Luria's Model Research Articles

Freudian psychic apparatus and Luria's functional units: exploring intersections.

Introduction. In this paper, we aim to point out that Freudian concepts such as the id, ego, and superego may find equivalents in neuroanatomy/neurobiology. To this end, we explore the possible intersections between Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theoretical model and neurologist Alexander Luria's model of functional units. Although Freud distanced himself from the strictly localizationist neurological perspective of brain functions, his notions of the mind as a dynamic phenomenon persist and continue to inspire discussions in the field of neuroscience. Method. We establish a parallel between Freud's structural and dynamic model and Luria's model of functional units, highlighting the complex relationship between the id, ego, superego, and the neurological framework. Results. We emphasize that, although precise locations for these structures may be elusive, a systemic neuroscientific approach to psychic activity aligns with Freud's vision. Additionally, we explore the genetic and neurobiological dimensions of Freud's proposal and discuss how these elements could lead to a deeper understanding of neuropsychic structures. We argue that the distinction between the id and its differentiated structures remains nebulous, and that the id may have roots in brain regions governing basic survival, with origins in genetic inheritance. Conclusion. This paper does not provide definitive answers but aims to contribute to the complex relationship between Freudian psychoanalysis and neurobiology. We emphasize the imperative need for future investigations, particularly employing a microscopic/reductionist approach to neuropsychic differentiation.

Factor Structure of the KABC-II at Ages 5 and 6: Is It Valid in a Clinical Sample?

The factor structure of the German edition of the KABC-II for ages 5 and 6 was examined in a clinical sample. Participants were 450 children ages 5 and 6 who had been assessed due to various behavioral, emotional, or developmental disorders in five Centers for Social Pediatrics (SPCs). Confirmatory factor analyses of the standard test structure including core subtests of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model and of the Luria model were conducted using maximum likelihood estimation. Several modified structures derived from CHC ability classifications were evaluated. Second-order factor structures corresponding to the standard test structure of the KABC-II demonstrated an adequate global fit for both theoretical models and were superior to unidimensional models. The fit of bifactor models was comparable to second-order models. In all subtests, the general factor accounted for more variance than group factors (broad abilities). However, in more than half of the subtests, unique variance explained the largest portion of the variance. The scale Learning/Glr showed a lack of convergent validity. At age 6, a model omitting subtest Rover significantly improved the fit. In the combined sample of 5- and 6-year-old children, both second-order and bifactor models with nine subtests demonstrated excellent fit.

A review and empirical study of the composite scales of the Das–Naglieri cognitive assessment system

Alexander Luria's model of the working brain consisting of three functional units was formulated through the examination of hundreds of focal brain-injury patients. Several psychometric instruments based on Luria's syndrome analysis and accompanying qualitative tasks have been developed since the 1970s. In the mid-1970s, JP Das and colleagues defined a specific cognitive processes model based directly on Luria's two coding units termed simultaneous and successive by studying diverse cross-cultural, ability, and socioeconomic strata. The cognitive assessment system is based on the PASS model of cognitive processes and consists of four composite scales of Planning-Attention-Simultaneous-Successive (PASS) devised by Naglieri and Das in 1997. Das and colleagues developed the two new scales of planning and attention to more closely model Luria's theory of higher cortical functions. In this paper a theoretical review of Luria's theory, Das and colleagues elaboration of Luria's model, and the neural correlates of PASS composite scales based on extant studies is summarized. A brief empirical study of the neuropsychological specificity of the PASS composite scales in a sample of 33 focal cortical stroke patients using cluster analysis is then discussed. Planning and simultaneous were sensitive to right hemisphere lesions. These findings were integrated with recent functional neuroimaging studies of PASS scales. In sum it was found that simultaneous is strongly dependent on dual bilateral occipitoparietal interhemispheric coordination whereas successive demonstrated left frontotemporal specificity with some evidence of interhemispheric coordination across the prefrontal cortex. Hence, support for the validity of the PASS composite scales was found as well as for the axiom of the independence of code content from code type originally specified in 1994 by Das, Naglieri, and Kirby.

