general aspects of the functioning of the psyche as a whole and are manifested not in specific types of activities, but in general forms of external human activity. Druzhinin defines intelligence and creativity precisely as general abilities: intelligence as the general ability to solve problems (in the broad sense of the word) based on existing knowledge, creativity as the general ability to create (Druzhinin, 1999).

With this understanding of intelligence and creativity, theoretical and experimental data on the cognitive and personal correlates of these abilities act as indicators of the relationship of intelligence and creativity with the characteristics of cognitive processes and personality.

Concluding the analysis of the psychological content of the concept of “ability”, it is necessary to note the following. In psychological science, to date, no single, established idea of abilities has been formed - different authors offer their own versions of understanding this construct. Based on the diversity of concepts, it should be concluded that the accumulated empirical material requires careful theoretical understanding. The very concept of “ability” has quite a lot of interpretations, including ordinary ones, which complicates the development of the actual theory of abilities. As a result, a new construct was proposed, the development of which, in our opinion, will significantly expand the understanding of human mental development, his intellectual capabilities and will give new impetus to the development of the theory of general and special abilities.

The study of the cognitive sphere is carried out within the framework of a differential psychological approach. In particular, we are interested in the nature of individual differences in the level of development of cognitive abilities. The study of cognitive resource within the framework of this approach makes it possible to explain individual differences in intellectual productivity based on an analysis of the structure and dynamics of cognitive processes.

Connecting general abilities with the basic parameters of the functioning of the mental system, we believe that they are manifested not in specific types of activity, but in general forms of external human activity. In accordance with Druzhinin’s theoretical assumptions, general intelligence is a “resource” that determines the range of intellectual productivity. An individual's cognitive resource can be described by the limiting values of individual cognitive indicators that are associated with mental processes. At the same time, we believe that abilities and mental processes are characteristics that are irreducible to each other and have different natures. Ability as a certain “limiter” determines the range of intellectual productivity and characterizes the dynamics of mental processes. A figurative illustration of what has been said is the metaphor of a river and a dam on its way: the banks and the dam are abilities, the water in the river is mental processes.

Thus, different approaches to studying the problem of cognitive abilities are possible. In the next paragraph we will analyze those approaches that served as the methodological basis for the development of ideas about “cognitive resource”.

1.2. Factor-analytic models of intelligence

The most verified models of general intelligence developed within the framework of the factor-analytic approach include the model of Charles Spearman. According to the author, the success of any intellectual activity is determined by a general factor (g) and a factor specific to a given activity (s). The g factor is defined as the general mental energy with which people are endowed and which, to varying degrees, influences the success of performing any specific activity (Spearman, 1927). Analysis of the correlation of factors showed that g is maximally manifested when solving complex mathematical problems, problems on conceptual thinking, and to a lesser extent - when solving problems on perception, memory, attention, and sensorimotor coordination. According to Spearman, the g factor has a number of hypothetical properties: the speed of transition from one type of activity to another and the ease of restoring energy after work.

Spearman's opponents denied the existence of a common basis for intellectual actions, believing that a certain intellectual act is the result of the interaction of many individual factors (L. Thurstone, J. Guilford, etc.).

In R. Cattell's model (Cattell, 1971), the general factor (g) includes two components: “crystallized” and “fluid” intelligence. The factor of “crystallized” intelligence is determined by the totality of knowledge and intellectual skills acquired by an individual during socialization; “fluid” intelligence is associated with the development of “tertiary” associative zones of the cerebral cortex and manifests itself when solving abstract problems.

An alternative scheme for organizing factors was proposed by a number of psychologists, in particular S. Burt (Burt, 1949), F. Vernon (Vernon, 1960) and L. Humphreys (1962, 2002). The hierarchical model of intelligence has had fairly wide recognition for both theoretical and practical reasons. As a theoretical model, it combines a single general factor with multifactor mappings. At the top of the hierarchy, as a rule, the g-factor is located, at the next level are group factors, and below are narrower, minor subfactors. Such models make it possible to cope with the abundance of factors obtained in factor analytical studies. It should be noted that in different factor models of intelligence, the identified subfactors correspond in content to the main forms of information presentation in test tasks (symbolic, spatial, verbal, etc.).

