• Feel bad?

  Check your symptoms

• Feel the pain?

  Find out more

Symptoms of disease - violation of cognitive processes

Cognitive processes are dynamic phenomena of the psyche, aimed at cognition of the world (and myself).

Scientists and psychologists are allocated five basic cognitive processes of the human psyche: feeling, perception, thinking, imagination and memory.

Some scientists, for example, Nemov KORYTNIUK adds to the above-mentioned attention and speech. But as our aim is the study of cognitive processes, aimed at forming a picture of the world of man, we shall stop only on five key.

Feelings are the Foundation of all psychic phenomena. They represent a perceived or unconscious product of processing of the Central nervous system stimulation, resulting in the internal or external environment. The ability to feel is available in all living beings, with the nervous system.

External phenomena, acting upon our senses, causing the subjective effect in the form of sensations without any counter of activity in relation to the perceived impact. The ability to sense given to us and all living beings, with the nervous system, with the birth. The ability to also perceive the world in the form of images are endowed with only the man and the higher animals.

Thinking of a person is active cognitive activity and the internal process of planning and regulation of foreign activities. The question of how we «see», imagine and understand the world around us and ourselves in it and how to use this knowledge to control their behavior. Thinking is the highest educational process.

Imagination is a special form of the human psyche, standing separately from the rest of the mental processes and at the same time which occupies an intermediate position between the perception, thinking and memory. The peculiarity of this form of mental process consists in the fact, that the imagination is characteristic only for the person.

Without the ability to remember a man could not survive. Memory is divided into immediate, short-term, operational, long-term and genetic memory, in addition, there are physical, visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, emotional and other types of memory.

Allocate disorders common feelings in the form of increased or decreased in intensity or the sensual tone of perception, while maintaining correct on the merits.

I. Violation of sensations.

Perception, weakened by the force, called hypoesthesia. The increased perception - hyperesthesia. Down the sensual tone is called hypotension, high - hypertension.

Hyperpathie and hypopathie may be observed in General fatigue, depressive States. Hyperpathie and hypopathie are observed in the fatigue, the use of some stimulants.

Qualitative violation of sensations - paresthesia. This unpleasant multidimensional sense (pain, tingling, burning, throbbing, arising on the surface of a body in accordance with the zones of innervation, but without irritation from the outside.

Senestopathie - feeling without a real irritation arising in different parts of the body, but also in internal organs and cavities with migrant localization.

Agnosia (no recognition) - the inability to learn and explain the meaning of sensory. This disorder is observed in some organic lesions of the Central nervous system and the hysterical disorders.

II. Violations of perception.

Violations of the perception of the environment and his own personality disorders are called touch synthesis. Allocate elementary and complex disorder. Elementary disorders manifest violation of the recognition of separate parts of the subject or his own body. To them concerns the violation of the sensations of the scheme of his own body, its individual parts and is called psychosensory disorder. The patient may perceive their body reduced, enlarged, extremely light or heavy, change the feeling of the separate parts of the body (increased hands, nose was disproportionately high, etc.). Such disorders can be observed in various organic lesions of the brain. The most typical of encephalitis, epilepsy, tumors parieto-occipital departments of the right hemisphere and the intermediate brain.

Complex disorders are manifested violation of the recognition of the distinctive (individual) properties of the environment and his own personality. They include derealization and depersonalization.

Derealization - distorted perception of the surrounding world. May appear subjective feeling of alienation of the external world. Setting appears to have lost their colour and life and it seems distant, artificial or stage on which people act out invented role.

To derealization syndrome include violations of the perception of the size of the objects: micropsia (object is perceived reduced in size), macropsia (extended), lighting, colors, etc. May change the perception of the distance to the objects of the change of configuration and parts of the perceived objects.

Kind of derealization is the symptom of «already seen» (deja vu) and «never seen before» (jamais vu).

The symptom of «already seen» or «have already experienced» lies in the fact that the sick man, caught in the unfamiliar surroundings, suddenly feels confident that surrounds he had seen before, he is familiar with the surrounding objects, he knows the sequence of events that will be happening.

