The article generally considers the problem of changes in the functioning of cognitive processes in the context of digitalization. Systematization of the current studies on attention reveals that the vast majority of them are devoted to media multitasking, the results of which are rather contradictory and relate mainly to adolescents and young men. The academic community also analyzes the impact of digital technologies on the attention of students of different age groups, the effect of which is assessed rather as negative. The present study tests the hypothesis of possible changes in the implementation of this cognitive function in adult Internet users. Empirical testing was carried out through a comparative analysis of the attention span in adults who prefer different information coding systems: traditional (“paper”) or digital. The study sample included people aged 37-60 who received higher education in the pre-digital era and are currently engaged in intellectual work; they were divided into two groups: adult readers and adult Internet users (n = 50 each). To clarify the differences in the attention span in adult respondents with different practices of accessing information carriers, a group of students, active young Internet users (n = 50), was also involved. The attention span parameters were assessed using Bourdon’s dot cancellation test. The results of the study statistically reliably show that the adult readers ( p ≤ 0.01) have a higher ability to concentrate attention than active Internet users (both young and adults), keeping it within the normative boundaries that were inherent in people of the pre-digital era.

The aim of the article is to analyze the specifics of categorization of abstract concepts by adults who use different information sources: traditional / printed and innovative / digital. Methods. An author used a questionnaire method with the open-ended type of questions as the primary tool to study the choice of the preferred information coding system by adults. To reconstruct the categorical structure of the respondents' consciousness in their understanding of the concept «sacrament», the method of the semantic differential was used. The differential includes 40 adjectives, which form 7 categories of an average consciousness according to their factorial structure

The article is devoted to a general problem of digital technologies’ influence on cognitive processes, viz. long-term changes in selective attention of adult Internet users. The study is based on two postulates of a psychologist, Lev Vygotsky: the idea of an indirect structure of cultural functions and a genetic law that determines its decay as a comeback to a simpler organizational level. The study was carried out through a comparative analysis of the voluntary attention of adults who prefer different code systems: traditional printed or modern digital. Conventionally, we divided the participants into 2 groups: the readers (n=50, aged 46.18±6,71, 21 males and 29 females) and the Internet users (n=50, aged 45.38±5,86, 21 males and 29 females). The parameters were estimated via “The arrangement of the numbers” test. As starting points, we took the average results established in the pre-digital era, on one hand; and the indicators of attention of young, active Internet users (to clarify the results of the study, an additional group was comprised), on the other hand. The revealed empirical facts showed that the voluntary attention is significantly better in the group of the readers (p≤0.01). Their indicators are close to the norm of the “pre-digital” people. The indicators of the Internet users are closer to the one of young Internet users, both in accuracy (p≤0.05) and distribution (р>0.05). We suggest positing a significant deterioration of selective attention as a cognitive deformation phenomenon, which is expressed in the regression of higher mental functions to its more primitive levels

The aim of the article is to analyze empirical data that test the hypothesis of greater creativity of active Internet users compared to adult fans of traditional reading. Methods. The study was conducted on a statistically large and homogeneous sample by age, level of education and professional activity (the sphere of mental work). The differentiation of respondents into groups for comparative analysis was carried out on the basis of two criteria: 1) the choice of information system in free time (book or Internet); 2) the time allocated to work with the specified system. The criteria were determined through anonymous and voluntary questionnaires. The parameters of creativity were measured for different types of creativity: verbal (Mednik's test in the adaptation of A. A. Voronin) and figurative (Sievert's test).

The article is devoted to categorization as one of the leading mechanisms of cognitive activity. Theoretical positions in the understanding of categorization are considered, the appeal to the methodology of the psychosemantic approach in its empirical study is substantiated. A hypothesis about the complication of the categorical structure of consciousness of adult users of digital technologies due to specific characteristics of the Internet is expressed. The results of the study of the cognitive complexity of consciousness in the field of subjectsensory cognition of adult active Internet users are presented. It has