However, the classification of factors that form the structure of intelligence does not reveal the psychological content and interpretation of the g-factor itself. Many authors tried to describe the factor solution in the most general psychological concepts, such as the speed of information processing by the central nervous system (G. Eysenck), the process of attention, manifested in any type of mental activity (S. Barth), etc. In addition, there was There have been many studies that have attempted to link the g factor to “mental speed” or energy. However, this question remains open.

Dissatisfaction with factor models manifested itself in a shift in emphasis from the study of general assessments of intelligence to the analysis of its procedural characteristics from the perspective of cognitive psychology. The absence of a single verified theoretical concept of general intelligence that explains the empirical results of numerous correlation studies gives grounds to introduce into the context of the problem of general abilities a new theoretical construct that combines different aspects of mental activity (activation, cognitive, etc.), and consider cognitive abilities as a resource of an individual, characterizing the range of his intellectual productivity. Assuming that the g-factor is based on latent general properties of a single cognitive functional system, we assume that the totality of these properties constitutes the individual’s cognitive resource. The idea of a cognitive resource makes it possible to explain the manifestation of the general component g in the success of solving various types of intellectual problems.

Transparent head: neuroimaging

What is the Transparent mouse brain, which Russian scientists demonstrated to Dmitry Medvedev, is one of the most striking symbols of neuroimaging: they say, look, thinking is becoming more and more open to both science and power.

Our brain has been considered a “black box” for many years. Behavioral psychologists taught: you can only study what is at the input - words, images and other stimuli, and what is the output - response words and actions. What was happening inside the skull remained a mystery. Now there is computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and so on - many modern technologies that allow us to literally see the work of our consciousness.

It's not just doctors who need this. In recent years, such a thing as neuromarketing has come into fashion. A person is shown options for new packaging for oatmeal and watch how his brain reacts, which areas are activated and which remain calm.

What will happen “Looking” into the brain will become a traditional procedure in various areas. This will be done by sociologists, teachers, and criminologists. Their work will become much more efficient. True, I remember various dystopias, which are no longer only feared by ordinary people. The fully academic scientist Boris Velichkovsky writes about cognitive technologies: “It cannot be denied, however, that they can lead to the emergence of forms of external control that even the most gloomy authors of futuristic novels could not imagine.”

Cyborgs: artificial sense organs

What is Technology can replace eyes, ears, noses and other organs. Many laboratories around the world are developing visual prostheses that will make even completely blind people sighted. In this case, there is no need to use the eye and optic nerve - the signal from the miniature camera goes directly to the cerebral cortex, where a special chip is implanted.

At a theoretical level, the entire technology is already understood and tested on rats and cats. Now we are talking about technical details.

“Our laboratory is currently conducting experiments on the biocompatibility of the implant; we are working with rats,” says Marianna Ivanova from the Scientific Center of Neurology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. That is, scientists are checking how the electrodes will behave in the brain tissue, whether inflammation will occur, and whether corrosion will begin.

What will happen It is expected that mass healing of the blind and deaf will begin within a few years. And in a few decades, implanted electronics will be able to become more sensitive than living organs. After all, we see only in a narrow range of waves and view space only 180 degrees. The visual prosthesis is theoretically capable of transmitting images to the brain in the ultraviolet, infrared, and x-ray ranges. And you will be able to see not only in front of you, but also from behind, from the side and from above.

Self-knowledge

The cognitive component of self-awareness is represented by the process of knowing oneself, i.e. self-knowledge.

Definition 2

Self-knowledge involves the accumulation of knowledge about oneself, one’s characteristics, psychological traits, and physiological characteristics. The process of self-knowledge can occur unorganized, or purposefully, within the framework of specially organized activities.

