Functional meaning and properties of the dominant. Ukhtomsky dominant principle in nerve centers

The activity of nerve centers is not constant, and the predominance of the activity of some of them over the activity of others causes noticeable changes in the processes of coordination of reflex reactions.

Studying the features of intercentral relationships, A. A. Ukhtomsky discovered that if a complex reflex reaction is carried out in the animal’s body, for example, repeated acts of swallowing, then electrical stimulation of the motor centers of the cortex not only ceases to cause movements of the limbs at this moment, but also intensifies and accelerates the course of the beginning chain reaction of swallowing, which turned out to be dominant. A similar phenomenon was observed during phenol poisoning of the anterior sections of the spinal cord of a frog. An increase in the excitability of motor neurons led to the fact that the poisoned paw responded with a rubbing (shaking) reflex not only to the direct irritation of its skin with acid, but also to a wide variety of extraneous irritants:

lifting an animal from a table into the air, hitting the table where it sits, touching the animal’s front paw, etc.

Similar effects, when various reasons do not evoke a response that is adequate to them, but a reaction already prepared in the body, are constantly encountered in human behavior (the meaning of this is accurately conveyed, for example, by such proverbs as “whoever hurts, talks about it” , “a hungry godfather has pie on his mind”).

In 1923, A. A. Ukhtomsky formulated the principle of dominance as a working principle of the activity of nerve centers.

The term dominant was designated the dominant focus of excitation in the central nervous system, which determines the current activity of the body.

Main features, dominants the following: 1) increased excitability of nerve centers, 2) persistence of excitation over time, 3) the ability to sum up extraneous stimuli and 4) inertia of the dominant. A dominant (dominant) focus can arise only under a certain functional state of the nerve centers. One of the conditions for its formation is increased level of excitability of nerve cells, which is caused by various humoral and nervous influences (long-term afferent impulses, hormonal changes in the body, the effects of pharmacological substances, conscious control of nervous activity in humans, etc.).

An established dominant can be a long-term condition that determines the behavior of the organism for a given period. Ability to sustain arousal in time - characteristic feature dominants. However, not every source of excitation becomes dominant. An increase in the excitability of nerve cells and their functional significance is determined by ability to sum up arousal upon receipt of any random impulse.

Ascending nerve impulses can be sent not only along a direct specific path - to the corresponding projection zones of the brain, but also through lateral branches - to any zones of the central nervous system (see § 6 of this chapter). In this regard, if there is a focus in any part of the nervous system with an optimal level of excitability, this focus acquires the ability to increase its excitability by summing up not only its own afferent irritations, but also those of strangers addressed to other centers. It is not the strength of excitation, but the ability to accumulate and summarize it that turns the nerve center into a dominant one. The phenomena of summation are best expressed only with a moderate, optimal, increase in the excitability of neurons. This is expressed in the fact that the dominant is most easily reinforced by weak stimuli and extinguished by strong ones.

The more neurons are involved in a given focus of excitation, the stronger the dominant and the more it suppresses the activity of other parts of the brain, causing the so-called coupled inhibition. The nerve cells included in the dominant focus are not necessarily located in one area of ​​the nervous system. Most often, they form a certain system of cells (according to A. A. Ukhtomsky, a “constellation” or constellation of neurons), located in different floors of the brain and spinal cord. Such complex ones are, for example, dominants that ensure the performance of muscular work. Their external expression can be stationary supported movement and working posture, as well as the exclusion at this moment of other movements and postures. These dominants include cells of various areas of the cerebral cortex and subcortical sections associated with the organization of motor activity, as well as cells of various emotional and vegetative centers (respiratory, cardiovascular, thermoregulatory, etc.).

The integration of a large number of neurons into one working system occurs through mutual attunement to the general pace of activity, i.e., through the assimilation of rhythm. Some nerve cells reduce their higher rate of activity, others increase their low rate to some average, optimal rhythm. The dominant group of nerve centers working in a common rhythm inhibits centers with other rhythms of activity. The significance of the phenomenon of rhythm assimilation as a mechanism for the formation of a dominant focus and a mechanism for its functional isolation from the total mass of nerve cells has been confirmed in lately electrophysiological studies on animals and humans.

