Thinkingis the process of reflecting in the human mind connections and relationships between objects or phenomena of reality.
In the process of thinking, a person reflects the objective world differently than in the processes of perception and imagination. In perceptions and ideas, external phenomena are reflected in the way they affect the senses - in colors, shapes, movement of objects, etc. When a person thinks about any objects or phenomena, he does not reflect in his consciousness these external features, but the very essence of objects, their mutual connections and relationships.
From the physiological side, the thinking process is a complex analytical and synthetic activity of the cerebral cortex. The entire cortex takes part in the implementation of thinking processes.
For the thinking process, what matters most are those complex temporary connections that form between the brain ends of the analyzers.
The previously existing idea about the exact boundaries of the central sections of the analyzers in the cerebral cortex is refuted by the latest achievements of physiological science: “The limits of the analyzers are much greater, and they are not so sharply demarcated from each other, but overlap each other, interlock with each other” (I.P. Pavlov).This “special design” of the cortex facilitates the establishment of connections in the activities of a wide variety of analyzers. “The cerebral cortex must be considered as a grandiose mosaic of countless nerve points with a specific physiological role for each of them. At the same time, the cortex is a highly complex dynamic system, constantly striving for unification, to establish a single, common connection” (I. P. Pavlov).
Since the activity of individual areas of the cortex is always determined by external stimuli, the nerve connections formed during the simultaneous stimulation of these areas of the cortex reflect the actual connections in things. These connections, naturally caused by external stimuli, constitute the physiological basis of the thinking process. “Thinking,” said I.P. Pavlov, “...represents nothing else but associations, first elementary, standing in connection with external objects, and then chains of associations. This means that every small, first association is the moment of the birth of a thought.”
At first, these associations are of a generalized nature, reflecting real connections in their most general and undifferentiated form, and sometimes even incorrectly, based on random, insignificant characteristics. Only in the process of repeated stimulation does differentiation of temporary connections occur, they are refined, consolidated and become the physiological basis of more or less accurate and correct knowledge about the external world.
These associations arise primarily under the influence of primary signal stimuli, causing corresponding sensations, perceptions and ideas about the surrounding external environment. Real interactions and interconnections of these stimuli determine the emergence of corresponding temporary neural connections of the first signaling system.
Participate in the implementation of the thinking process neural processes in the speech centers of the cortex . Thinking is based not only on primary signal connections. It necessarily presupposes the activity of the second signaling system in its inextricable connection with the first signaling system. The irritants here are no longer specific objects of the surrounding world and their properties, but words. Speech, being directly related to thinking, makes it possible to reflect in words the interrelation and interdependence of phenomena, because words are not just substitutes, signals of objects, but generalized stimuli.
The second signaling system is specifically human. It arises in a person in connection with his work activity and the resulting need to communicate with other people, but it nevertheless arises on the basis of the first signaling system and is in organic connection with it. In this interaction, the main role belongs to the second signaling system.
Due to the generalized nature of secondary signal stimuli - words that make it possible to reflect objective connections in their general form, the second signaling system acquires leading importance in complex nervous processes, subordinating the activity of the first signaling system. The interaction of the first and second signaling systems in the processes of thinking consists in the fact that the second signaling system in this unity occupies a dominant position and directs the processes of the first signaling system.
The word transforms the first-signal nerve connections into generalized images of reality, which allows a person, in the processes of thinking, to break away from the specific features of perceived phenomena and think of existing connections in their generalized form, in the form of concepts, and not in the form of perceptions and ideas.
Types of thinking
The variety of types of mental tasks determines the variety of not only mechanisms, methods, but also types of thinking. In psychology, it is customary to distinguish between types of thinking according to content: visual-effective, visual-figurative and abstract thinking; by the nature of the tasks: practical and theoretical thinking; according to the degree of novelty and originality: reproductive and creative (productive) thinking.
