Space in Luria Neuropsychology: Ideas, Clinical Phenomenology, Research Methods

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The article discusses various aspects of research on spatial functions in Russian neuropsychology. According to the author, spatial functions are those mental processes whose main purpose is to obtain information about the spatial properties of objects and perform spatial actions and operations. The author analyzes some aspects of the neuropsychological approach to the perception and understanding of violations of the mental reflection of space. The article discusses some cultural and historical prerequisites for the emergence of a neuropsychological approach to the study of spatial functions. There are also data on references to spatial disorders in the works of the founders of clinical psychology in Russia – S. S. Korsakov and V. M. Bekhterev. The author writes that A. R. Luria's interest in space arose even before the emergence of neuropsychology as an independent science. In the research on the mental development of children, conducted by him in the second half of the 20s of the last century together with L. S. Vygotsky, the attentive reader will find data on the development of various spatial representations. Long-term study of violations of spatial functions in local brain lesions allowed A. R. Luria, his colleagues and students not only to describe various symptoms of disturbances of spatial components of perception, memory, thinking, and voluntary movements, but also to significantly clarify the idea of the complex brain organization of the so-called spatial factor. In addition, Luria neuropsychology was able to develop an original integrative model of the spatial organization of the human brain, in which various cerebral zones and structures work in concert to ensure the fulfillment of various mental and behavioral tasks. Analyzing the work of A. R. Luria, the author, along with undoubted achievements, notes some discrepancies and gaps in the study of spatial disorders. It is shown that in the fundamental monographs of A. R. Luria, violations of the spatial aspects of tactile and auditory perception and spatial memory were discussed very concisely. Ideas about the “vertical organization” of spatial functions, i.e. the contribution of not only cortical areas of the brain, but also subcortical structures to their implementation, also developed gradually. This statement is also true when it comes to a comparative analysis of violations of spatial functions in local lesions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. A significant contribution to the development of the problem of functional asymmetry of the brain hemispheres in the processes of spatial analysis and synthesis was made not only by Moscow neuropsychologists, but also by their Leningrad colleagues – L. Ya. Balonov, V. L. Deglin, E. P. Kok, Ya. A. Meerson and others. After the death of A. R. Luria his followers (N. K. Korsakova, Yu. V. Mikadze, E. G. Simernitskaya) began to develop new areas of neuropsychological science – the neuropsychology of childhood and aging. The article discusses in detail the history of creation and current state of the complex of empirical methods used for neuropsychological diagnostics of spatial functions. Special attention is paid to the possibility of using the chronotope category in neuropsychological research.