Spontaneous self-knowledge occurs permanently from the first days of a person’s life, through passive observation of one’s own behavior, manifestations, reactions of others and the results of one’s own activities. This process of fixation occurs constantly and is subjectively experienced as the accumulation of life experience.

Purposeful cognition is based on introspection. Having collected certain material, the person begins to reflect, i.e. analyze the reasons for your own actions, reactions and experiences, your social status and physical condition. Self-analysis allows you to penetrate deeper into the system of interrelations of personal qualities and create a more adequate and stable picture of yourself.

The next stage is a comparison of one’s own qualities with a standard - this can be some abstract value (kindness in general), or a specific level of realization of the quality of a particular person (mother’s kindness). Comparison with a standard allows you to relate yourself to others, assess your own level of development, and make value judgments. Insufficient development of certain qualities can act as a motivating factor, an incentive for personal development, or, on the contrary, as a reason for oppressing oneself and developing a psychological disorder.

Modeling your own personality involves creating a holistic structure of the Self, built taking into account all available information. At this stage, it is virtually impossible to separate self-knowledge from self-attitude; the cognitive and affective components are closely intertwined and complement each other.

The final stage of the process of self-discovery is the awareness of opposites. This process presupposes the recognition by an individual of the right to commit extremely polar actions, the manifestation of opposite qualities, depending on external circumstances, and not on strict internal determinants. In this case, an important point is maintaining a balance between conformity - complete submission to the situation and expectation and psychopathization - painful adherence to internal attitudes without taking into account external conditions.

Know the state: cognitive assistants

What is A good secretary always takes into account the state of her boss - irritated, tired or good-natured. But busty blondes are being replaced by electronics. All kinds of systems begin to help a person monitor his activities.

They start with something simple - sleep. A small company, created on the basis of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, produces wakefulness sensors. At least a third of transport accidents occur because a person fell asleep for a second and lost control of the situation. The state preceding sleep can be determined by brain rhythms, eye movements, speech patterns, or skin electrical conductivity. The person has not yet fallen asleep, but the device is already beeping and blinking.

And this, again, is not some kind of experimental development; such devices are already in the cabins of several thousand Russian locomotives. Serial production of such devices for car drivers should begin soon.

— Transferring technology from locomotives to cars turned out to be not such a simple matter. But we dealt with it,” Vyacheslav Shakhnarovich, general director of Neurocom, told RR. — The most important thing is reliability. If the system fails and a person gets into an accident, then lawsuits will immediately follow. We focus on reliability of one in ten thousand, otherwise it’s simply not interesting.

What will happen It is possible that Europeans, concerned about their safety, will require all drivers to install such devices, and then the market for such devices will amount to hundreds of millions. Gradually, cognitive systems will learn to help us in everything - driving a car, learning foreign languages, coping with attacks of anger. We will calmly listen to the recommendations of intelligent organizers: “You are too tired to write a report now. We recommend watching a comedy series for 15 minutes, and then starting mental activity.”

The influence of cognitive abilities on success, its components

Human motivation - what is it?

If a person has well-developed cognitive abilities, it is easier for him to process information received from all senses. Psychologists have proven that the success of education and professional activity is determined by a person’s cognitive skills. The higher the level of their development, the higher labor productivity.

Attention! There are types of professions where the main requirement for a candidate to fill a particular vacancy is a high level of development of cognitive abilities. At the same time, working in this position and performing production functions develop these skills in a specialist even more.

Work develops cognition

Professional success comes to those employees who have well-developed executive function. Those who dream of career growth and strive to “grow up” in the eyes of their superiors need to develop certain types of cognitive skills.

Attention! Knowing how developed certain cognitive abilities are in a person allows him to predict how successful he will be in a particular field of work. Based on his cognitive potential, a person can choose the most suitable profession for himself and successfully move up the career ladder.

Planning

Planning ability is a professionally important cognitive indicator. It is expressed in a person’s ability to predict the consequences of a particular marketing move and choose the most rational way to achieve production goals.