Visual-effective thinking lies in the fact that problem solving is carried out by actually transforming the situation and performing a motor act. Thus, at an early age, children show the ability to analyze and synthesize when they perceive objects at a certain moment and have the ability to operate with them.
Visual-figurative thinking is based on images of ideas, transformation of the situation into a plan of images. Characteristic of poets, artists, architects, perfumers, fashion designers. The significance of this thinking lies in the fact that with its help the variety of characteristics of an object is more fully reproduced, and unusual combinations of objects and their properties are established. In its simplest form, this thinking occurs in preschool age, when children think in images. By encouraging the creation of images based on what they read, the perception of objects, and the schematic and symbolic representation of objects of knowledge, the teacher develops imaginative thinking in students.
Feature abstract (verbal-logical) thinking is that it occurs based on a concept, a judgment, without using empirical data. R. Descartes expressed the following thought: “I think, therefore I exist.” With these words, the scientist emphasizes the leading role of thinking, and specifically verbal-logical thinking, in mental activity.
Visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking are considered as stages in the development of thinking in phylogenesis and ontogenesis.
Theoretical thinking consists of knowing the laws and rules. It reflects what is essential in phenomena, objects, and connections between them at the level of patterns and trends. The products of theoretical thinking are, for example, the discovery of Mendeleev’s Periodic Table and mathematical (philosophical) laws. B. M. Teplov wrote about people of a theoretical type of thinking, which they carry out excellent “intellectual economy” by “reducing facts to laws, and laws to theories.”
Theoretical thinking is sometimes compared with empirical thinking. They differ in the nature of their generalizations. Thus, in theoretical thinking, there is a generalization of abstract concepts, and in empirical thinking, there is a generalization of sensory data, identified through comparison.
The main task practical thinking is a physical transformation of reality. It can sometimes be more difficult than the theoretical one, because it often unfolds under extreme circumstances and in the absence of conditions for testing the hypothesis.
Some scientists, based on three characteristics - the time of the process, structure (a clear division into stages) and the level of flow (awareness or ignorance) - distinguish intuitive and analytical thinking.
Analytical thinking- this type of thinking, unfolded in time, has clearly defined stages, sufficiently conscious of the subject.
Intuitive Thinking, on the contrary, is collapsed in time, there is no division into stages, it was presented in consciousness.
In psychology there is also a distinction realistic thinking, directed towards the outside world and regulated by logical laws, as well as autistic thinking associated with the realization of one’s own desires and intentions. Preschool children tend to self-centered thinking, its characteristic feature is the inability to put oneself in the position of others.
3. I. Kalmykova highlights productive (creative) and reproductive thinking according to the degree of novelty of the product that the subject of knowledge receives. The researcher believes that thinking as a process of generalized and indirect cognition of reality is always productive, i.e. aimed at obtaining new knowledge. However, in it, productive and reproductive components are intertwined in dialectical unity.
Reproductive thinking is a type of thinking that provides a solution to a problem, relying on the reproduction of methods already known to man. The new task is correlated with an already known solution scheme. Despite this, reproductive thinking always requires the identification of a certain level of independence.
Productive thinking fully reveals a person’s intellectual abilities and creative potential. Creative possibilities are expressed in the rapid pace of assimilation of knowledge, in the breadth of their transfer to new conditions, in independent operation of them.
Domestic and foreign psychologists (G. S. Kostyuk, J. Guilford) came to the conclusion that creative thinking is a set of those features of the psyche that provide productive transformations in the activities of the individual.
Creative thinking is dominated by four features, in particular the originality of problem solving, semantic flexibility, which allows you to see an object from a new angle, figurative adaptive flexibility, which makes it possible to change the object with the development of the need for its cognition, semantically spontaneous flexibility in producing various ideas regarding uncertain situations .