An important property of the dominant is inertia. Once a dominant emerges, it can long time maintained even after removal of the initial stimulus, for example, during the implementation of chain motor reflexes. Inertia is also expressed in the fact that the dominant can persist for a long time as a trace state (potential dominant). When the previous state or the previous external situation is resumed, the dominant may arise again. Such reproduction of the dominant occurs in the athlete’s body conditioned-reflexively in the pre-start state when, to a certain extent, all those nerve centers that were part of the working system during previous training are activated. This is manifested in the strengthening of the entire complex of functions associated with muscular work: central, muscular, excretory, vascular, etc. Mental performance of physical exercises also reproduces (updates) the dominant system of centers, which provides the training effect of imagining movements and is the basis of the so-called ideomotor training.

Normally, the nervous system rarely lacks any dominants. Non-dominant state - this is a very weak excitation, distributed more or less evenly across various nerve centers. A similar state occurs in athletes during the process of complete relaxation, when autogenic training. Through such relaxation, one achieves the elimination of powerful working dominants and restoration of the functioning of the nerve centers.

As a factor of behavior, the dominant is associated with higher nervous activity, with human psychology. The dominant is physiological basis act of attention. It determines the nature of perception of irritation from external environment, making it one-sided, but more purposeful. In the presence of a dominant, many influences of the external environment remain unnoticed, but those that are of particular interest to a person are more intensively captured and analyzed. Dominant is a powerful selection factor for the biologically and socially most significant stimuli.

The emergence of dominant states in the cerebral cortex is observed at the beginning of the formation of temporary connections. A conditioned reflex is formed when the dominant focus of excitation begins to respond not to any afferent stimulation, but only to a specific stimulation that has become a signal.

Since the dominant is associated with a certain reaction it defines a one-sided expression of behavior. The more pronounced the dominant, the more it inhibits other ongoing reflexes. Thus, from many degrees of freedom, one is selected - if there is a dominant in certain motor centers, only that part of the muscles that is controlled by these centers works intensively, and the rest is turned off from the sphere of activity as a result of associated inhibition. At the same time, many vegetative centers are also inhibited. At the initial moment of intense muscular work, conditioned reflexes can almost completely disappear: salivation, blinking, etc. This ensures the expediency of movements and the efficiency of energy expenditure. Powerful motor dominance during static efforts due to associated inhibition leads to breath holding and inhibition of the cardiovascular system.

As a motor skill develops, the system of dominant nerve centers improves. All unnecessary nerve centers are excluded from it, only those that are necessary and sufficient to carry out the motor task remain.

The dominant focus of excitation is characterized by the following properties:

Increased excitability;

Persistence of excitation (inertia) over time, since it is difficult to suppress with other excitation;

The ability to summarize subdominant excitations;

The ability to inhibit subdominant foci of excitation in functionally different nerve centers.

A dominant focus can arise under the influence of hormonal factors; an example could be a change in the reflex activity of a male frog during the mating period, when any irritation begins to cause an increase in the tonic hugging reflex instead of the usual reflex. It can also arise as a result of local chemical influences, sharply increasing the excitability of nerve cells or suppressing inhibition processes in them. The impression that the dominant focus “attracts” excitation to itself from other brain structures is, of course, apparent; such excitation under normal conditions had the opportunity to achieve it, but the synaptic effects it caused were so weak that they could not manifest themselves in the final result. With the formation of a dominant focus, the effectiveness of the same influences increases so much that they are able to reproduce the reflex reaction characteristic of it. In turn, influences spreading from the dominant focus are also very effective; they can dramatically change the reflex activity of adjacent structures.

. Principle feedback

The processes of self-regulation in the body are similar to technical ones, which involve automatic regulation of the process using feedback. The presence of feedback allows us to correlate the severity of changes in system parameters with its operation as a whole. The connection between a system's output and its input with a positive gain is called positive feedback, and with a negative gain is called negative feedback. IN biological systems positive feedback is implemented mainly in pathological situations. Negative feedback improves the stability of the system, i.e. its ability to return to its original state after the influence of disturbing factors ceases.

