Dominant (physiology)

The concept was introduced by the Russian physiologist Aleksei Alekseevich Ukhtomsky , who developed the doctrine of the dominant since 1911 , based on the works of N. E. Vvedensky and other physiologists; the first observations pointing to the idea of ​​a dominant were made several years before.

The very first observation that formed the basis of the concept of dominant was made by Ukhtomsky in 1904 :

It consisted in the fact that on the dog, in preparation for defecation , the electric stimulation of the cerebral cortex does not produce the usual reactions in the limbs, but enhances the excitement in the defecation apparatus and facilitates the onset of a resolution act in it. But as soon as the bowel movement is completed, electrical irritation of the cortex begins to cause the usual movements of the limbs.

- Ukhtomsky A. A. Dominant and integral image. - 1924.

However, Ukhtomsky did not publish information about the dominant for more than a decade, until 1922 , when he made a report on the dominant. In 1923 he published the work "Dominant as the 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 by Richard Avenarius “Critique of Pure Experience” ^[1] .

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

One of the striking examples of the dominant can be called the dominant sexual arousal in a cat isolated from males during estrus ^[2] . Various irritants (a call to a bowl of food, the knock of plates on the table) do not cause meowing and lively begging for food, but only an increase in the symptom complex of estrus. The introduction of even large doses of bromide preparations is unable to erase this sexual dominant in the centers.

The dominant, according to Ukhtomsky, is a complex of certain symptoms throughout the body - and 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 floors of the brain and spinal cord, as well as in the autonomous system” ^[3] .

The role of the nerve center can change significantly: from the exciting one to become inhibitory for the same devices, depending on the state that the nervous center is currently experiencing. In various situations, the nerve center may acquire different meanings in the physiology of the body . "The newly coming excitation waves 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 common property of the entire central nervous system . He saw the difference between “higher” and “lower” dominants. The “lower” dominants are physiological in nature, the “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 scholars have shown that the dominant plays the role of the general working principle of the nerve centers.

For Ukhtomsky dominant was what determines the direction of human perception . The dominant served as the very factor that integrates feelings into the whole picture (here you can draw a parallel 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, to master oneself and others, to direct the behavior and intimate life of people in a certain direction, one must master the physiological dominants in themselves and those around them.

- Ukhtomsky A. A. Dominant and integral image. - 1924.

• increased irritability ;
• ability to summarize ;
• excitation is characterized by high persistence ( inertness );
• ability to disinhibition.

• Ukhtomsky, Alexey Alekseevich
• Nerve center
• Emotional and semantic dominant

• Zueva E. Yu., Efimov G. B. The principle of Ukhtomsky’s dominant as an approach to the description of the living : [ Russian ] // Preprints of IPM named after M.V. Keldysh. - 2010. - No. 14. - P. 32.
• Ukhtomsky A.A. Dominant. Articles of different years. 1887-1939. - SPb. : Peter, 2002 .-- 448 p. - ISBN 5-318-00067-3 .

• “Dominant and scalpel” - a small article about Ukhtomsky (inaccessible link from 13-05-2013 [2265 days] - history )
• Article by V. E. Khalizev about Ukhtomsky in the encyclopedia of 20th century cultural science
• Hayrapetyants E. Sh. The mobile nervous system and change of dominants according to E. Sh. Hayrapetyants 1965