Every person, regardless of ethnicity, has a creative side. Thus, analyzing the origins of the national character of Ukrainians, M. I. Piren notes that Ukrainian emotionality, sensitivity, lyricism, which are manifested in songs, folk rituals, humor, and customs, are the basis of creativity. The positive aspects of Ukrainian emotionality were embodied in the spiritual creativity of the best representatives of the nation: G. Skovoroda, N. Gogol, P. Yurkevich, P. Kulish, T. Shevchenko.
Thinking- Higher cognitive and regulatory process. It is a form of a person’s creative reflection of reality, generating a result that does not exist in reality itself or the subject at a given moment in time. Human thinking (in its lower forms it is found in animals) can also be understood as a creative transformation of ideas and images existing in memory.
From the physiological side the thinking process is a complex analytical and synthetic activity of the cerebral cortex. The entire cortex takes part in the implementation of thinking processes. For the thinking process, those that matter most are complex temporary connections that form between the brain ends of the analyzers. The previously existing idea about the exact boundaries of the central sections of the analyzers in the cerebral cortex is refuted by the latest achievements of physiological science: “The limits of the analyzers are much greater, and they are not so sharply demarcated from each other, but overlap each other, interlock with each other” (I.P. Pavlov).This “special design” of the cortex facilitates the establishment of connections in the activities of a wide variety of analyzers. “The cerebral cortex must be considered as a grandiose mosaic of countless nerve points with a specific physiological role for each of them. At the same time, the cortex is a highly complex dynamic system, constantly striving for unification, to establish a single, common connection” (I.P. Pavlov). Since the activity of individual areas of the cortex is always determined by external stimuli, the nerve connections formed during the simultaneous stimulation of these areas of the cortex reflect the actual connections in things. These connections, naturally caused by external stimuli, constitute the physiological basis of the thinking process. “Thinking,” said I.P. Pavlov, “...represents nothing else but associations, first elementary, standing in connection with external objects, and then chains of associations. This means that every small, first association is the moment of the birth of a thought.” At first, these associations are of a generalized nature, reflecting real connections in their most general and undifferentiated form, and sometimes even incorrectly, based on random, insignificant characteristics. Only in the process of repeated stimulation does differentiation of temporary connections occur, they are refined, consolidated and become the physiological basis of more or less accurate and correct knowledge about the external world. These associations arise primarily under the influence of primary signal stimuli, causing corresponding sensations, perceptions and ideas about the surrounding external environment. Real interactions and interconnections of these stimuli determine the emergence of corresponding temporary neural connections of the first signaling system. Participate in the implementation of the thinking process neural processes in the speech centers of the cortex . Thinking is based not only on primary signal connections. It necessarily presupposes the activity of the second signaling system in its inextricable connection with the first signaling system. The irritants here are no longer specific objects of the surrounding world and their properties, but words. Speech, being directly related to thinking, makes it possible to reflect in words the interrelation and interdependence of phenomena, because words are not just substitutes, signals of objects, but generalized stimuli. The second signaling system is specifically human. It arises in a person in connection with his work activity and the resulting need to communicate with other people, but it nevertheless arises on the basis of the first signaling system and is in organic connection with it. In this interaction, the main role belongs to the second signaling system. Due to the generalized nature of secondary signal stimuli - words that make it possible to reflect objective connections in their general form, the second signaling system acquires leading importance in complex nervous processes, subordinating the activity of the first signaling system. The interaction of the first and second signaling systems in the processes of thinking consists in the fact that the second signaling system in this unity occupies a dominant position and directs the processes of the first signaling system. The word transforms the first-signal nerve connections into generalized images of reality, which allows a person, in the processes of thinking, to break away from the specific features of perceived phenomena and think of existing connections in their generalized form, in the form of concepts, and not in the form of perceptions and ideas.