Feedback can be divided according to various criteria. For example, according to the speed of action - fast (nervous) and slow (humoral), etc.

There are many examples of feedback effects. For example, in the nervous system this is how the activity of motor neurons is regulated. The essence of the process is that excitation impulses propagating along the axons of motor neurons reach not only the muscles, but also specialized intermediate neurons (Renshaw cells), the excitation of which inhibits the activity of motor neurons. This effect is known as the process of recurrent inhibition.

An example of positive feedback is the process of generating an action potential. Thus, during the formation of the ascending part of the AP, depolarization of the membrane increases its sodium permeability, which, in turn, increasing the sodium current, increases the depolarization of the membrane.

The importance of feedback mechanisms in maintaining homeostasis is great. For example, maintaining a constant level of blood pressure is carried out by changing the impulse activity of the baroreceptors of the vascular reflexogenic zones, which change the tone of the vasomotor sympathetic nerves and thus normalize blood pressure.

It consisted in the fact that in a dog, during the period of preparation for defecation, electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex does not give the usual reactions in the limbs, but increases excitation in the defecation apparatus and promotes the onset of a permissive act in it. But as soon as defecation is completed, electrical stimulation of the cortex begins to cause normal movements of the limbs. [Ukhtomsky A. A., “Dominant and integral image”, ]

However, Ukhtomsky did not publish information about the dominant for more than a decade, until the year when he gave a report on the dominant. In he publishes the work “Dominant as a working principle of nerve centers”; then the principle of dominance is discussed by him in many other, later works. Ukhtomsky borrowed the word “dominant” from the book “Critique of Pure Experience” by Richard Avenarius.

The principle of dominance

At all moments of life, conditions are created under which the performance of a function becomes more important than the performance of other functions. Executing this function suppresses other functions.

One of the striking examples of a dominant is the dominant of sexual arousal in a cat isolated from males during the period of estrus. Various stimuli (a call for a bowl of food, the clatter of plates on the table being set) in this case do not cause meowing and animated begging for food, but only an intensification of the estrus symptom complex. The administration of even large doses of bromide preparations is unable to erase this sexual dominance in the centers..

The doctrine of the dominant and constellation of nerve centers

Dominant, according to Ukhtomsky, there is a complex of certain symptoms throughout the body - in the muscles, and in secretory work, and in vascular activity. It appears not as a topographically single point of excitation in the central nervous system, but as a “definite constellation of centers with increased excitability in various levels of the brain and spinal cord, as well as in the autonomic system.” Constellation of nerve centers is the interaction of nerve centers with a constantly dynamically changing state.

The role of the nerve center can change significantly: from excitatory to inhibitory for the same devices, depending on the state experienced by the nerve center at the moment. In different situations, the nerve center can acquire different meanings in the physiology of the body. “Newly arriving waves of excitation in the centers will go in the direction of the now dominant focus of excitation.”

Ukhtomsky believed that the dominant is capable of transforming into any “individual mental content.” However, the dominant is not the prerogative of the cerebral cortex; it is a general property of the entire central nervous system. He saw the difference between “higher” and “lower” dominants. “Lower” dominants are physiological in nature, while “higher” ones - arising in the cerebral cortex - form the physiological basis of “the act of attention and objective thinking”.

Numerous studies conducted by Ukhtomsky, his colleagues and independent scientists have indicated that the dominant plays the role of a general operating principle of nerve centers.

For Ukhtomsky, the dominant was what determines the direction of human perception. The dominant served as the very factor that integrates sensations into the whole picture (here a parallel can be drawn with gestalt). Ukhtomsky believed that all branches of human experience, including science, are influenced by dominants, with the help of which impressions, images and beliefs are selected.

