Chapter V the diagnostics of psychic processes

§1. The diagnostics of sensations and sensitivity

5.1.1. General description

Sensation is a psychic reflection of different objects of reality and their qualities that appears when these objects make influence on our receptors. Sensation is the most elementary cognitive psychic process, with the help of this process a man starts to get the knowledge about the world surrounding him. Being the initial source of all our knowledge and representations, sensations provide other, more composite psychic processes – perception, memory, thinking – with material.

Depending on the character of irritators influencing this or that analyzer and, consequently, on the character of sensations originating from this, sensations are classified into visual, acoustical, gustatory, olfactory, tactile, motive, organic, sensations of equilibrium, pain and vibration sensations.

All the sensations have sensitivity, which is a common ability to feel. The classification of different kinds of sensitivity is the same as that of sensations. Sensitivity depends on the thresholds of sensations, which are divided into absolute and relative.

A minimum quantity of irritator that causes the first, hardly noticeable sensations is called an absolute threshold of sensation. Those irritators that cannot reach this quantity lay below the threshold of sensation; i.e. people cannot feel them. However one and the same irritator can be below the threshold of sensations for one person and it can be higher than the threshold of sensations for another person. This happens because of the individual differences in absolute sensitivity, which is understood as an ability to catch (to feel) slight irritators. The weaker the irritator that a person can feel is the higher sensitivity he has. In other words, the lower the absolute threshold of sensation is the higher absolute sensitivity is and vice versa.

In this connection the diagnostics of absolute sensitivity requires the diagnostics of absolute threshold of sensations.

Another important characteristic of sensation is an ability to distinguish changes in the force of irritator. That is why the sensations are characterized by the so-called threshold of distinguishing or relative (differential) threshold. It represents the relative value indicating how much the force of irritator should increase, so that a person could feel a minimal change of sensation. The ability to feel minimal changes in the force of irritator is called a relative sensitivity. Its diagnostics presupposes the diagnostics of relative threshold of sensations.

So, the diagnostics of sensations presupposes the diagnostics of absolute and relative (differential) thresholds of sensations.

The diagnostics of absolute and relative sensitivity in all the analyzers of a man is a difficult, long and expensive process and that is why a practical psychologist cannot afford doing it. Therefore there raises a problem of choosing the most appropriate analyzer for the diagnostics of sensitivity. When solving this problem we have taken into account the results of B.G.Ananyev’s research (1980). Considering a person’s sensor-perceptive organization as a uniform system of analyzers of all modalities without exception, he singled out visual, kinesthetic and gravitational clusters as common clusters, in which the streams of various about the external and internal environment converge (see page 184). Since the diagnostics of gravitational sensations in field conditions is not available yet, we have chosen visual and motive sensations. The legitimacy of such approach is also proved by B.G.Ananyev’s statements that visual analyzer is the leading and central analyzer in a person’s sensor organization and that sensor-motor pressure is the main component of psycho-physic pressure (1980, page 182).

Due to the above-mentioned items the diagnostics of absolute and relative thresholds of sensations on the device “Activationmeter ATS-6” is fulfilled through motive and visual sensations.

Alongside with the sensitivity of separate analyzers there exist some more integral (synthetic) kinds of sensitivity. The most important of them are somatic and emotional sensitivity being the sensitivity of integral irritators.

In the context of system diagnostics it is reasonable to diagnose these kinds of sensitivity to integral irritators as well, you should not limit yourself by diagnosing only the sensitivity of separate analyzers. The legitimacy of such approach is confirmed by B.G.Ananyev’s theoretical issues (1980) considering the brain to be a giant analyzer of external and internal environment of the organism and also considering the multitude of analyzers as a person’s general sensor organization.

5.1.2. The diagnostics of absolute threshold

of sensations in motive analyzer

The diagnostics of absolute threshold of sensations in motive analyzer on the device ATS-6 is made with the help of cinematometric technique of E.P.Ilyin (1981) for measuring the accuracy of movement reproduction.