Types and forms of thinking. Our knowledge of the surrounding reality begins with sensations and perception and moves on to thinking. The function of thinking is to expand the boundaries of knowledge by going beyond the limits of sensory perception. The task of thinking is to reveal relationships between objects, identify connections and separate them from random coincidences. Thinking operates with concepts and assumes the functions of generalization and planning. Thinking is the most generalized and indirect form of mental reflection, establishing connections and relationships between cognizable objects. These different levels of thinking are visual thinking in its elementary forms and abstract, theoretical thinking. With visual-figurative thinking, the transformation of the visual conditions of mental actions consists primarily in the translation of their perceptual content into the “language” of semantic features, into the language of meaning. Imaginative thinking is a form of a person’s creative reflection of reality, generating a result that does not exist in reality itself or in the subject at a given moment in time. Theoretical conceptual thinking is such thinking, using which a person, in the process of solving a problem, does not directly turn to the experimental study of reality, does not obtain the empirical facts necessary for thinking, and does not take practical actions aimed at actually transforming reality. Mental operations. Analysis is a mental operation of dividing a complex object into its constituent parts. Analysis - This is the selection of certain aspects, elements, properties, connections, relationships, etc. in an object. Synthesis is a mental operation that allows one to move from parts to the whole in a single analytical-synthetic process of thinking. Generalization- this is a mental operation consisting of combining many objects or phenomena according to some common characteristic. Abstraction- a mental operation based on abstracting from unimportant signs of objects, phenomena and highlighting the main, main thing in them. Abstraction- an abstract concept formed as a result of mental abstraction from unimportant aspects, properties of objects and relationships between them in order to identify essential features. Isolation (abstraction) of general properties of different levels allows a person to establish generic relations in a certain variety of objects and phenomena, systematize them and thereby build a certain classification Categorization– the operation of assigning a single object, event, experience to a certain class, which can be verbal and non-verbal meanings, symbols, etc. – systematization of subordinate concepts of any field of knowledge or human activity, used to establish connections between these concepts or classes of objects. Specification- this is the movement of thought from the general to the specific. One of the tasks of theoretical thinking is to determine a way to derive particular manifestations of a system object from its general (essential) basis, from a certain initial relationship in the system.
Correlation between thinking and speech. Many modern scientists adhere to a compromise point of view, believing that although thinking and speech are inextricably linked, they represent relatively independent realities both in genesis and functioning. The main question that is now being discussed in connection with this problem is the question of the nature of the real connection between thinking and speech, their genetic roots and the transformations that they undergo in the process of their separate and joint development. L.S. Vygotsky made a significant contribution to solving this problem. The word, he wrote, relates to speech as well as to thinking. It is a living cell that contains, in its simplest form, the basic properties inherent in verbal thinking as a whole. A word is not a label pasted as an individual name on a separate object. It always characterizes the object or phenomenon it denotes in a generalized way and, therefore, acts as an act of thinking. But the word is also a means of communication, therefore it is part of speech. Being devoid of meaning, the word no longer refers to either thought or speech; Having acquired its meaning, it immediately becomes an organic part of both. It is in the meaning of the word, says L.S. Vygotsky, that the knot of that unity, which is called speech thinking, is tied. However, thinking and speech have different genetic roots. Initially they performed different functions and developed separately. The original function of speech was the communicative function. Speech itself as a means of communication arose due to the need to separate and coordinate the actions of people in the process of joint work. At the same time, in verbal communication, the content conveyed by speech belongs to a certain class of phenomena and, therefore, already presupposes their generalized reflection, i.e. fact of thinking. At the same time, such, for example, a method of communication as a pointing gesture does not carry any generalization in itself and therefore does not relate to thought. In turn, there are types of thinking that are not associated with speech, for example, visual-effective, or practical, thinking in animals. In small children and in higher animals, unique means of communication are found that are not associated with thinking. These are expressive movements, gestures, facial expressions that reflect the internal states of a living being, but are not a sign or a generalization. In the phylogenesis of thinking and speech, a pre-speech phase in the development of intelligence and a pre-intellectual phase in the development of speech clearly emerges. L.S. Vygotsky believed that at the age of approximately 2 years, i.e. in the one that J. Piaget designated as the beginning of the stage of pre-operational thinking following sensorimotor intelligence, a critical turning point occurs in the relationship between thinking and speech: speech begins to become intellectualized, and thinking - speech. Signs of the onset of this turning point in the development of both functions are rapid and the child’s active expansion of his vocabulary (he often begins to ask adults the question: what is this called?) and an equally rapid, spasmodic increase in his communicative vocabulary. The child, as it were, discovers for the first time the symbolic function of speech and discovers an understanding that behind the word as a means of communication there actually lies a generalization, and uses it both for communication and for solving problems. He begins to call different objects with the same word, and this is direct evidence that the child is mastering concepts. When solving any intellectual problems, he begins to reason out loud, and this, in turn, is a sign that he is using speech as a means of thinking, and not just communication. The meaning of the word as such becomes practically accessible to the child.