Inhibition

Inhibition is a cognitive skill that involves controlling impulsive reactions and the ability to maintain sanity in any unexpected situation. Inhibition combines the ability to set a goal, plan and predict.

Monitoring

Monitoring is the cognitive skill of controlling behavior. Through this ability, a person checks whether his actions are really aimed at achieving his goal, whether he has chosen the right ways to solve cognitive problems. If a deviation from the plan is detected, a person with high self-control skills is able to adjust his actions. This ability is important in any professional field.

Making decisions

Decision making is determining ways to achieve a goal or solve a problem.

Cognitive flexibility

Flexibility is a person’s cognitive capabilities that allow him to quickly adapt to changing conditions and adjust his behavior to them. Also, this ability allows a person to rely not only on his own opinion when solving production problems, but also take into account the points of view of his colleagues.

Considers the opinions of others

Working or random access memory

Memory is the ability to keep in mind all the necessary working information and use it to solve current production problems. In psychology, it is generally accepted that memory allows a person to successfully master new activities, communicate, and reason. Working memory is a type of short-term memory.

Getting creative: brain-machine interfaces

What is Mind reading is becoming a scientific routine. Systems that allow direct transmission of signals from the brain to a computer are being developed today at the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, and at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and at the Rostov Research Institute of Neurocybernetics.

But not only the brains control the computer, but also vice versa. “Systems and methods for controlling biological objects (biorobots) are being developed, which include turtles, rabbits, and dolphins,” according to the website of the Department of General Biology of the SFU Pedagogical Institute. The public was shocked that Rostov scientists had actually created a cyborg. Electrodes were implanted into the turtle, a processor was installed on its shell, and as a result, the animal’s movements could be controlled using a joystick.

What will happen Literally in two or three years in a computer supermarket you will be able to buy a device that allows you to play a shooter-adventure game using the power of thought. Later, mental control of any device will become available, and such little things as computers and mobile phones will move from our pockets straight to the brain connected to the Great Network.

The essence of self-awareness

Definition 1
Self-awareness is the highest form of development of consciousness, reflection and active knowledge of oneself, one’s mental, physical and social qualities, as well as their assessment.

Evolutionarily, self-awareness is formed on the basis of consciousness by separating the individual from the surrounding world, forming a stable identity and continuity of oneself over a long time.

Self-awareness is an exclusively human new formation of the psyche; its formation requires a social environment, the assessments of others, the attributes that they attribute to the individual lay the foundations and the need for self-awareness. Others act not only as an external source of assessment, but also as a comparison tool, objects with which the qualities and properties of a person are correlated.

Self-awareness includes a cognitive and emotional component. The emotional component is realized through the process of self-attitude, the result of which is self-esteem. Self-esteem is experienced as an emotional experience of one’s own individual characteristics, but it is based on the correlation of personality and its manifestations with certain standards. The nature of the chosen standards largely determines the possibility of emotional acceptance/non-acceptance of oneself and the degree of maturity of the individual.

Thus, as a person grows up, he moves from directly assessing his qualities and social status to assessing his own active contribution to a socially significant sphere of life. The formation of self-awareness is a complex and lengthy process that includes passing through such stages as:

Direct sensory level – self-awareness through the senses, knowledge of one’s own body;
Personal level – experiencing one’s own subjectivity;
Intellectual-analytical level – disclosure of the meaningful characteristics of the psyche;
The goal-oriented activity level is the integration of all previous levels, awareness of self-awareness as the driving force of personality development.

Iron Thoughts: Intelligent Robots

What is The robot can easily imitate the movements of a waiter, a janitor or a chip assembler. It is much more difficult to teach him to imitate thinking. Scientists and engineers are trying to make mechanical devices more and more human-like, not only in appearance, but also in intelligence.

Similar developments are also underway in Russia. By the way, in the field of “intellectual content” we are not as far behind the Americans and Japanese as in the field of mechanics.

