HIGHER MENTAL PROCESSES AND SPOKEN LANGUAGE: IMPLICATIONS OF THE WORK OF A. R. LURIA.

摘要

Alexander Romanovich Luria (1902-1977) was a Soviet psychologist and neurologist known internationally for his work in aphasia and in explaining the internal structure of mental activity. Luria's correlations of clinical observations and brain anatomy/neurology produced the field of study known as neuropsychology, and his later incorporation of linguistic elements into his studies gave rise to the field of neurolinguistics.;These relationships are summarized in the dissertation by the statement that spoken language is both the means by which higher mental processes have form or are expressed, and through internal speech, spoken language becomes the means by which higher mental processes are formed in ontogenesis.;The dissertation concludes with a consideration of the implications of the theories and research of A. R. Luria for the current and future study of spoken language together with suggestions for future research.;The purpose of the dissertation has been to explore the relationship between higher mental processes and spoken language as delineated in the work of A. R. Luria. After examination of the characteristics of higher mental processes and spoken language as set forth in Luria's writings, the dissertation specifies eight relationships between higher mental processes and spoken language which were extrapolated from the work of A. R. Luria: (1) Spoken language is the means by which higher mental processes derive their sociocultural origins. (2) Spoken language is the means by which more elementary sensory systems of the brain are consciously controlled by higher mental processes. (3) Spoken language reorganizes the cortical zones which underlie higher mental processes. (4) Spoken language is a determining factor in the developmental stages of higher mental processes. (5) Spoken language is the initial and basic developmental stage of the speech system which is always a factor in the formation of higher mental processes. (6) Spoken language is the customary source of auxiliary stimuli ("stimuli artificially introduced into the situation" (Vygotsky, 1966, p. 24)), which produce the mediated structure of higher mental processes. (7) Spoken language is the means by which the individual becomes capable of conscious and voluntary processes. (8) Spoken language is a component in the complex functional systems of other higher mental processes.