Artistic culture as a foundation for the spiritual and cognitive development of students

The relevance of studying the influence of artistic culture on the cognitive and spiritual spheres of students' personalities is due to its understanding as a type of aesthetic activity that provides a subject embodiment of spiritual and moral ideals and values, as well as the demand for cognitive functions and creative thinking as key educational competencies in the digital age. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the influence of artistic culture on the spiritual development and cognitive functions of students of Kazakh universities. The study involved 127 students studying in fields not related to the fine arts (management, psychology, philology). Cognitive processes were studied using the methods of “Schulte Table” (attention) and “Reproduction of 10 words” (memory). To determine the level of creativity, the Johnson Creativity Questionnaire was used. The level of spiritual well-being of the students was determined using the Schwartz Value Test (SHALOM). The study found that artistic culture classes contribute to increased attention stability and decreased exhaustibility, improved short-term and long-term memory, increased creativity from the range of low values to the border between medium and high levels (from 17.58 ± 0.39 points to 19.73 ± 0.26 points), and normalized the profile of personal values, which indicated an increase in the level of spiritual well-being of the students studied. The identified positive impact of artistic culture on the cognitive and spiritual development of students and their spiritual well-being emphasizes the need to integrate artistic disciplines into the educational process. The results of the study can contribute to increasing the efficiency of the educational process and be used to develop and implement innovative educational strategies aimed at the harmonious development of students in the context of the digitalization of education. Thus, the practical significance of the research results is determined by their importance for the development and implementation of innovative educational strategies aimed at the harmonious development of students' personalities in the era of digitalization of education. The research results emphasize the influence of artistic culture on the cognitive and spiritual development of students, which necessitates its integration into the educational process. Prospective research is planned to be aimed at studying the features of integrating artistic culture into students' curricula depending on their field of study.