The opposite perception is observed when the symptom «never seen before». The sick man starts perceiving the familiar and the familiar atmosphere, as unknown to him.

Depersonalization - violation of the perception of one's own personality, the patient feels himself to the other person, appreciates the change in emotions, attitude, attitude to a close. This condition is violated self-perception, in which the self-awareness can be increased, but the self or part of it (including the feeling of the body) seems to be unreal, distanced or artificial. Such perception changes take place in the presence of the normal senses. Experiences are reduced to a sense of self unreal, distant, veiled, as if playing a role. Instead of spontaneity and naturalness of the individual feels the shadow of a real person («as if» feels). Understanding the unnatural nature of this phenomenon is usually saved.

Depersonalization can occur as an isolated phenomenon in the normal in all respects other people in a state of severe fatigue, hunger or strong emotional reactions (e.g., rape, adultery, humiliation).
Qualitative, perceptual illusions and hallucinations.

Illusion: a flawed perception of a real object or phenomenon. Allocate physical, physiological and mental illusion.

In case of physical illusions distorted perception is a consequence of the physical features of the environment or of the environments in which is the perceived object. For example, diamond, released in with a glass of water is not visible, since the refractive index of a diamond and the water is the same. The sound perceived by the water, the more loud and amended in tone.

Physiological illusions connected with the conditions of the analyzers. For example, when a high speed of approach to the subject, it seems a larger, «swellable» in size. With the damage the skin, the slightest touch of perceived pain.

Mental (more affective) illusions associated with altered States of the psyche, mainly with the change of emotional state (fear, tension, sleep).

Pareidolische illusions connected with the activities of the imagination when you commit a look at things, having indistinct configuration. For example, in a repeating figure carpet patient sees the fearful fantastic pictures.

Mental, including pareidolische illusion, there may be a mentally healthy people, especially in the conditions of unusual emotional States. However, these same perception disorder are observed and in some psychiatric disorders. So pareidolische illusions arise in a state of severe withdrawal symptoms, pointing out the possibility of development of alcoholic delirium. They are particularly common in children with toxico-infectious psychosis.

Hallucinations - the rise in the minds of the sensory image, with all the criteria for reality and perceived man as the image of the real, in the absence of the object of perception. This is a sensor perception of any modality, which arises in the absence of the (external) of the stimulus. In addition to touch the modality in which they arise (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) hallucinations can be grouped according to their intensity, complexity and clarity of perception and subjective degree of their projection into the environment.

Hallucinatory voices, giving commands or commenting on the behavior of the individual, or other voices, coming from any part of the body, have a place in schizophrenia, as well as other psychotic conditions, such as psychotic depression.

Hallucinations occur due to the excitement of sensual departments of a bark of a brain. This process is a result of the impact of morbid agents (e.g., toxic, including auto toxic action) to functionally changed as a result of disease (usually in ultraparadoxical phase) cells of the Central nervous system.
Hallucinations are divided into the primary interest of one or another of the analyzer. Allocate auditory, visual, tactile, gustatory, olfactory hallucinations.

On the complexity degree of the hallucinations are divided into elementary - imaginary perception of individual sounds, noise, knocking (acousma) or flashes of light (photopsias). Simple hallucination of those, which can be localized within a single analyzer (only the olfactory or only hearing AIDS, etc.). Complex (complex, complex) - it's a hallucination at the same time resulting in two or more analyzers.

There are also hypnagogic (resulting in a state of transition from wakefulness to sleep) hallucinations and hypnopompic (emerging in the awakening).

Functional hallucinations - the occurrence of the images on the background of the action of an external stimulus, which, not perceived in an illusory sense, creates the conditions for the manifestation of hallucinations. For example, in the noise of the rain the patient begins to hear the voices of the people. The difference functional hallucinations from illusions, that they do not merge with external stimuli and not even distort it, and are perceived at the same time with him.

III. Violation of thinking.

1. The acceleration of thinking («racing thoughts»).
Suspended for a time unit is formed more associations than normal, and the suffering of their quality. Quickly successive images, views, opinions, conclusions extremely superficial. The abundance of the ease of new associations, spontaneously arising from any stimulus, is reflected in the speech of products, which may resemble the so-called gun-speech. From continuously speaking patients sometimes lose their voice, or if he becomes hoarse, whisper. In General, the acceleration of thinking is mandatory derivative manic syndrome of different Genesis (affective disorders, schizophrenia, drug abuse, etc.)