Thinking- this is a socially conditioned, inextricably linked with speech, mental process of searching and discovering something essentially new, a process of mediated and generalized reflection of reality in the course of its analysis and synthesis. Thinking arises on the basis of practical activity from sensory knowledge and goes far beyond its limits.
Physiological basis of thinking are temporary nerve connections (conditioned reflexes) that are formed in the cerebral cortex. These conditioned reflexes arise under the influence of second signals (words, thoughts), reflecting reality, but they necessarily arise on the basis of the first signal system (sensations, perceptions, ideas).
In psychology, a common classification of types of thinking is: 1) visual-effective, 2) visual-figurative and 3) abstract (theoretical) thinking.
Visual-effective thinking . In the course of historical development, people solved the problems facing them first in terms of practical activity, only then did theoretical activity emerge from it. For example, at first our distant ancestor learned to measure plots of land practically (in steps, etc.), and only then, based on the knowledge accumulated in the course of this practical activity, geometry gradually emerged and developed as a special theoretical science.
Visual-figurative thinking. In its simplest form, visual-figurative thinking occurs mainly in preschool children, i.e., at the age of four to seven years. Although the connection between thinking and practical actions is preserved, it is not as close, direct and immediate as before. During the analysis and synthesis of a cognizable object, a child does not necessarily and does not always have to touch the object that interests him with his hands. In many cases, systematic practical manipulation (action) with an object is not required, but in all cases it is necessary to clearly perceive and visually represent this object.
Abstract thinking. On the basis of practical and visual-sensory experience, children of school age develop - first in the simplest forms - abstract thinking, that is, thinking in the form of abstract concepts.
Verbal-logical thinking - one of the types of thinking, characterized by the use of concepts and logical structures. Verbal-logical thinking functions on the basis of linguistic means and represents the latest stage in the historical and ontogenetic development of thinking. In the structure of verbal-logical thinking, various types of generalizations are formed and function.
From the physiological side, the thinking process is a complex analytical and synthetic activity of the cerebral cortex. The entire cortex takes part in the implementation of thinking processes.
For the thinking process, what matters most are those complex temporary connections that form between the brain ends of the analyzers.
The previously existing idea about the exact boundaries of the central sections of the analyzers in the cerebral cortex is refuted by the latest achievements of physiological science: “The limits of the analyzers are much greater, and they are not so sharply demarcated from each other, but overlap each other, interlock with each other” (I.P. Pavlov).This “special design” of the cortex facilitates the establishment of connections in the activities of a wide variety of analyzers. “The cerebral cortex must be considered as a grandiose mosaic of countless nerve points with a specific physiological role for each of them. At the same time, the cortex is a highly complex dynamic system, constantly striving for unification, to establish a single, common connection” (I. P. Pavlov).
