This is a collection of essays by leading neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists to honor Alexander Romanovich Luria and to highlight the enduring impact of his legacy on cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology. A wide range of topics is covered, from functional neuroimaging in neuropsychology to bedside evaluation techniques. Several generations of neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists are their work by Luria's pioneering insight.
This is a collection of essays by leading neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists to honor Alexander Romanovich Luria and to highlight the enduring impact of his legacy on cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology. A wide range of topics is covered, from functional neuroimaging in neuropsychology to bedside evaluation techniques. Several generations of neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists are among contributors, including those who closely worked with Luria, their own students, and others influenced in their work by Luria's pioneering insights.
Clinical Cultural Neuroscience aims to provide clinicians and researchers with an overview of contemporary topics relevant to the study of culture in psychology and neuroscience. While comprehensive volumes dedicated to cultural or cross-cultural psychology, cultural neuropsychology, and cultural neuroscience are readily available, the accumulated theoretical and empirical findings remain relatively sequestered within each of those academic subspecialties.
This challenging book critically examines three forms of contemporary psychology, all displaying various signs of crisis, through analogy with humour associated with three different class perspectives: mainstream psychology; critical psychology; and postpsychology. By fusing the best of the three psychologies with political and cultural critiques, the book poses the question: what if class conflict and the crises of psychology are related? This is precisely the Gordian Knot which Fozooni tries to untangle. First, the author demonstrates how psychology has traditionally veered towards either an upper-class or a middle-class paradigm. With the demise of these two old paradigms a new understanding of psychology is gradually emerging - a postpsychology. Describing how ‘mainstream’ and ‘critical’ psychologies are undergoing late-life crisis, and ‘postpsychology’ is experiencing its birth pangs in an environment hostile to its existence, the book provides an alternative narrative of psychology. The author suggests that whilst all three forms of psychology have contributed to our self-comprehension, it is only postpsychology that possesses the attributes necessary for a global remaking of humanity. Tackling the discipline of psychology head-on, Fozooni pits against it a series of scathing yet tongue-in-cheek critiques, making this fascinating and provocative reading for all students and academics interested in psychology, as well as the general reader.
Vygotsky in Twenty-first Century Society is an ensemble of novel perspectives about the legacy of Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria. The book illustrates how well the legacy of their work is being applied and continued in contemporary research, and how cultural historical theory has been constructed and re-constructed. Together, these collected essays inform a broader discussion of how a developmentally-oriented cultural paradigm can guide learning and teaching in social and educational policy and in group or individual counseling. Readers will find discussions of issues in human development that have previously been overlooked. This book is important and timely in addressing these issues and fault-lines, particularly for advancing both equity and scientific understandings.
A review of the cultural psychology literature reveals that some ethnic groups consistently perform differently on even the most basic cognitive tasks. Specifically, Asians attend to more contextual information whereas Caucasians selectively attend to the most salient stimulus dimension. In order to determine if such processing differences in attention impact category learning, this dissertation investigated whether Chinese, Caucasians, and Latinos performed differently on the perceptual categorization task. Seventy-two Caucasian, 50 Chinese, and 47 Latino students matched in terms of years of education and gender represented a range of acculturation from foreign born bilingual immigrants to native born Americans whose only language is English. Participants learned to sort stimuli into one of two predetermined categories by receiving corrective feedback after each trial. In Experiment 1, participants learned a unidimensional rule requiring participants to attend selectively to a single stimulus dimension. In Experiment 2, participants learned a conjunctive rule requiring an explicit conjunction of two stimulus dimensions. In Experiment 3, participants learned an information-integration rule requiring that participants integrate information from two stimulus dimensions at an implicit level. In addition to examining potential differences in accuracy using repeated measures analysis of variance, mathematical models identified the types of categorization strategies participants actually used when learning one of the three categorization rules. Finally, a regression analysis further investigated the possible underpinnings of observed ethnic group differences in categorization accuracy. No differences were observed between groups in Experiments 1 and 3, suggesting that category learning tasks that emphasize selective attention and implicit learning processes are not sensitive to the ethnic differences observed in previous studies. In Experiment 2, however, contrary to what would have been expected, Caucasians performed better than both Chinese and Latino participants when having to form an explicit sorting rule combining more than one stimulus dimension. Even after groups were equated based on the type of categorization strategies employed, these group differences persisted. Hierarchical regression further revealed that ethnicity did not predict accuracy after level of mainstream acculturation was taken into account. Secondary analysis of the acculturation subscales suggested that receptive language ability in English was the best predictor of overall accuracy in learning a conjunctive rule-based task over and above ethnic group membership. Overall, these results suggest that previously observed cultural differences are more likely related to factors other than ethnic group membership, and therefore warrant further study.