Differential topographic pattern of EEG coherence between simultaneous and successive coding tasks

The concept of two types of information coding, simultaneous and successive processing, is now well supported by extensive studies with factor analysis. However, few EEG evidence on processing types have been reported. In the present study we investigated whether varying demands on simultaneous or successive processing are reflected by different pattern of EEG coherence change from the passive condition to the active condition. We computed EEG coherence during simultaneous and successive processing tasks in both passive and active conditions. Under the passive condition, participants were just to perceive the presented stimuli. In the active condition, participants were required to remember the presented stimuli and then reproduce or recognize the remembered stimuli. Our result revealed the different topographic patterns of coherence change from the passive to the active condition between the simultaneous and the successive task. In the successive processing task, bilateral frontal–left temporal coherence in beta showed a significant decrease during the active condition, supporting Luria's model of the two information coding types. The condition effect of coherence in the simultaneous processing task was rather unclear. Our data also indicated that more task related cognitive processes, rather than the task-independent processes such as attentional demand, were reflected in EEG coherence of higher frequency bands. The different EEG coherence patterns seen in the simultaneous and successive tasks suggested the first step evidence that EEG coherence pattern may differentiate two distinctive types of information coding.

Factor structure of the continuous performance test relative to Luria's model of neuropsychological functioning : Raggio, D. J. (University of Mississippi Medical Center) Campbell, J. W. & D'Amato, R. C. (Neuropsychology Laboratory for Evaluation and Therapy, Mississippi State University)

Factor structure of the continuous performance test relative to Luria's model of neuropsychological functioning : Raggio, D. J. (University of Mississippi Medical Center) Campbell, J. W. & D'Amato, R. C. (Neuropsychology Laboratory for Evaluation and Therapy, Mississippi State University)

Individual Differences in the Perception of Musical Coherence

This research was part of a larger investigation into individual differences in the perception of pitch sequences with various degrees of structural coherence. It was hypothesised that such perception involves the cooperative interaction of three dimensions of information processing — successive, simultaneous and executive synthesis — based on the neuropsychology of Alexander Luria. Studies in psychophysics suggest that these cognitive processes may exploit the fractal or self‐similar form of fluctuations in musical attributes. To this end, the autocorrelation function is particularly salient. Instruments were developed to measure sensitivity to the autocorrelation structure of algorithmically generated tone series. Two studies, one with a normal population of children (N = 135), the other involving children with demonstrated musical precocity (N = 29), investigated relationships between the perception of autocorrelation structure and abilities on the three dimensions of the Luria model, operationalised as a psychometric battery. The results showed that all three information processing dimensions were required in the perception of musical coherence. Individual differences in sensitivity to fractal structure of children with high music abilities were related to differences in abilities on simultaneous synthesis.

Why Mozart? Information Processing Abilities of Gifted Young Musicians

An information processing model based on the neuropsychology of Alexander Luria was employed to investigate individual differences among normal and musically gifted children in their perception of pitch sequences with various degrees of structural coherence. The Luria model has three orthogonal dimensions of information processing: successive and simultaneous synthesis for encoding information, and executive synthesis which involves attention. It was hypothesised that music perception involves the cooperative interaction of these three information processing dimensions. Children with demonstrated musical precocity were compared with normal children on the three Luria model dimensions and on their perception of musical structure. The results highlighted the importance of metacognitive processes for realising extreme musical talent.

A Cognitive Processing Account of Individual Differences in Novice Logo Programmers' Conceptualisation and Use of Recursion

This article describes a study which investigated individual differences in the construction of mental models of recursion in Logo programming. It was hypothesized that differences in individuals' cognitive profiles would be reflected in differences in their computer programming problem solving behavior. The learning process was investigated from the perspective of Norman's mental models theory and employed diSessa's ontology regarding distributed, functional, and surrogate mental models. Analysis of the processes underlying mental model construction and of individual differences in these processes was based on the Luria model of brain function with particular regard to the relative contribution of simultaneous and successive cognitive processing abilities to conscious mental activity. Results generally confirmed predictions regarding the involvement of these abilities in the manifestation of individual differences in the stages of conscious mental activity contributing to the progressive development of mental models of recursion.

