Alexander Luria

Alexander Romanovich Luria Александр Романович Лурия (July 16, 1902-1977) was a famous Russian neuropsychologist. On the 16th of July 1902, Luria was born in Kazan, a small town east of Moscow. He entered Kazan University when he was sixteen and graduated with a degree at the age of nineteen. While a student, he established the Kazan Psychoanalytic Association and exchanged letters with Sigmund Freud. In 1923, his work with reaction times related to thought processes earned him a position at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow. There, he developed the "combined motor method," which helped diagnose individuals' thought processes, creating the first lie-detector device. This research was published in the US in 1932 and in Russian for the first time only in 2002.

In 1924, Luria met Lev Semionovich Vygotsky, who would influence him greatly. Along with Alexei Nikolaevich Leont'ev, these psychologists began developing a new type of psychology. This approach, coined "cultural," "historical," and "instrumental" psychology, dealt with human psychological processes, with a heavy emphasis on language.

Luria's work truly began in the 1930s, when he explored Central Asia, investigating various psychological changes (including perception, problem solving, and memory). He also studied identical and fraternal twins in large residential schools to determine various factors. In the late 1930s, Luria went to medical school (partly to escape the Great Purges being carried out by Josef Stalin). He specialized in the study of aphasia, focusing on the relation between language, thought, and cortical function. He focused considerable attention on the development of compensatory functions for aphasia.

During World War II Luria led a research team at an army hospital looking for ways to compensate psychological disfunctions after injuries. His work resulted in creating the field of Neuropsychology.

Following the war, Luria continued his work in Moscow. For a period of time, he was removed from the Institute of Psychology, mainly as a result of a flare of anti-Semitism. He studied mentally retarded children for much of this time. In the late 1950s, Luria was allowed to return to work, where he remained until his death from heart failure in 1977.

His two main case studies, both published a few years before his death, described a man with an exceptional yet idiosyncratic memory (1968) and a man with a traumatic brain injury (1972). These case studies illustrate Luria's main methods of combining classical and remediational approaches; these methods form the basis of late-20th-century cognitive science.

Luria helped to start the Psychology department of the Moscow State University, and was one of its key professors.

Luria's work is frequently and favorably mentioned in the popular books written by Dr. Oliver Sacks on neurological disorders, which has lead to greater recognition of Luria's accomplishments.

He is also known for having studied the enigmatic case of S.V. Shereshevskii, a Russian journalist with a seemingly unlimited memory.

Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Test
The Luria is a standardized test based on the theories of Luria regarding neuropsychological functioning. There are 11 scales: motor functions, rhythm, tactile functions, visual functions, receptive speech, expressive speech, writing, reading, arithmetic, memory, and intellectual processes. It is used with people who are 15 years or older; however,it may be used with adolescents down to 12 years old. Part of A.R. Luria's legacy was the premium that he placed on the observation of a patient completing a task; intraindividual differences. This flies in the face of standardized testing, yet its importance cannot be ignored. The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (now in its third iteration) attempts to create an alloy of standardized testing and idiosyncratic observation by allowing comparision to the normative sample, and at the same time giving the test administrator flexibility in the administration.