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 human senses: 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 of and in interaction with the first in the process of human development and growth. In this article, we will look at what the first signaling 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 changes in its state, which is the first signal system. The outside world, represented through various objects,having a variety of chemical and physical properties, such as color, smell, shape, etc., act as conditional signals that warn the body about changes to which it is necessary to adapt. So, a herd of deer slumbering in the sun, smelling a creeping predator, abruptly takes off and flees. The irritant has become a signal of approaching danger.
Thus, in higher animals, the first (conditioned reflex) signaling system is an accurate reflection of the outside world, allowing you to correctly respond to changes and adapt to them. All of its signals refer to a specific object and are specific. Conditioned reflexes, which form the basis of the elementary subject-related thinking of animals, are formed through this system.
The first human signaling system functions in the same way as in higher animals. Its isolated functioning is observed only in newborns, from 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 education and social interactions between people.
Types of nervous activity
Man is a complex creature that has gone through complex changes in its historical development both in the anatomical and physiological, and in the psychological structure and functioning. The whole complex of diverse processes occurring in itsbody, is carried out and controlled by one of the main physiological systems - the nervous.
The activity of this system is 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 (HNA). Such interaction occurs through the direct impact 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. It was this type of signaling that the Russian scientist I. P. Pavlov called the first signaling system. Thanks to it, the birth and development of the second signaling system, characteristic only for people and associated with an audible (speech) or visible word (written sources), became possible.
What are signaling systems?
Based on the works of the famous Russian physiologist and naturalist I. M. Sechenov about the reflex activity of the higher parts of the brain, IP Pavlov created a theory about GNA - the higher nervous activity of a person. Within the framework of this doctrine, the concept of what signal systems are was formulated. They are understood ascomplexes of conditioned reflex connections formed in the cortex (isocortex) of the brain as a result of the receipt of various impulses from the outside world or from the systems and organs of the body. That is, the work of the first signaling system is aimed at performing analytical and synthetic operations to recognize signals from the senses about objects in 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 is gradually developed as a result of the emergence and consolidation of associative links, pronounced sounds or words with sensory impressions of objects in the external environment.
Features of the first signaling system
In this signaling system, both the means and methods of communication, and all other forms of behavior are based on direct perception of the surrounding reality and the reaction to impulses coming from it in the process of interaction. The first signaling system of a person is a response concrete-sensory reflection of the impact on receptors from the outside world.
First, in the body there is a sensation of any phenomena, properties or objects perceived by the receptors of one or more sense organs. Then sensations are transformed into more complex forms - perception. And only after the second signal system is formed and developed, it becomes possible to createobject-specific abstract forms of reflection, such as representations and concepts.
Localization of signal systems
The centers located in the cerebral hemispheres are responsible for the normal functioning of both signaling systems. Reception and processing of information for the first signal system is carried out by the right hemisphere. Both the perception and processing of the information flow for the second signaling system are produced 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 in terms of their functions. This is due to the fact that on the basis of the first, the second signal system arose and developed. The signals of the first one coming from the environment and from different parts of the body are in continuous interaction with the signals of the second one. During such interaction, higher-order conditioned reflexes arise, which create functional connections between them. In connection with the developed thought processes and social lifestyle, a person has a more developed second signaling system.
Development stages
In the process of individual mental development of a child born on time, the first signaling system begins to form within a few days after birth. Aged 7-10days, the formation of the first conditioned reflexes is possible. So, the baby makes sucking movements with his lips even before the nipple is put 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 his conditioned reflexes are formed. In order for a monthly baby to have a temporary connection, many repetitions of exposure to unconditioned and conditioned stimuli will have to be done. For a two to three month old baby, it only takes 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 an object, together with its demonstration, the child begins to respond to the word. In children, it comes to the fore only by the age of 6-7.
Role reversal
Thus, in the process of the psychophysical development of the child, throughout the entire childhood and adolescence, there is a change in the significance and priority between these signal systems. At school age and up to the onset of 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 the senior classes of the school, the second signaling system again takes the lead and retains its dominant position throughout life,constantly improving and developing.
Meaning
The first signaling system of people, despite the predominance of the second in adults, is of great importance in such types of human activities as sports, creativity, learning and work. Without it, the work of a musician and artist, actor and professional athlete would be 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.