Since the activity of individual areas of the cortex is always determined by external stimuli, the nerve connections formed during the simultaneous stimulation of these areas of the cortex reflect the actual connections in things. These connections, naturally caused by external stimuli, constitute the physiological basis of the thinking process. “Thinking,” said I.P. Pavlov, “...represents nothing else but associations, first elementary, standing in connection with external objects, and then chains of associations. This means that every small, first association is the moment of the birth of a thought.”
At first, these associations are of a generalized nature, reflecting real connections in their most general and undifferentiated form, and sometimes even incorrectly, based on random, insignificant characteristics. Only in the process of repeated stimulation does differentiation of temporary connections occur, they are refined, consolidated and become the physiological basis of more or less accurate and correct knowledge about the external world.
These associations arise primarily under the influence of primary signal stimuli, causing corresponding sensations, perceptions and ideas about the surrounding external environment. Real interactions and interconnections of these stimuli determine the emergence of corresponding temporary neural connections of the first signaling system.
Participate in the implementation of the thinking process neural processes in the speech centers of the cortex . Thinking is based not only on primary signal connections. It necessarily presupposes the activity of the second signaling system in its inextricable connection with the first signaling system. The irritants here are no longer specific objects of the surrounding world and their properties, but words. Speech, being directly related to thinking, makes it possible to reflect in words the interrelation and interdependence of phenomena, because words are not just substitutes, signals of objects, but generalized stimuli.
The second signaling system is specifically human. It arises in a person in connection with his work activity and the resulting need to communicate with other people, but it nevertheless arises on the basis of the first signaling system and is in organic connection with it. In this interaction, the main role belongs to the second signaling system.
Due to the generalized nature of secondary signal stimuli - words that make it possible to reflect objective connections in their general form, the second signaling system acquires leading importance in complex nervous processes, subordinating the activity of the first signaling system. The interaction of the first and second signaling systems in the processes of thinking consists in the fact that the second signaling system in this unity occupies a dominant position and directs the processes of the first signaling system.
The word transforms the first-signal nerve connections into generalized images of reality, which allows a person, in the processes of thinking, to break away from the specific features of perceived phenomena and think of existing connections in their generalized form, in the form of concepts, and not in the form of perceptions and ideas.
Thinking- the process of cognitive activity, a generalized and indirect reflection of reality (the external world and internal experiences).
Human mental activity is inextricably linked with the II signaling system. At the heart of thinking, two processes are distinguished: the transformation of thought into speech (written or oral) and the extraction of thought and content from a certain verbal form of communication. Thought is a form of the most complex generalized abstract reflection of reality, conditioned by certain motives, a specific process of integration of certain ideas and concepts in specific conditions of social development. Therefore, thought as an element of higher nervous activity is the result of the socio-historical development of the individual with the linguistic form of information processing coming to the fore.
Human creative thinking is associated with the formation of ever new concepts. A word as a signal of signals denotes a dynamic complex of specific stimuli, generalized in a concept expressed by a given word and having a broad context with other words, other concepts. Throughout life, a person continuously replenishes the content of the concepts he develops by expanding the contextual connections of the words and phrases he uses. Any learning process, as a rule, is associated with expanding the meaning of old and the formation of new concepts.
Basic forms of thinking :
- concrete-figurative(sensations, perceptions, ideas) - the first stage of development of thinking in a child;
- abstract(verbal-logical) - manifests itself in the form of concepts, judgments, conclusions and is a later stage of development. There are two forms of using concepts in judgments and inferences: induction(from particular to general - the left hemisphere first analyzes information, and then the right hemisphere synthesizes); deduction(from general to specific - carried out in the right hemisphere).
The role of different brain structures Vproviding thinking :
- the generation of stimulus-independent (spontaneous) thoughts is associated with activation of the anterior zones of the frontal cortex; this department is also involved in volitional control when performing a task;
- the frontal and temporal cortex are involved in recognition and decision making;
- the search for a strategy for solving a problem is performed by the parieto-occipital regions of the cortex;
- establishing the correspondence of the decision made to the chosen strategy is performed by the frontal, temporal and limbic parts of the brain, with the leading role of the frontal cortex.
