We perceive the world around us thanks to two systems: the first and second signal.
To obtain information about the state of the body and the external environment, the first signaling system uses all the senses of the person: touch, sight, smell, hearing and taste. The second, younger, signaling system allows you to perceive the world through speech. Its development takes place on the basis and in interaction with the first in the process of human development and growth. In this article we will consider what the first signal system is, how it develops and functions.
How does this happen in animals?
All animals can use only one source of information about the surrounding reality and its state change, which is the first signaling system. The outside world, represented through various objects with various chemical and physical properties, such as color, smell, shape, etc., act as conditional signals warning the body about changes that need to be adapted. So, a herd of deer dozing in the sun, smelling a sneaking predator, abruptly breaks away and flees. An irritant was a signal of impending danger.
Thus, in higher animals, the first (conditioned-reflex) signaling system is an accurate reflection of the external world around us, which allows us to correctly respond to changes and adapt to them. All its signals relate to a specific object and are specific. The conditioned reflexes that form the basis of the elementary objectively related thinking of animals are formed through this particular system.
The first human signaling system functions in the same way as in higher animals. Its separate functioning is observed only in newborns, from the time of birth to the age of six months, if the child is in a normal social environment. The formation and development of the second signaling system takes place in the process and as a result of upbringing and social interactions between people.
Types of Nervous Activity
Man is a complex creature that has passed through complex changes in its historical development both in the anatomical and physiological, as well as in the psychological structure and functioning. The whole complex of diverse processes occurring in his body is carried out and controlled through one of the main physiological systems - the nervous system.
The activities of this system are divided into lower and higher. The so-called lower nervous activity is responsible for the control and management of all internal organs and systems of the human body. Interactions with objects and objects of the surrounding reality through such neuropsychic processes and mechanisms as intelligence, perception, thinking, speech, memory, attention, are referred to as higher nervous activity (GNI). Such interaction occurs through the direct effect of various objects on receptors, for example, auditory or visual, with further transmission of the received signals by the nervous system to the information-processing organ - the brain. This type of signaling was called the first signaling system by Russian scientists I.P. Pavlov. Thanks to her, it became possible the nucleation and development of the second signaling system, characteristic only for people and associated with an audible (speech) or visible word (written sources).
What are signal systems?
Based on the works of the famous Russian physiologist and natural scientist I.M.Sechenov on the reflex activity of the higher parts of the brain, I.P. Pavlov created the theory of GNI - the higher nervous activity of a person. In the framework of this teaching, the concept of what signal systems are formulated was formulated. By these we mean the complexes of conditioned reflex connections forming in the cerebral cortex (isocortex) as a result of the arrival of various impulses from the outside world or from the systems and organs of the body. That is, the work of the first signal system is aimed at performing analytical and synthetic operations to recognize signals from the sensory organs about objects of the outside world.
As a result of social development and mastery of speech, a second signaling system arose and evolved. As the child’s psyche grows and develops, the ability to understand and then to reproduce speech gradually develops as a result of the emergence and consolidation of associative connections, pronounced sounds or words with sensory impressions of objects of the external environment.
Features of the first alarm system
In this signaling system, both the means and methods of communication, and all other forms of behavior are based on the direct perception of the surrounding reality and the reaction to impulses coming from it in the process of interaction. The first human signaling system is a responsive concrete-sensory reflection of the effect on the receptors from the outside world.
First, the body begins to feel any phenomena, properties or objects perceived by the receptors of any one or more senses. Then sensations are transformed into more complex forms - perception. And only after the second signal system is formed and developed, it becomes possible to create abstract forms of reflection that are not tied to a specific object, such as representations and concepts.
Localization of alarm systems
For the normal functioning of both signaling systems, the centers located in the hemispheres of the brain are responsible. The reception and processing of information for the first signaling system is carried out by the right hemisphere. Both the perception and the processing of the information flow for the second signaling system are performed by the left hemisphere, which is responsible for the development of logical thinking. The second (more than the first) human signaling system depends on the structural integrity of the brain and its functioning.
The relationship between signaling systems
The second and first signal systems according to Pavlov are in constant interaction and are interconnected by the functions performed. This is due to the fact that, on the basis of the first, the second signaling system arose and developed. The signals from the environment and from different parts of the body of the first are in continuous interaction with the signals of the second. During this interaction, higher-order conditioned reflexes occur that create functional connections between them. In connection with the developed thought processes and the social way of life, a second signaling system is more developed in a person.
Developmental stages
In the process of individual mental development of a child born on time, the first signaling system begins to take shape within a few days after birth. At the age of 7-10 days, the formation of the first conditioned reflexes is possible. So, the baby makes sucking movements with his lips even before the nipple is placed in his mouth. Conditioned reflexes to sound stimuli can form at the beginning of the second month of life.
The older the child becomes, the faster they develop conditioned reflexes. In order for a monthly baby to have a temporary connection, you will have to do many repetitions of the effects of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli. A two-three-month-old child will need only a few repetitions to create the same temporary connection.
The second signaling system begins to take shape in children from the age of one and a half years, when with repeated naming of the subject, together with its demonstration, the child begins to respond to the word. In children, she comes to the fore only to 6-7 years.
Change of roles
Thus, in the process of the child’s psychophysical development, throughout the childhood and adolescence, there is a change in the importance and priority between these signaling systems. At school age and up to the beginning of the puberty, the second signaling system comes to the fore. During puberty, due to significant hormonal and physiological changes in the body of adolescents, for a short period, the first signaling system again becomes the leading one. By high school, the second signaling system again takes the lead and maintains its dominant position throughout life, constantly improving and developing.
Value
The first signal system of people, despite the predominance in adults of the second, is of great importance in such types of human activity as sports, creativity, training and work. Without it, the work of a musician and artist, actor and professional athlete would have been impossible.
Despite the similarity of this system in humans and animals, in humans, the first signaling system is a much more complex and perfect structure, since it is in constant harmonious interaction with the second.