Leap ideas (fuga idearum).
This extraordinary acceleration of thinking: thought process and voice products continuously flowing and rides; they disconnected. However, if this speech recorded on a tape recorder and a scroll at a slow pace, you can specify in it a certain meaning, which never happens with true incoherence of thought. In the basis of racing ideas - high lability cortical processes.

Characteristic:
- Fast Association, high distractibility, expressive gestures and facial expressions.
- Not violated analysis, synthesis, and understanding of the situation.
- Little thinking about the answer.
- Easy to correct mistakes, if they specify.
- The Association of the chaotic, random, not decelerate.
- Accessible to a generalized sense of job, can do it at this level, if you will not be distracted.

2. The inertia of thinking.
Effects: nausea, poverty associations. The most pronounced slowdown of the associative process in an absolutely «empty head, in which thoughts do not appear». The questions of patients respond to a one-word answer and after a long pause (the latent period of the speech reactions increases in comparison with the norm in 7-10 times). The overall objective of the thinking process continues, but switching to the new target is extremely difficult. Such violation is usually typical for epilepsy («primary violation»), epileptoid psychosis, manic-depressive syndrome, but may occur at apathetic and asthenic conditions, as well as in light of degrees obscuration consciousness. Patients can change their way of work, change the course of judgments, switch to another type of activity. Characterized by slowness, stiffness, poor strong. Solution of the problem is available, if you are only one in a certain way. The inertia of the ties of the past experience leads to a decrease in the level of generalization.

3. The inconsistency of the judgment.
The unsustainable way of performing a task. The level of generalization is not reduced. Analysis, synthesis and assimilation of instructions secured. Understand portable meaning of Proverbs, metaphors. The adequacy of judgments unstable. Alternate between the right and wrong way to accomplish a task.

When unexpressed the extent of the disease such inconsistency judgments amenable to correction. It is often enough to attract attention, so that the patient recovered. Vibrations arise with any changes of the conditions of the order.

4. «Responsiveness».
In patients suffering from severe form of the disease. Instability of the manner of implementation of the tasks and related fluctuations mental achievements take a grotesque character.

5. Slippage.
Properly solving any task and adequately reasoned about any subject, the sick suddenly stray away from the right thought process on a false, inadequate Association, and then again able to continue to talk consistently, not repeating mistakes, but not correcting her. It is characteristic for rather preserved patients with schizophrenia. Sliding sudden, incidental. In the associative experiment often appear random Association and the Association for harmony (mountain-sea).

IV. Violation of the imagination.

In clinical practice, the doctor often have to meet with patients who psychopathological symptoms can be treated like to violations of the passive, and active imagination. But it is noted that all of these disorders are more common in persons with special mental warehouse, different features of infantilism and signs of excessive excitability of imagination with a tendency to inventions and fantasy. Back in 1905, these personality features described the French psychiatrist Ernest Dupree (1862-1921) as "Dupre's mythomania".

Pathological forms of passive imagination. In the psychiatric and somatic clinic assessment of the features of passive imagination is most often required in patients with various types of reduction of the level of wakefulness and conditions of obscurity consciousness, as well as with sleep disorders in connection with dreams.

1. Oneyroid - dreams like confusion, observed as a result of skull traumas, acute infectious disease with fever, intoxication or under some forms of acute schizophrenia. When the patient has sharply active processes of the imagination, and they created the images of "visualized" in the form of kaleidoscopic fantastic visions, reminiscent of pseudohallucinations.

2. Onirizm - patient ceases to feel the differences of the images of the imagination in dreams with reality. In this he saw in a dream may not be taken with due critical assessment of the morning. Sometimes at the same time and day in the patient arise bright dream images, there is only him close his eyes. Sometimes such visions are, and with open eyes -- dreaming on the type of sleep waking or sleeping with his eyes open. In the mentally healthy people, the latter may occur if the activity of the consciousness - in drowsy state or in a state of temporary insanity.