In order to master human experience, in order to master oneself and others, in order to direct the behavior and the very intimate life of people in a certain direction, one must master the physiological dominants in oneself and others. [Ukhtomsky A. A., “Dominant and integral image”, 1924]

Properties of the dominant center

  • Increased excitability
  • Summation ability
  • Excitement is characterized by high persistence
  • Excitation is characterized by high inertia

Bibliography

  • Ukhtomsky A. A. Dominant. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. ISBN 5-318-00067-3

See also

  • Nerve center

Links

  • V. P. Zinchenko, “Hypothesis about the origin of A. A. Ukhtomsky’s doctrine of the dominant”

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See what “Dominant (physiology)” is in other dictionaries:

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Rental block

Dominant (1923 Ukhtomsky) “temporarily dominant reflex” that directs the work of the nerve centers at the moment.

“A stable focus of increased excitability” of nerve centers, creating a latent readiness of the body for a certain type of activity while simultaneously inhibiting extraneous reflex acts.

The dominant is a functional association of nerve centers, consisting of a relatively mobile cortical component and subcortical, autonomic and humoral components.

The dominant is the general principle of the central nervous system and it determines the liberation of the body from side activities in order to achieve the most important goals for the body.

A dominant is a complex of certain symptoms throughout the body, manifested in muscular, secretory and vascular activity.

Currently, the dominant is recognized as one of the main mechanisms of brain activity. The dominant is a stable focus of increased excitability of the nerve centers, in which excitations coming to the center serve to enhance excitation in the focus, while inhibition phenomena are widely observed in the rest of the nervous system.

Properties of the dominant:

1.high excitability

2.the ability to firmly hold one’s arousal

3. the ability to sum up and coupled inhibition of other centers that are functionally incompatible with the activity of the centers of the dominant focus.

In general, the dominant as a state is characterized by its direction and creates a certain vector of behavior.

(an example of the hugging reflex in frogs, which occurs during mating as a result of hormonal influences.

Touching the callus causes a hug reflex => the presence of increased excitability of the flexion centers of the limb.

Skin irritation by mechanical, chemical or electrical stimuli => strengthening of the reflex => indicator of the summation of extraneous stimuli; and the high threshold required to evoke protective reactions indicates associated inhibition of other centers).

Dominance is associated with the excitation of an entire constellation or constellation of nerve centers that temporarily cooperate in performing a biologically important function.

This constellation creates a dynamically functional organ that imparts unity of action to the body at a given moment.

The formation of a constellation of nerve centers can occur due to impulse interactions and attunement of working centers to a single rhythm of activity (rhythm assimilation).

Any behavioral act, incl. and conditioned reflex, begins with the analysis and synthesis of afferent information, which includes dominant motivational excitation, eliminating excess degrees of freedom.

The inertia of the dominant is due to long-term trace processes.

Under natural conditions, long-term trace excitation can be caused by:

1) the summation of EPSPs caused by subthreshold nerve impulses arriving at neurons;

2) synaptic potentiation (relief) during rhythmic stimulation of presynaptic inputs;

3) a change in the concentration of K+ ions in the synaptic cleft, which enhances the entry of Ca^2+ ions into the presynaptic terminal;

4) metabolic traces associated with the influence of mediators on the cyclase systems of postsynaptic cells;

5) cyclic connections in the central nervous system, capable of providing trace self-stimulation of centers.

The ability for long-term storage of trace processes is expressed differently in different parts of the brain.

In the spinal centers, postsynaptic potentiation lasts minutes, in the hippocampal centers – hours, days.

Ukhtomsky formulated the idea of ​​a dynamic functional organ as a temporary cooperation of nerve centers that imparts unity of action to the body.

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This material includes sections:

Reflex theory stages of formation

Basic principles of modern physiology of VNI: the principle of reflection, the principle of reflex, the principle of dominance, the principle of systemic activity of the brain.

Definition, biological significance and principles of classification of unconditioned and conditioned reflexes.

Classification of unconditioned reflexes by P.V. Simonov. Unconditioned reflexes of self-development.

Definition and types of biological memory: genetic, immunological and neurological memory. Structural and functional foundations of memory and learning. The concept of an engram. Sensory, short-term and long-term memory. Classification of forms of training: non-asso

Obligate nature of non-associative learning. Summation, its mechanisms and biological significance. Habituation as one of the options for stimulus-dependent learning.