Functional asymmetry of the hemispheres in the process of thinking :
- right hemisphere(especially the parietal-temporal cortex) provides concrete-figurative thinking (signal system I), better solution of visual-spatial problems, instantaneous holistic processing of information, intuitive thinking;
- left hemisphere(especially the frontal cortex) provides abstract thinking (signal system II), better ability to estimate time, analytical, step-by-step processing of information, awareness of information (“cognitive” mediators - dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA - predominate in the left hemisphere).
The interaction of the hemispheres when solving different problems can be carried out in the form of antagonism, synergy, and sequential processing of information.
Forms of thinking disorders. There are three main types of thinking disorders:
- disturbances in thinking operations. These violations can be reduced to two extreme options, taking as a basis a person’s ability to generalize: a decrease in the level of generalization and a distortion of generalization processes. A decrease in the level of generalization in various diseases accompanied by a decrease in intellectual activity (mental retardation, encephalitis, atherosclerosis, etc.) is characterized by the fact that patients find it difficult to determine the essential features of objects and phenomena, their abstraction processes are disrupted. Distortion of the generalization process is most characteristic of schizophrenia. At the same time, patients are often guided by signs and associations that are inadequate to the real relationships between objects and phenomena. The purposefulness of thinking may be grossly disrupted;
- disturbances in the dynamics of thinking. In the most general form, they can be divided into two types: changes in the speed of thinking and inertia of thinking. The speed of thinking in pathology can accelerate or slow down. In psychiatric practice there are:
- - spasmodic thinking, characterized, along with the acceleration of the pace of thought processes, by the instability of goals. It is observed during the manic phase of manic-depressive psychosis (“jumping ideas”) and in some organic diseases of the brain;
- - accelerated thinking is characterized by a fast, accelerated flow of associations, superficiality of judgment, and increased distractibility to random environmental stimuli. Occurs in manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, organic diseases of the brain;
- - slow thinking, which, along with a slower pace, is characterized by a decrease in the number of ideas and ideas. It is often difficult for the patient to complete his reasoning. Slowness of thinking is usually combined with slowness of speech, motor skills, and affective reactions. Characteristic of depressive states of any origin. Can be observed in schizophrenia, parkinsonism.
Inertia of thinking is characterized by insufficient mobility of mental processes. Inert thinking includes:
- - viscous thinking - a tendency to excessive detail, inability to highlight the main thing, stiffness, torpidity. Viscous thinking is most typical of epileptic dementia;
- - perseverative thinking - a tendency to “get stuck” in the patient’s mind of thoughts, images, phrases, words, etc. regardless of the changing situation. The goals of mental activity are also weakened. Observed in severe organic pathology of the brain (atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, etc.);
- - thinking with stereotypes - repetition of the same acts of mental activity that are not related to the solution of any problem (the “gramophone record” symptom). Occurs in schizophrenia, organic brain damage;
- violations of forms of thinking. These types of pathology of thinking are the most diverse. These include:
- - ambivalent thinking - simultaneous coexistence in the mind of contradictory, mutually exclusive thoughts;
- - paralogical thinking - the unification of contradictory ideas and images, the substitution of some concepts for others. The speech of patients may be inaccessible to the understanding of others, since, with outwardly correct construction, it is devoid of semantic meaning;
- - autistic thinking - the patient’s judgments are determined by the world of his internal experiences and are divorced from reality;
- - broken thinking - an incorrect, unusual, paradoxical combination of ideas. The patient’s thoughts flow as if at random (“verbal okroshka”);
- - resonant thinking - empty, sterile, verbose and banal judgments.
The listed pathologies of thinking are characteristic of schizophrenia, although they can also be observed in other mental illnesses and organic diseases of the brain.
Forms of thinking disorders can be identified using various, fairly informative methods.
