Born in 1902 in the city of Kazan (Russia), Alexander Luria is considered the father of modern neuropsychology, his research has become one of the pillars of this fundamental branch of psychology, for which the brain is the source of behavior. , we approach his autobiography and his main contributions.
Luria grew up in a Jewish family that placed great importance on multilingualism. He and his sister were fluent in German, French and also English, in addition to Russian, of course, their mother tongue. He even participated in more than 300 scientific publications, among which stand out “The cortical functions of man”, “The brain and the psychological process”, “Man and his world of conflict”, “Cognitive development”. and “Neuropsychology of memory”.
- Luria’s academic record is quite curious.
- At the age of 7.
- The beginning of the Russian Revolution interrupted his training.
- Influenced by the figure of his father.
- Renowned professor and gastroenterologist.
- Entered the university at the age of 16.
- The next sentence belongs to his 1979 Autobiographical Work “Looking Back”.
- It is a reflection on the precocity of his interest in the mind and also on psychology.
Far from considering the mind as fragmented, Alexander Luria and his teacher Lev Vygotski regard the brain as a whole, in which associations between its parts are prioritized and where brain functions are not isolated or housed in specific and closed regions. compared to other important researchers, such as Paul Broca or Karl Wernicke, who support the location of certain functions in specific areas.
The debate about whether brain functions should be located or not has been taking place for decades, today an option of compromise between the two postures is accepted: the brain functions as an interconnected system, but it is also possible to identify certain parts in charge of certain processes; for example, the Broca area might be directly associated with the language expression. Another sentence of Alexander Luria that perfectly sums up his passion for brain function is:
For this neuropsychologist, the brain is organized into three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary, in each of them there are regions that, thanks to a system of neural connections, are responsible for certain functions:
Together, these three levels constitute an interconnected functional system, in this, superior functions depend on several areas of the brain and operate in a coordinated manner.
Unlike physiology, neuropsychology does not cause or cause injury for experimental purposes, but analyzes lesions that already exist in patients or have already been caused by surgery for therapeutic purposes. This number of samples and cases is illustrated in one of Alexander Luria’s most important. famous phrases:
The Russian doctor’s contributions are not only focused on people with acquired injuries and their interest in brain organization in mental processes, but also designed one of the first lie detectors (polygraph). In addition, his early studies devoted to the psychophysiology of Siempre has been very interested in psychoanalysis and has sought human affective states for the development of methods of “conjugated motor responses”.
This syllogism was the author’s strong point. Alexander said so during one of his visits to an indigenous people in Central Asia. His goal was to know the existence of universal logical reasoning. For the curious ones? The answer given by the locals in general was: “How will I know?”Why don’t you ask my neighbor?
So, as this neuropsychologist has said for decades, today’s knowledge of the human brain is relatively low when compared to what we still need to discover, but very great when compared to what we knew a few years ago.
The truth is that much remains to be done, despite the progress and great progress that has been made, one of Alexander Luria’s phrases that reflects this is:
Thus, through the phrases of Alexandre Luria, many later authors were able to resume their inheritance and delve into more specific aspects, such as the neuropsychological foundations of reason, so Luria’s contributions have contributed to the development of neuropsychology and have led to a better understanding of brain function and the location of certain areas of the brain.