Neuropsychology

The basis of this article is A. R. Luria’s conception of the qualitative approach in neuropsychology. Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity is one of the most frequent clinical diagnoses given during preschool age. However, precise qualitative neuropsychological criteria for analysis of this clinical diagnosis do not exist and change from one approach to another. Our objective here is to propose such qualitative criteria for neuropsychological analysis of children with diagnoses of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity at preschool age. We follow clinical methodology that is traditional for historical and cultural neuropsychology and is an alternative for the psychometrical and cognitive approach. The methodology of the study was qualitative neuropsychological assessment of the syndrome followed by detailed consideration of the types of difficulties in each case. The study analyzes mistakes and typical examples of execution of the tasks of neuropsychological qualitative assessment by regular children and by children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. The results showed differences between these groups of children. The children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity made a lot of mistakes during assessments. Their difficulties are related to unfavorable conditions in the three functional brain blocks according to Luria’s conception. We conclude that “attention” cannot be considered the only or the main problem in children who receive this diagnosis by psychiatrists and neurologists.

This paper presents the results of research regarding the mnemonic abilities of primary school children with developmental delays. Empirical studies of impaired mental development offer an opportunity to elucidate the psychological mechanisms underlying the process of normal development and enable us to consider at a micro level the formation of mental processes in ontogeny, which would, under normal conditions, be nondescript and not always amenable to psychological analysis. The research addresses an experimental investigation of productivity and qualitative characteristics of mnemonic abilities among primary school students with developmental delays. V.D. Shadrikov’s Theory of Abilities, developed in a systemic approach framework, is the theoretical basis of the research. The method of deploying a memorization activity, as elaborated by V.D. Shadrikov and L.V. Cheremoshkina, was the investigation tool used. The sample included students in grades 1 to 4 between ages 7 to 12 and included a total of 100 children (66 boys and 34 girls). The control group of primary school students with typical development included 105 children (50 boys and 55 girls). The research consisted of several stages: a pilot study, experimental research (the test task was to memorize card #1; the basic task was to memorize cards #2 and #3; to reproduce cards #2 and #3; and to poll the students), mathematical data processing, and a description of the levels of mnemonic ability development among primary students with developmental delays. The following procedures were employed during statistical analysis: Spearman r₃, Mann-Whitney U-test, Jonckheere-Terpstra test, and Kruskal-Wallis test.
The structure of mnemonic abilities in primary schoolchildren with developmental delays was determined to vary according to the underdevelopment of their operational mechanisms. For example, memory functions are based on the use of inborn mechanisms, and a portion of children differ in the type of underdevelopment of their perceptive abilities and attention abilities. Operational and regulative mechanisms of mnemonic abilities in primary schoolchildren with developmental delays are determined to exist at early stages of their formation. Significant differences in productivity and mnemonic abilities in primary school students with developmental delays were observed in comparison with their typically developing peers. In both children with developmental delay, as well as typical children, gender did not present any significant differences in memorization or the employment of functional mechanisms of mnemonic abilities. The analysis shows, and this paper discusses possible causes for subjects’ inability to copy simple nonverbal material after its correct reproduction is shown.

Since the turn of this century, a substantial body of research has been published on the neuroscience of creativity. Now, it is necessary to study the neurophysiological correlates in true-to-life, professionally specific situations. The aim of our empirical research was to study the neurophysiological correlates of musical improvisation, a spontaneous creative activity. The participants were 136 right-handed practicing musicians aged 19 to 36 (102 males and 34 females), divided into two groups—professionals (56 people) and amateurs (80 people). EEG signals were recorded in a resting state (eyes closed) and during three types of internal musical activity (perceiving, mentally reproducing, and mentally improvising) from 21 scalp electrodes according to the International 10-20 System. For statistical analysis, we used ANOVA and post hoc analysis. For the main neurophysiological correlates of musical creativity, we revealed higher values of EEG spectral power in the delta band and the dominance of long-distance functional cortical connections in the high-frequency bands. Variable neurophysiological correlates were differentiated according to emotions and the professional level of the musicians. The distinguishing EEG pattern in the professional musicians during improvisation was the predominant activation of the left- hemisphere cortical regions simultaneously with high interhemispheric integration in the high-frequency band along the “creativity axis.” The revealed neurophysiological correlates of musical creativity during improvisation included basic and variable components and were characterized by a specific frequency-spatial organization of bioelectric cortical activity in the musicians.