Non-associative learning. Long-term potentiation as one of the physiological mechanisms of memory.

Non-associative learning. Imprinting (imprinting), its features and biological significance. Types of imprinting. Confinement of imprinting to a certain period of ontogenesis

Non-associative learning. Imitation (imitation) as the basis of species stereotypes.

Conditions and mechanisms for the formation of temporary connections. The conditioned reflex as an example of effect-dependent learning. Scheme of closing the arc of a conditioned reflex (CR). Patterns of formation of temporary connections. The principle of the “common final path” as a reflection of the mechanism of

Principles of classification of SD: by the afferent link of the reflex arc, by the efferent link, depending on the type of unconditioned reflex, depending on the effector organs (instrumental and classical SD), by the nature of unconditional reinforcement

Conditioned reflexes of higher order, dynamic stereotype. Use of behavioral methods in biomedical research.

Needs and motivations. Unconditioned reflexes as mechanisms for satisfying basic needs. Classification of animal and human needs (Simonov).

Biological needs, their hierarchy and individual profile of the organization.

Zoosocial needs of animals. The phenomenon of emotional resonance, the evolutionary significance of altruism. Hierarchy and features of human social needs.

Ideal needs. Science, religion and art in the system of ideal human needs. Secondary (higher, hybrid) human needs.

The role of the hypothalamus and amygdala in the formation of needs and motivational state. The role of motivation in the formation of goal-directed behavior. The principle of dominance and signs of a motivational state. General properties of motivation.

Emotions: their anatomical substrate and physiological expression. Information and biological theory of emotions. Functions of emotions.

Dominant. Its properties and functional significance. Author of the doctrine of dominance.

Theory of the functional system by P.K. Anokhin. Two types of functional systems.

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Dominant (in physiology) Dominant in physiology, a focus of excitation in the central nervous system that temporarily determines the nature of the body’s response to external and internal stimuli. The dominant nerve center (or group of centers) has increased excitability and the ability to persistently maintain this state even when the initial stimulus no longer has an activating effect (inertia). By summing up the relatively weak excitations of other centers, D. simultaneously affects them in an inhibitory manner. Under natural conditions, D. is formed under the influence of reflex excitation or the action of a number of hormones on the nerve centers. In an experiment, D. can be created by direct influence on the nerve centers with a weak electric current or certain pharmacological substances. The dominance of some nerve centers over others was first described by N. E. Vvedensky(1881). Clarifying the mechanisms of formation of conditioned reflexes, I.P. Pavlov noted that a long-term maintained level of increased excitability of certain areas of the cerebral cortex largely determines the dynamics of higher nervous activity in normal and pathological conditions. The main provisions of the doctrine of D. as general principle the work of nerve centers was formulated by A.A. Ukhtomsky based on the work performed by him and his employees experimental research(1911≈23). D. is expressed in the readiness of a certain organ to work and maintaining its working condition. D. in the higher centers of the brain serves as the physiological basis for a number of mental phenomena (for example, attention, etc.). ═ Lit.: Ukhtomsky A. A., Dominanta, M.≈L., 1966; Mechanisms of dominance. (Symposium materials), L., 1967. ═ N. G. Alekseev, M. Yu. Ulyanov.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

See what “Dominant (in physiology)” is in other dictionaries:

    DOMINANT, in physiology, a temporarily dominant focus of excitation in the central nervous system (see CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM); creates a latent readiness of the body for a certain activity while simultaneously inhibiting other reflex... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

    DOMINANT- (in physiology), a focus of excitation in the center of the nervous system, which can be amplified due to external irritations, exerting an inhibitory effect on the course of these latter (for example, when a cat is preparing for defecation, then irritation of the motor... ...

    Dominant (from Latin dominans, genitive dominantis ≈ dominant), dominant idea, main feature or most important component anything. See Dominant in physiology, Dominant in architecture and Dominant in music...