Developmental analysis of three aspects of information processing: Sustained attention, selective attention, and response organization

The development of cognitive abilities associated with Luna's (1973) three functional units of the brain was investigated in a sample of 62 children, ages 7 to 11 years, and 16 adults, ages 21 to 48 years. Selective attention, associated primarily with Luria's sensory‐input unit, showed no demonstrable development within the age ranges studied. However, sustained attention, presumably mediated through Luria's arousal unit and its ascending fibers to the cortex, as well as response organization, associated with Luna's organization‐and‐ planning unit, did reflect differential development Capacity for sustained attention showed no appreciable development between 7 and 11 years of age, but there was significant growth in this ability between age 11 and adulthood. Response organization, on the other hand, was found to develop most rapidly between 7 and 11 years of age. These findings are partially consistent with Luria's model of neurodevelopment as well as with research investigating the functional and physiological maturation of various brain regions.

Luria's neurodevelopmental stages in relation to intelligence and academic achievement in kindergarten and first grade

Theoretical models describing the relationships among Luria's (1973) Stage 3 neurodevelopment (perceptual‐motor or modality‐specific processing), Luria's Stage 4 neurodevelopment (more abstract or modality‐free integration of information from two or more modality‐specific areas), intelligence, and academic achievement were evaluated using structural equation modeling. Kindergarten and first‐grade scores of 230 children on the Reitan‐Indiana Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children Aged 5 to 8 were used to test models examining whether, as Luria's model suggests, achieving Stage 4 neurodevelopment is associated with initial learning of academic subjects. Although Stage 3 and Stage 4 were related in kindergarten and in first grade, they were more highly related in first grade, consistent with the theoretical claim that Stage 3's relationship with academic learning is fully mediated by an indirect path through Stage 4. Furthermore, neurodevelopmental factors appeared to be important in predicting academi...

Luria's Theory of Brain Functioning: A Model for Research in Cognitive Psychophysiology

Luria's (1973) brain functioning theory is offered as a model for cognitive psychophysiological research. It may be used to predict brain processing patterns both for constructive tasks of various levels of complexity and for high and low performance on these tasks. Brain mapping research is reported that shows how brain processing patterns for tasks of varying cornp1exit:y are associated with Luria's theory. As a model for research, Luria's model offers several potential contributions to educational psychology. First, it may help bridge the current gap between mainstream educational psychology and cognitive psychophysiology. Second, it may be used to associate student performance on cognitive tasks with brain processing patterns. For example, differences have been demonstrated between high and low task performance and brain processing patterns. Finally, the model proposed is potentially very useful because it is empirically testable. The weight of the evidence to date clearly supports the proposition tha...

Performance of delinquent and nondelinquent males on planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive cognitive processing tasks

This study compared the performance of 30 White adolescent males (M age = 15 years, 8 months; SD = 7 months) and 30 incarcerated White male delinquents (M age = 15 years, 6 months, SD = 8 months) on measures of planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive cognitive processes. Normal and delinquent samples did not differ on measures of planning, simultaneous, or successive processes, but did differ significantly in selective attention. The results help clarify previous equivocal findings of attention and planning deficiencies in delinquents and suggest that A. R. Luria's model of functioning may provide a useful perspective for conceptualization of this group's cognitive competence.

Does PASS Pass the Test? A Critique of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System

This critique of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) examined the theoretical model of intellectual functioning that underlies the measure, as well as the effectiveness of the scale in operationalizing the theory. Luria's model of functional brain organization, which serves as the basis for the PASS model, has generally wide support in the neuroscience literature as a viable conceptual paradigm for describing neuropsychological functioning. This review suggests that there is theoretical, clinical, and empirical support for the Planning and Coding (Successive, Simultaneous) dimensions of the PASS model in reflecting intellectual functions. However, support for Attention as a separate cognitive processing construct appears limited. The CAS subtests were reviewed through the use of face validity inspection, as well as factor analytic and exceptional sample studies. The degree to which the CAS meets the authors' stated objectives of providing diversity in content and mode of presentation varies among the PASS domains. The data reviewed suggest that there is both factor analytic and clinical support for the tasks and scales that comprise the CAS. Given the still-developing nature of the CAS, its ultimate conceptual and clinical merit remain to be determined.