3. Hallucinations imagination - a variety of psychogenic hallucinations, the plot of which derives from the affective significant and long-term held in the imagination of ideas. Especially easily occurs in children with painful keen imagination.

4. Delirium of the imagination - is a variant of formation of delusion, which stems from a tendency to fantasy in persons with Dupre's mythomania. Arises is - as if by "intuition, inspiration and insight". Perception is not violated, the patient was fully oriented on the site and your own personality.

5. Dream epileptic seizures - dreaming with a predominance of red color, accompanying or guardians (equivalents) night epileptic seizure. They always stereotypical - with a vision of a threatening images in the form of monsters and chimeras and parts of his own body. In the daytime, such dreamlike status may be precursors (aura) fit with temporal lobe epilepsy, however, still dominated by the phenomenon of derealization, phenomena "already seen" and "never seen before", "violent" (not suppressed by force of will) fantastic views.

6. Pathological forms of active imagination. The main sign of disorders of the active imagination of a violation of criticality to its products and (or) their use. Most often in clinical practice doctors have to deal with the phenomenon of the abnormal falsity of a number of patients - fantastic pseudology (pseudologia phantastica). It is expressed in the fact that a person begins to believe sincerely in it created itself fantasies (fantastic ideas and images). This phenomenon has been described in 1891 Y. Delbriick as a "lie without the need with a conviction of the truth expressed lies".

In the modern sense of pseudologist is considered in two main ways.

- Fantasies psychotic, where the imaginary subjectively more stable accepted as truth (for example, when confabulation), and it may go into the whole story pseudology and even delusional fantasy. Such disorders are more prevalent in various organic diseases of the brain with gross violations of memory (progressive paralysis, syphilis of the brain, injuries), as well as epilepsy and schizophrenia.

- Fantasies nonpsychotic, where pseudology is a combination of the two types of imagination: "for themselves" ("flight" in a world of dreams from reality) and "other" (increase of its own attractiveness), i.e. have the properties of the mechanisms of psychological protection, and the properties of "manipulation mechanisms" of other people.

Nonpsychotic fantasies as a variety of pseudology especially frequent among persons with hysterical basically psychotic tendencies and "Dupre's mythomania". At that, such a man as anyone a liar, he knows that he is lying. However, this lie pathological - it differs from the usual order, what often happens is clearly impractical, and the patient understands all of its uselessness, but resist it needs to lie cannot. Pseudologists, in contrast to the usual hysterical psychotic personalities, more active and in striving to realize his fantastic building, so they often enter into conflict with the law. The falsity of the screens they have all the other personality traits.

Pathological tendency to fabrications and lies with child psychiatrists is usually regarded as a manifestation of partial infantilism. Such individuals do not have enough stability, maturity of the will and judgment. Affection they are weakened, because they love only themselves. Alien to them a sense of responsibility and duty. In parallel with the maturing of the personality of the psychopathic manifestations gradually subsiding. By the age of 40 years, such phenomena are observed seldom.

V. Violation of the memory.

A great deal of knowledge about the device and the work of the memory, which is now available, was obtained in studying the phenomena of its violation. Violations of memory - amnesia - can be caused by different reasons. In 1887, the Russian psychiatrist With. With. Korsakov in his publication «Of alcohol paralysis» for the first time described a picture of severe disorders of memory, resulting in strong alcoholic intoxication. Opening under the name of «Korsakoff's syndrome» is firmly included in the scientific literature. At the present time all violations of memory are divided into:

- Hypomnesia is the weakening of memory. Memory loss may occur with age or/and as a consequence of any of cerebral disease (atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels, epilepsy, etc.).
- Hypermnesia " anomalous aggravation of memory compared with normal levels, there is much less. People characterized by this feature, forget the events with great difficulty (Sheryshevsky)
- Paramnesia, which imply a false or distorted memories, and the shift of the present and the past, the real and the imaginary.

Highlight children's amnesia, loss of memory for events of early childhood. Apparently, this type of amnesia due to the immaturity of the hippocampal connections or by using other methods of coding of the «keys» to the memory at this age.