One of the striking examples is the “project of emotional agents” of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities. “Creating robots that could joke, empathize with a person, “understand” and support him is an extremely attractive idea for modern civilization,” says one of the authors of the project, Artemy Kotov. The basis is the emotional behavior of living people - their speech, intonation, facial expressions, behavior. The resulting model is algorithmized and turned into program code. As a result, cartoon people are already communicating on the computer screen, capable of both joking and getting angry.

What will happen Instead of a “robot revolution”, evolution is taking place: robots are penetrating our lives slowly, but surely. For example, according to TechCast, by 2022 robots that sense the environment, make decisions, and learn will be used in 30% of households and organizations. And soon, for some, a robot may turn out to be a more sensitive interlocutor than a work colleague or a neighbor on the landing.

No analysts will be needed: automatic text analysis

What is The world is no longer ruled by the one who owns the information, but by the one who knows how to filter and process it. Computer systems not only know how to sort documents into shelves, but also try to understand their content.

For example, the company Cognitive Technologies was created on the basis of the Institute of System Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her profile is the creation and implementation of management systems at enterprises. The main feature is considered to be the intellectual analysis of business information: “We have created a new form of document description, the main elements of which are the so-called semantic units... In fact, this approach is nothing more than an attempt to implement the mechanism of abstract thinking in artificial intelligence systems.” Similar systems have already been implemented in very reputable companies.

Electronic translators or text and voice recognition systems are also available everywhere. And if we ask Yandex to find something containing the words “cognitiveness” and “technology,” then the system will be smart enough to give us articles about cognitive technologies, despite the fact that the word “cognitiveness” is never used in them.

What will happen Ten years from now, business analysts, journalists, translators and many other professionals will have to compete with machines. The systems themselves will compare texts and numbers and then draw conclusions. And there is a great risk that a person will lose this fight. Already, a computer is capable of digesting thousands of pages per second, and when it learns to also analyze this information, people will have a hard time.

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At the 12th Summit of Psychologists, which will take place on June 3 - 5 in St. Petersburg, as part of the panel discussion “The choice is made: achievements and problems of modern psychology,” Tatyana Vladimirovna Chernigovskaya , Doctor of Biological Sciences, Doctor of Philology, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy, will speak Education, Professor of the Department of General Linguistics of the Faculty of Philology, Head of the Laboratory of Cognitive Research and the Department of Problems of Convergence of Natural Sciences and Humanities of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University. More about the discussion

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the recent speech of Tatyana Vladimirovna Chernigovskaya in the Federation Council. Her talk is called “Cognitive Science and the Changing World” :

“If education and science do not develop with the proper energy and speed, then a society that is so crazy that it will not do this will have no chance. Fortunately, our situation is not like that; I will try to talk about the area of knowledge that I deal with myself. It is no coincidence that the first slide that I present to your attention contains pictures on the topic of science and art. In fact, science and art are not two different poles of our thinking, our life, but very close areas. I will try to prove it... Cognitive science is a very modern field of knowledge, it includes various types of psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, anthropology, linguistics and philosophy. At the same time, I want to emphasize that philosophy does not play a secondary role: philosophers know how to think clearly, logically, pose questions correctly and correctly interpret the material that specific sciences receive. All the issues that I will talk about are multidisciplinary and convergent - they really cannot be solved by the forces of one of the fields of knowledge, it is impossible. I bring to your attention this topic, because it is typical not only for cognitive science, but in general for modern science and education... Man is not only homo sapiens, but also homo cogitus - a man who knows, and homo loquens - a man who speaks, and this is extremely important. This area of knowledge studies consciousness and the very fact of the possibility of its natural scientific study. This is a very complex area and, as a rule, it is generally outside the field of interest of science. It is believed that this is something too colloquial, that it is impossible to study it, supposedly no one knows what it is, but, meanwhile, consciousness is our main distinguishing feature on this planet. Those who have consciousness are people and we need to know at least something about what it is and how it works. Because our entire civilization rests on this and the possibilities for its further development or some catastrophic consequences also depend on it...”: