The article analyzes the everyday life of Russian soldiers on the Russian–Chinese frontier in the second half of the 19th century in the context of the Dungan Uprising and the Ili Crisis. The study focuses on the everyday practices of military service, the psychological experience of the rank and file, and the forms of interaction between garrisons and the multiethnic population of Central Asia under conditions of uncertain sovereignty and cross-border instability. Drawing on a body of heterogeneous sources, the article reconstructs the multilayered structure of soldiers’ everyday life. Particular attention is paid to the psychological states of the border troops. It is shown that, in the absence of stable civil institutions, the soldiers performed a wide range of functions that extended beyond purely military service. Their everyday presence in garrisons, camps, and border posts shaped a special form of the “soft presence” of the Russian Empire, which ensured relative stability and order without the formal annexation of the territory. The article contributes to the study of military history through the prism of the history of everyday life, historical anthropology, and border studies, demonstrating that imperial influence on the periphery was in many respects sustained not only by strategic decisions but also by the routine practices of service, adaptation, and survival in a complex geographical and socio-cultural environment.
This study examines the interactions between Russian Imperial consular officers in Mongolia and local Mongol and Manchu authorities from the establishment of the Russian consulate in Urga (1861) to the beginning of Mongolia’s movement toward restoring sovereignty (1911). Along the Russian–Qing frontier—particularly in Mongolia, with its unique geography, culture, and ethnic makeup—Russian consulates functioned as multipurpose institutions. They handled official protocol, provided legal support for subjects, regulated trade, and facilitated political mediation, essentially practicing “border diplomacy.” The nature of interactions with local administrations evolved from the struggle for recognition of the status and procedures of the Russian consulate in the 1860s to institutional bargaining during the expansion of the consular network in Western Mongolia in the 1900s. While managing the complexities of safeguarding Russian state interests and fostering amicable relations with the Qing Empire, the consulates simultaneously helped preserve the Mongols’ national identity and exerted a modernizing influence on traditional society. A typology of interactions between consuls and local authorities is introduced, demonstrating that the efficacy of treaty norms relied not only on coordination between consular offices, the Beijing Mission, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg but also on locally developed procedures. Consular offices served as key facilitators of frontier governance, establishing the preconditions for the subsequent transformation of Russia–Mongolia–China relations in the 1910s.
One of the key issues in the socioeconomic history of the Murghab Sovereign’s Estate is examined: the primary producers and leaseholders. One of the initial goals of the sovereign’s estate was to populate its territory with Russian settlers and offer them land grants. However, the authorities quickly abandoned the land grants in favor of leases and Russian farmers in favor of the region’s indigenous Turkmens. An analysis of the lease terms indicates that their changes were aimed at increasing the estate’s revenues and guaranteeing relatively high incomes for hired laborers (daýhans). At the same time, the estate’s management took measures to limit large-scale leases and develop long-term small-scale leases, ensuring that the income for their labor went to the direct producers rather than to the Turkmen capitalists, who lived off the labor of their fellow daýhans.
The activities of the Russian Imperial Political Agency in Bukhara as a moderator of political and socioeconomic communications between the Russian Empire and the Emirate of Bukhara are analyzed. The focus is placed on the prehistory of the agency’s creation and its development from 1886 to 1895. The agent was appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but was required to coordinate his actions with the Turkestan governor-general, who reported to the War Ministry of the Russian Empire. At times, the two agencies’ strategic views on policy toward the Emirate of Bukhara diverged or even conflicted. Nevertheless, the Russian Imperial Political Agency in Bukhara was an active participant in modernization processes in the Emirate of Bukhara in the last quarter of the 19th century.
This article is about the policy and practice of restrictions on the electoral system in the Kazakh Autonomous Republic during the election campaigns for the Soviets in 1924, 1925/1926, and 1926/1927. The aim of the study is to identify the groups of people who were denied voting rights and to track changes in their numbers. To study the electoral system and discriminatory practices, normative and administrative acts of the Union, Russian and Republican Central Electoral Commissions were used, as well as statistics and reports of the Kazakh Autonomous Republic’s commissions at various levels on those deprived of their rights. The documents are stored in the archives of Russia and the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study of the institution of disenfranchisement focuses on national and regional characteristics and presents quantitative data on disenfranchised persons in Kazakhstan as a whole and in individual provinces, cities, and districts. The conclusion is made that the authorities of the autonomy were interested in increasing the number of persons deprived of their voting rights, which allowed them to take control of the electoral process and begin Sovietization.
The article analyzes the history of the interaction of the Moscow center, the Bolshevik leadership of Siberia, and the leadership of the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) ASSR in the context of the demarcation of Siberia and Kazakhstan in 1920–1921. The “Siberians” were supporters of the creation of an autonomous republic, but they quite reasonably doubted the Bolshevik orthodoxy of its leadership, the ability of the party-state structures of the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) ASSR to solve effectively, under emergency conditions, the food-supply and military questions, and to ensure the security of the internal territories and the external borders. The claims of the Siberian party-state structures to power and control over the newly minted autonomy inevitably spilled over into disputes over hierarchies and conflicts of competencies, in which Moscow acted as the supreme arbiter. The rivalry between Siberia and Kazakhstan was aggravated by the fact that the Akmola and Semipalatinsk oblasts (governorates), formally included in the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) ASSR, in fact remained for about another year under the direct administration of the Siberian Revolutionary Committee. As a result, the transfer of competencies from the leadership of Siberia to the leadership of the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) ASSR dragged on until the autumn of 1921 and was permitted only to the extent that the corresponding apparatuses of the autonomy were organized, capable of ensuring the resolution of questions vitally important for the Bolsheviks. On the whole, the concrete circumstances of the creation of the Kazakh autonomy give grounds to note the ambivalence of the Soviet national project already at its origins, where the Bolsheviks’ “ethnophilia” was limited by political pragmatism.
Employing a historiographical approach, this article systematically traces the construction and transformation of identity in Central Asia from the era of Imperial Russia to the post-Soviet period. Drawing on postcolonial theory and critical historical sociology, it examines how successive power regimes shaped the region’s identity frameworks through administrative institutions, knowledge production, and cultural policy. The study finds that Imperial Russia established the foundational colonial identity architecture via administrative integration. The Soviet period then reconfigured this framework by means of national delimitation and cultural engineering to construct socialist national identities. In the post-Soviet era, the Central Asian states through sustained “de-Russification” policies and multivector diplomacy, forged new national identities combining local agency with openness. The analysis demonstrates that identity politics in Central Asia are best understood as a continuous interaction between external power inscription and local agential response. Contemporary outcomes exhibit a multilayered configuration encompassing domestic cultural autonomy, pragmatic regional cooperation, and active participation in international multilateralism. This historiographical perspective offers a fresh vantage point by bridging imperial, Soviet, and post-colonial analyses of identity formation, thereby providing new insight into Central Asia’s geopolitics.
This article examines the evolution of the Uyghur perception of their homeland in the Ili Valley, divided between China and Russia (later the Soviet Union), over a period of nearly 150 years, from the late 19th century to the early 21st century. During this time, following political and socioeconomic changes associated with the transition from traditional to industrial society on both sides of the border, as well as changes in political systems and the emergence of new states, there were shifts in the ethnonational identity of the Turkic-speaking population of the Ili Valley—the Uyghurs—who went through various stages of nation-building. The transformation of ethnic identity is traced through an analysis of notions of homeland reflected in literary works by Uyghur authors from different eras—the imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods. In the border zone of the Ili Valley, changes in identity were also associated with migrations, which influenced notions of homeland.
The article reconstructs the main stages and trends in the construction of hydroelectric engineering facilities on the Irtysh River throughout the Soviet period of national history. The analysis is carried out in connection with the Soviet economic strategies, specifically as they were applied to the Upper and Middle Irtysh regions. The study reflects how perceptions of the primary objectives and functions of the Irtysh Hydroelectric Cascade evolved in accordance with changes in Soviet economic policy during different periods of the 20th century. The paper demonstrates the continuity of approaches to the design and construction of hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) and provides a characterization and schematic representation of the three main hydroelectric complexes—Ust’-Kamenogorsk, Bukhtarma, and Shul’ba—as well as of the cascade as a whole.
The problem of mental mechanisms, important for the problem of learning disabilities, is explored through the lens of a neuropsychological approach, which examines groups of mental functions (executive, cognitive, and activity-regulating) as actors underlying children’s academic difficulties. The question is posed: How are these groups of functions related to thinking, primarily concept formation? The relationship between the processes of empirical generalization and the search for a cause (theoretical generalization) is studied with an emphasis on the connection between these processes and control functions, information processing functions, and activity regulation functions. The study involved 117 children aged eight to ten years. Of these, 55 children (9.15 ± 0.79 years) were diagnosed with a mixed learning disorder (ICD-10 code F81.3) and placed in the learning disabilities group, while 62 children (9.23 ± 0.74 years) served as the neurotypical control group. Participants underwent a neuropsychological examination with a quantitative assessment of their performance across various methodologies. Specifically, they completed pattern-finding tasks using sequences of visual or auditory–verbal stimuli, as well as a task on their ability to deduce cause-and-effect relationships by constructing stories from a series of pictures. The two forms of generalization were found to be statistically unrelated, but they were associated with information processing functions and various components of activity regulation functions. These functions were associated with children’s grades in Russian language and mathematics. The academic performance of primary students is heavily influenced by their underlying mental functions, as evaluated through neuropsychological profiling. As research on learning disabilities demonstrates, these core functional groups are relevant for both empirical and theoretical generalization.
Ambiguity resolution is crucial for adaptive behavior, but the mechanisms underlying possible implicit selection during disambiguation remain unclear. In semantic ambiguity resolution, while some frameworks propose suppression of non-selected meanings, others suggest implicit selection occurs without inhibitory mechanisms involvement. Building on our previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings that suggested hippocampal inhibition during the processing of Russian fragmented word combinations, which had two possible variants of completion (the ambiguous condition), the present study used electroencephalography (EEG) to obtain independent confirmation. The EEG data revealed a decrease in hippocampal gamma band activity within the N400 time window for ambiguous trials compared to the control (unambiguous) condition. Gamma desynchronization is interpreted as a neurophysiological signature of the inhibitory mechanism involvement. The study thus provides convergent fMRI and EEG evidence supporting the inhibitory account of implicit selection during the completion of fragmented neighboring words.
A direct comparison of the neural correlates of verbal and nonverbal working memory (WM) is complicated by the fact that neurocognitive studies addressing these two types of WM use tasks that differ in a number of parameters, including WM processes of interest (e.g., material retention or processing), stimuli, task instruction and/or structure, and difficulty, and the tasks are therefore incomparable. We developed verbal and nonverbal versions of the Sternberg and n-back tasks, equivalent in all aspects except the possibility to activate auditory-verbal and/or articulatory representations of material being remembered. To achieve this aim, we used characters of the artificial font BACS2sans as nonverbal stimuli to match the Cyrillic letters used as verbal stimuli. Testing the four tasks in fMRI and MEG studies on the same group of participants (N = 35) revealed no differences in response accuracy and time between the verbal and nonverbal versions of the 2-back task. For both versions and both performance measures, there was an effect of WM load (2-back vs. 0-back). In the Sternberg task, the effect of material (verbal vs. nonverbal) disappeared after the set size was balanced appropriately (2 symbols and 4 letters; 4 symbols and 8 letters). The WM load also affected response accuracy and time. Dependence of the performance on WM load indicates the validity of the developed tasks. The results have also shown that, besides matching design and instructions, the verbal and nonverbal versions of the tasks are generally comparable in difficulty, which opens up good prospects for the use of these tasks in future neurocognitive research on WM.
The body of research addressing the impact of the fMRI environment on cognitive performance often considers the effects of acoustic noise and supine body position. However, the orthogonal manipulation of these factors in an experimental design was lacking. In the current study, we used a within-subject 2 × 2 design to test the effects of Sound (noise vs. silence) and body Position (lying vs. sitting), as well as their interaction, on a working memory (verbal 2-back) task and a simple reaction task. In addition, we analyzed the effects of Sound in the MEG setup with the same participants. Accuracy in the n-back task was affected neither by Sound nor by Position. Response time in this task was not affected by Sound at the group level, however, there were significant individual differences: some participants were consistently slowed down and others responded faster with the noise. In both tasks, response times were increased by the supine position by approximately 25 ms. Besides that, we observed a substantial discrepancy (up to 80 ms) between response times in the sitting condition in the MRI and MEG setups, which may be attributed to hardware/environmental factors. These findings are consistent with the data from a real neuroimaging (fMRI and MEG) study using the same tasks. Our results may be helpful for understanding the decomposition of differences in behavioral data recorded across various neuroimaging facilities into components specific to body position and hardware/environmental factors, and they also may shed light on previously inconsistent results on the role of acoustic noise.
Repeated exposure to stressful stimuli is a fundamental aspect of neuropsychiatric disorder models, particularly in research on fear conditioning and active avoidance. However, the complex behavioral strategies animals employ during these tasks are often reduced to single metrics, which obscure the underlying cognitive processes. This study introduces novel mathematical modeling approaches to deconstruct the behavioral strategies of rats during an active avoidance test under repeated stress conditions. We analyzed behavioral data obtained in a two-way active avoidance task (50 trials) in 54 WAG/Rij rats. Two complementary models were used: a dual-exponential decay model for reaction times and a sigmoidal approximation for learning curves. The dual-exponential model effectively distinguished two latent factors that impede learning: an early passivity factor associated with initial reaction speed and a late endurance factor related to behavioral fatigue. The sigmoidal model measured the rate of learning (adaptability) and identified the transition point to consistent avoidance (adaptation point). Our findings show that these models offer a more nuanced quantification of cognitive processes – such as executive function, decision-making, and problem-solving – as well as individual traits like motivation and perseverance, compared to traditional analyses. This approach provides a powerful tool for dissecting the heterogeneity of stress-coping strategies and linking them to underlying neurobiological substrates, such as the absence epilepsy phenotype observed in WAG/Rij rats.
Understanding the relationship between energy expenditure, cognitive activity, and performance is a key problem in psychophysiology. A series of psychophysiological studies have shown that solving cognitive tasks is accompanied by changes in the systemic characteristics of EEG signals, such as fractal dimension and entropy. These changes are associated with both the success of cognitive actions and their energy expenditure. In the latest study, EEG was recorded from 68 participants solving a task in which they compared graphs and tables. They determined which of three tables corresponded to the numerical data presented on the graph. EEG signals were analyzed using the Higuchi fractal dimension algorithm. The results showed a short-term increase and then a gradual decrease in EEG fractal dimension (F(4, 7656) = 36.594, p < 0.0001). The decrease in fractal dimension was accompanied by a decrease in heart rate. We modeled this effect in the dynamics of neural network training. The model was trained to classify two input values ranging from –π/2 to π/2. The target function was a sinusoid, followed by classification into two states: 0 or 1. At each training step, the activations of all neurons in the network were summed and the fractal dimension was calculated, briefly increasing and then gradually decreasing.
This study investigated the developmental trajectory of brain asymmetry during emotional non-verbal sound perception in 105 typically developing children aged 4–18 years. Using a dichotic listening paradigm with laughter and crying sounds presented to each ear, we analyzed EEG responses to assess hemispheric specialization and age-related changes. Results revealed significant right-hemisphere dominance for crying sounds in younger children, which diminished with age. Nonlinear EEG measures, including fractal dimension (FD) and Hilbert envelope mean frequency (EMF), indicated distinct developmental patterns, with FD increasing for left-ear crying in preschoolers but left-ear laughter in young adults. Power spectral density (PSD) analysis showed age-specific differences in 6–12 Hz frequency bands, particularly in parietal regions. Crying elicited stronger bilateral activation than laughter, supporting its role as a salient distress signal. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of hemispheric specialization in emotional auditory processing and suggest that nonlinear EEG measures provide valuable insights into neural maturation.
This article describes a method for studying the subjective world by recording neural activity in animals engaged in free behavior. Using examples of neural activity, it is demonstrated that recording behavioral events and learning history allows us to discover the specifics of the subjective world from a first-person perspective. The differences between this methodological approach and classical notions of the computer metaphor in cognitive science are discussed. Examples of complex methods for identifying cognitive structure and their results are presented. According to these methods, cognitive structure appears to contain representations not of objects but of skills for interacting with the environment, and has a hierarchical structure from general skills to specific ones.
Studies of electrophysiological oscillations of the brain during the change of vigilance states have a long history in somnology and cognitive neuroscience. However, in modern literature, more and more attention is being paid to aperiodic electrophysiological activity co-existing with oscillations. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the oscillatory/aperiodic components of the magnetoencephalogram and the performance of a monotonous psychomotor test that causes multiple episodes of short-term falling asleep. 25 subjects underwent a monotonous psychomotor test for 1 hour with simultaneous registration of a magnetoencephalogram. The performance dynamics of the psychomotor test correlated with the dynamics of the aperiodic exponent, as well as the oscillation power in the theta, alpha and beta bands. We found that in the majority of subjects (17 out of 25), the aperiodic exponent is the 1st or 2nd most significant predictor and tracks the subjects’ current vigilance state more precisely than oscillatory activity. We also found that the aperiodic exponent has a more consistent relationship with behavioral activity. We make a preliminary conclusion that the aperiodic exponent can be a reliable indicator of the change of vigilance states and a useful tool for studying them in cognitive sciences.
Musical training has a significant impact on brain organization, leading to functional and structural adaptations that enhance auditory, visual, motor, and cognitive processes. This study investigates how extensive musical training shapes functional brain connectivity by comparing professional musicians and non-musicians. Using EEG phase-locking value (PLV) analysis, we examined neural synchronization across alpha, beta, and gamma frequency ranges during music perception in tasks with different forms of musical graphic notation. Our results have shown that musicians demonstrated significantly enhanced functional connectivity, reflecting a superior ability to integrate auditory, visual, and cognitive information. Specifically, in the alpha band, musicians showed strong occipital-temporal connectivity across all tasks, with additional parietal-temporal synchronization during tasks lacking pitch information. Analysis of the beta band activity revealed significant frontal-temporal connectivity, indicative of enhanced cognitive processing, and task-specific temporal-occipital synchronization. In the gamma band, musicians exhibited robust frontal-temporal and frontal-frontal synchronization, associated with advanced emotional and structural music processing. In contrast, non-musicians displayed reduced, less specialized connectivity patterns, relying on more generalized cognitive strategies. These findings provide clear evidence that musical training induces profound functional adaptations in the brain. The enhanced and more efficient cross-regional synchronization in musicians underscores the role of long-term training in fostering advanced multimodal integration and cognitive flexibility, which facilitates sophisticated music perception and analysis.
This study investigated individual differences in tumor progression using an intracerebral implantation rat glioma model. The most extensive tumor growth was associated with high anxiety levels. These results demonstrate that chronic activation of stress-induced neuroendocrine circuits establishes a pro-tumorigenic niche. Our findings suggest that targeted behavioral interventions could manipulate these fundamental cellular states, revealing a novel strategy to therapeutically remodeling the tumor microenvironment.