Which diseases there is violation of cognitive processes

Causes of the violation of cognitive processes

Cognitive processes may be violated by reflex under the influence of strong or unusual effects on exterior and interior receptors. Among the reasons, causing the violation of cognitive processes, an important place is occupied with social factors. Man has the second signal system. With the help of images, symbols and concepts in his mind, a model of the world around him. The second signal system is closely connected with the social life of man, is the result of the relationship of an individual with the social environment. The impact of this environment, which is carried out mainly by means of verbal alarm, on the human psyche, intelligence, emotional state, is enormous. Man is constantly assesses its position in the society, the degree of their freedom in it, the possibility to satisfy their needs, the attitude of other people to him, etc. All this, as well as labour intensive activities require a high emotional and mental stress.

Long-existing or often emerging conflict situations, which are connected both with the personality of the individual and the nature of its social environment and with the device of a society as a whole, with the conditions of work, life, can lead to excessive excitation of the emotional centers and violation of the higher nervous activity of the person, the development of neurotic States, mental illness and related various psychosomatic disorders. Particularly important in this respect the role of a word, suggestions (including self-suggestion), which significantly affect the course of physiological processes in the nervous system and which may have as pathogens, and beneficial therapeutic effect.

The violation of cognitive processes may be hereditary. This is expressed immaturity of some structures of the nervous system and metabolic abnormalities in different groups of neurons. Sometimes the defeat of the nervous system in hereditary diseases may have a secondary character. An example is phenylketonuria, in which the primary is a violation of metabolism of phenylalanine, and the nervous system are due to intoxication products disturbed metabolism of the amino acids.

Other causes of the violation of cognitive processes:

- Vascular system diseases (atherosclerosis).
- Change the biochemistry of the brain as a result of violation of local blood circulation or effects of toxic substances (e.g., carbon monoxide, alcohol intoxication).
- Traumatic brain injury (structural damage to the brain, and in the event of violations of physiological processes in the cerebral cortex).
- Schizophrenia.
- Organic psychoses.
- Degenerative diseases of the brain (dementia, atrophy, senile dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and pick's disease).
- Epilepsy.
- Inflammation is quite often the cause of cognitive processes. Inflammation of the peripheral nerve conductors is accompanied by violations of the sensitivity, motion, or functioning of the internal organs. Inflammation, resulting in the Central nervous system, most often localized in the brain membranes and leads to the violation of products and outflow of cerebrospinal fluid, increased intracranial pressure, a breach of cerebral circulation. Inflammation can capture and the substance of the brain (encephalitis).
- The tumor. Tumor irritant to one or another of the nerve-center, causing his agitation. As the growth of the tumor develops atrophy nerve cells and fibers, which leads to a cut-off of their functions. In addition, the increase in weight of the tumor is accompanied by increased vnutricerepnogo pressure, a decrease in blood supply of the brain and its ischemia.
- Stress, depression, severe strain.

Which doctor should I contact if there is a violation of cognitive processes

• Psychiatrist

Are you experiencing violation of cognitive processes? You want to know more detailed information, or you need an inspection? Please sign up on reception to the doctor! Doctors will examine you, examine the external signs and help to determine the disease the symptoms, they will consult you and provide the necessary assistance. You can also call the doctor on the house.

Do you feel disrupted cognitive processes? You should be very careful approach to your health in general. People pay not enough attention to the symptoms of the disease and don't realize that these diseases can be critically dangerous. There are many diseases that in the beginning didn't manifest in our body, but in the end it turns out, unfortunately, it have already been treated too late. Every disease has its own specific features typical symptoms - called symptoms of the disease. Definition of symptoms is the first step in the diagnosis of diseases in general. You just need a few times a year to be screened by a doctor, not only to prevent a terrible disease, but also to maintain a healthy spirit in a body and the organism in general.

Disorders by category

Disorders by alphabet

Map of the symptoms and the types of disorders is intended solely for educational purposes. We strongly recommend do NOT self-medicate; on all matters relating to the definition of the disease and ways of its treatment, contact your doctor. Md-tips is not responsible for the consequences of use information posted on the site.