The Wisdom Paradox explores the aging of the mind from a unique, positive perspective. In an era of increasing fears about mental deterioration, world-renowned neuropsychologist Elkhonon Goldberg provides startling new evidence that though the brain diminishes in some tasks as it ages, it gains in many ways. Most notably, it increases in what he terms “wisdom”: the ability to draw upon knowledge and experience gained over a lifetime to make quick and effective decisions. Goldberg delves into the machinery of the mind, separating memory into two distinct types: singular (knowledge of a particular incident or fact) and generic (recognition of broader patterns). As the brain ages, the ability to use singular memory declines, but generic memory is unaffected—and its importance grows. As an individual accumulates generic memory, the brain can increasingly rely upon these stored patterns to solve problems effortlessly and instantaneously. Goldberg investigates the neurobiology of wisdom, and draws on historical examples of artists and leaders whose greatest achievements were realized late in life.
– The most famous Russian psychologist, whose life and ideas are least known? – A pioneer of psychology who said virtually nothing new? – A simple man who became a genius after he died? This fundamentally novel intellectual biography offers a 21st-century account of the life and times of Lev Vygotsky, who has long been considered a pioneer in the field of learning and human development. The diverse Vygotskian literature has created many distinct images of this influential scientist, which has led many researchers to attempt to unearth ‘the real Vygotsky’. Rather than join this quest to over-simplify Vygotsky’s legacy, this book attempts to understand the development of ‘the multiple Vygotskies’ by exploring a number of personae that Vygotsky assumed at different periods of his life. Based on the most recent archival, textological and historical investigations in original, uncensored Russian, the author presents a ground-breaking account that is far from the shiny success story that is typically associated with ‘the cult of Vygotsky’. This book will be an essential contribution to Vygotskian scholarship and of interest to advanced students and researchers in history of psychology, history of science, Soviet/Russian history, philosophical psychology, and philosophy of science.
This Luria Festschrift is dedicated to the life and legacy of A R Luria, celebrating the centennial anniversary of his birth (1902-2002). The volume represents a group of authors, most of whom either studied or collaborated with Alexander Romanovich. The articles, which were selected by Russians, have also been written by Russians, with the inclusion of international authors. This volume is unique in that readers have the opportunity of discovering a Russian approach in understanding and implementing Luria's theories. The contents of this book are divided into five sections: The first section, Cherishing the Memory of A R Luria, presents a collection of personal experiences the authors had with Luria, offering the reader a picture of the different sides of his personality. The second section, A R Luria and the Historical-Cultural Approach in Psychology, focuses on Luria's overall cultural-historical approach, also connected with remembrances of Alexander Romanovich. The third section, Luria's School of Neuropsychology, presents a collection of articles by authors who use Luria's neuropsychology (brain-behavior relationships), as well as directions developed after Luria's death, such as ageing and dementia, neuropsychology of psychiatry, etc. The fourth section, Luria's Approach in Developmental Neuropsychology, introduces the reader to the process of assessment and remediation with children in Russia. The fifth section Lurian Neuropsychological Assessment and its Development focuses on the implementation of the Lurian approach to the practice of diagnostics in different social-cultural conditions and on possibilities of quantitative evaluation of Lurian neuropsychological assessment data.
Best known as a founding father of neuropsychology, Luria is remembered for his clinical approach, which in many ways foreshadowed and served as the basis for the currently popular "process approach" to neuropsychological diagnosis. Although he never completed the job of designing a general theory of brain- behavioral relations, he nonetheless contributed mightily to the ongoing effort to develop one, and to the emergence of neuropsychology as a mature science. Written by professionals who either knew Alexandr Romanovich Luria personally or experienced his scientific influence, the topics examined in this volume reflect the expanse of his interests and contributions.
