The Zeus of Kharkov Psychology

Abstract

The controversial questions of the relations between L.S. Vygotsky’s theory of development of higher mental functions and A.N. Leontiev’s activity theory are considered in the context of the theoretical principles of the research of P.I. Zinchenko. In the author’s view, these theories are mutually complementary and potentially could be combined into a single theory. A survey of the key results of the research conducted by Zinchenko in voluntary and involuntary mediated memory is presented. Thanks to the high heuristic potential of the cultural-historical and activity-based approaches, original methodologies were developed and empirical studies were performed on fundamental mnemic effects, which much later were independently “rediscovered” in cognitive psychology (including the generation effect and the depth-of-processing effect). The patterns identified by P.I. Zinchenko in the development of mediated voluntary and involuntary memory are also of great importance in the context of current research in the age-related development of memory.