Some Comments on Testing Luria's Model: A Response to Cowart and McCallum

Based upon the results of a multi-trait — multi-method (MTMM) investigation, Cowart and McCallum (1988) found minimal support for the simultaneous-successive-planning (S-S-P) model of cognitive processing proposed by Das and his colleagues. This paper provides a critical appraisal of the study and draws special attention to methodological weaknesses that seriously undermine the author's conclusions. Interested readers are encouraged to examine the considerable evidence on S-S-P and more recent research on the full explication of Luria's model, which includes the first functional unit of attention in addition to S-S-P.

Testing Luria's Model: A Reply to Naglieri and Das

We respond to Naglieri and Das' criticisms of the methodology used in a study designed to explore the simultaneous-successive-planning (S-S-P) model (Cowart & McCallum, 1988). That study represents the first attempt to partial trait and method variance using the multi-trait-multi-method technique (for the S-S-P model). Principal limitations cited by Naglieri and Das were noted in the original study. In this article we address those and other limitations raised by Naglieri and Das and conclude that our original concern is still valid. That is, the methods typically used to assess these processing constructs, particularly simultaneous and successive processing, confound their interpretability. Consequently, future efforts to assess the constructs should address the need to separate and determine the relative contributions of method vs. trait (to the total variance).

Factor structure of the continuous performance test relative to Luria's model of neuropsychological functioning

Factor structure of the continuous performance test relative to Luria's model of neuropsychological functioning

Development of the ADL Profile

This article presents a new instrument, the ADL Pcofile, which is designed specifically for the head injured adult. The instrument is based on the model of occupational performance and on Luria's model of cerebral and motor functioning. It divides the concept of activities of daily living (ADL) into 3 dimensions: personal environment, home environment and community environment. It further delineates a number of activities, tasks and operations under each of these dimensions. The article presents a rationale for the instrument's development, a description of the development process and the preliminary validation work, and details of the instrument itself.

Luria's aphasiology: A critical review

The purpose of the present paper is: (1) to show in what mannerand to what extent the main forms of aphasia described in Luria's taxonomy coincide with forms delineated in other widely-used classifications; (2) to review Luria's aphasiological teaching, in light of more recent conceptions and models of language breakdowns; and (3) to propose a critical analysis of Luria's approach through a consideration of the six main forms of aphasia that he recognized. Luria's model encompasses the entire spectrum of language use and integrates data which issue from anatomo-physiology, psychology and linguistics. The originality of his approach also resides in his intention to relate each psycholinguistic function to a non-linguistic function, both being accomplished in the same brain area.

A comment on Luria's investigation of calculation disorders

In this paper, Luria's model of arithmetic calculation is reviewed. Luria's investigations could be subdivided into two branches: (1) evaluation of the concept or rank order; and (2) evaluation of computational processes. Causes of dyscalculia and location of lesion effects are also commented on. Luria broadly conceptualized the dyscalculias into spatial and verbal components with spatial deficits subdivided into visual and imaginal. Luria did not offer a complete model of dyscalculia, nor did he use error analyses: he also claimed that most acalculias were secondary to more basic aphasic disorders.

The Constraining of Parameters in Restricted Factor Analysis

In restricted factor analysis each of the elements in the matrices (of factor loadings, factor correlations, and unique variances and covariances) can be fixed, free to be estimated, or constrained. In this paper it is argued that the common practice of constraining some parameters at 0 often is not psychologically meaning ful. Alternative procedures for constraining parameters are presented and illustrated using data based on the Luria model. Index terms: Constrained parame ters, Factor analysis, Factor correlations, Factor loadings, Factor uniqueness.