    In physiology, the temporarily dominant focus of excitation in the central nervous system; creates a latent readiness of the body for a certain activity while simultaneously inhibiting other reflex acts. The principle of dominance was formulated by A. A.... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    I Dominant (from Latin dominans, genitive case dominantis dominant) the dominant idea, the main feature or the most important component of something. See Dominant in physiology, Dominant in architecture, and Dominant in music. II... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

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    dominant- I. DOMINANT a, m. dominante lat. dominans (dominantis dominant. biol. An animal that occupies a dominant position in a group of similar ones. Adult gorillas that manage to break off the mushroom move a hundred meters away from the tree, carefully guarding ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

Books

  • Dominant, Ukhtomsky Alexey Alekseevich, Alexey Alekseevich Ukhtomsky (1875-1942) is one of the most outstanding Russian thinkers of the twentieth century. His doctrine of the dominant as a universal general biological principle underlying... Category:

Dominant is a stable focus of increased excitability of nerve centers, in which excitations coming to the center serve to enhance excitation in the focus, while inhibition phenomena are widely observed in the rest of the nervous system.

The concept was introduced by the Russian physiologist Alexei Alekseevich Ukhtomsky, who developed the doctrine of the dominant since 1911, based on the works of N. E. Vvedensky and other physiologists; Moreover, the first observations pointing to the idea of ​​a dominant were made several years earlier. The very first observation that formed the basis of the concept of dominance was made by Ukhtomsky in 1904: It was that in a dog, during the period of preparation for defecation, electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex does not give the usual reactions in the limbs, but increases excitation in the apparatus defecation and promotes the onset of a permitting act in it. But as soon as defecation is completed, electrical stimulation of the cortex begins to cause normal movements of the limbs. - Ukhtomsky A. A. Dominant and integral image. - 1924. Properties of the dominant center

increased excitability;

· ability to summation;

· excitation is characterized by high persistence (inertia);

· ability to disinhibit.

Dominant in physiology, a focus of excitation in the central nervous system, temporarily determining the nature of the body's response to external and internal stimuli. The dominant nerve center (or group of centers) has increased excitability and the ability to persistently maintain this state even when the initial stimulus no longer has an activating effect (inertia). By summing up the relatively weak excitations of other centers, D. simultaneously affects them in an inhibitory manner. Under natural conditions, D. is formed under the influence of reflex excitation or the action of a number of hormones on the nerve centers. In an experiment, D. can be created by direct influence on the nerve centers with a weak electric current or certain pharmacological substances. The dominance of some nerve centers over others was first described by N. E. Vvedensky (1881). In elucidating the mechanisms of formation of conditioned reflexes, I. P. Pavlov noted that a long-term maintained level of increased excitability of certain areas of the cerebral cortex largely determines the dynamics of higher nervous activity in normal and pathological conditions. The main provisions of the doctrine of D. as the general principle of the work of nerve centers were formulated by A. A. Ukhtomsky on the basis of experimental studies performed by him and his colleagues (1911–23). D. is expressed in the readiness of a certain organ to work and maintaining its working condition. D. in the higher centers of the brain serves as the physiological basis for a number of mental phenomena (for example, attention, etc.). ═ Lit.: Ukhtomsky A. A., Dominanta, M.≈L., 1966; Mechanisms of dominance. (Symposium materials), Leningrad, 1967. ═ N. G. Alekseev, M. Yu. Ulyanov.


· The principle of dominance was formulated by A.A. Ukhtomsky. Dominant is the dominant focus of excitation in the central nervous system (CNS). This rather persistent excitation acquires the significance of a dominant factor in the work of other centers: it accumulates excitation from individual sources, and also inhibits the ability of other centers to respond to impulses that are directly related to them. For example, a person in a fit of creativity may forget about food and sleep. This is an example of physiological dominance. The pathological dominant is a sharply increased focus of excitation in the central nervous system compared to the norm. The cause may be trauma, infection, stress, unreacted toxic emotion: anger, pain, fear, resentment. The state of a pathological dominant, in contrast to a physiological one, is harmful to the body of its carrier, as it limits its adaptation to environment. The pathological dominant creates conditions in the body for prolongation or relapse of the disease process