A look at history

If we look at the history of neuropsychology, it began with attempts to identify the centers of higher mental functions in the cortex of the large hemispheres of the brain. In 1836, at one of the meetings of the medical society in a small town in France, an ordinary doctor Marc Dax asked the chairman of the society for permission to give information about his observations. His speech included the following sentences: "I observed speech disorders in all patients with left hemisphere damage, but not in any of the patients with right hemisphere damage. So, it is the left hemisphere of the brain that is responsible for speech, that is, speech centers are located there." Until now, it was assumed that both hemispheres of the brain are responsible for speech. But he did not confirm his comments with anatomical examinations (although it was possible) and did not publish them. That is why scientists did not even pay attention to the information given by M. Dax that day, and this correct opinion was soon forgotten.

In 1861, a young French scientist, anthropologist Paul Brock, observed one patient with impaired speech and paralysis of the right side of the body. This patient will die soon. When his brain was opened and examined, an infarct was detected in the back of the lower frontal lobe of the left hemisphere (this area was later called Broke's center). The brain of this patient is still preserved in the Medical Museum in Paris. Although the patient understood the speech of the people around him, he could not speak, he only made the sound "ta-ta-ta". This type of speech disorder was later called "motor aphasia". From that period, the search for different centers in the brain begins with great interest. A little later, in 1874, the German psychiatrist K. Wernicke identified the sensory speech center by observing speech disorders even when the upper lobe of the left temporal lobe was damaged.

In 1876, Ferrier discovered the auditory center in the temporal lobe, in 1881, Munk discovered that dogs "see and do not recognize things" when the back of the brain was removed, and in the same year, Exner discovered a writing disorder when the back of the middle frontal lobe was damaged.
Of course, these discoveries surprised the scientists of that time, that is, they started looking for different centers in the brain, even the centers of consciousness, memory, and thinking. From this period, the direction of "localizationism" in science appears. The word "localization" means "place" in French.

In 1870, Finkelburg opposed localizationists and said that "asymbolia" develops when the cortex of the brain is damaged. According to him, as a result of the violation of the ability to use symbols, speech activity, recognition of objects and performance of various conscious actions are disturbed. D. Jackson, a famous English neurologist, criticizes the point of view of localizationists based on his observations in 1864-1874. D. Jackson was mainly interested in the dynamic aspects of speech. He said that "placing the lesion in the brain that causes speech disorders" and "placing the speech itself" are two different things.

D. Jackson focuses on the complete loss of speech function in aphasia. He thinks that in a patient with aphasia, goal-directed speech may be impaired, but emotional speech is preserved. For example, a patient can say a word in a state of affect, but cannot speak voluntarily. D. Jackson says that a person who has "lost his speech" does not mean that he is "bereft of words", because there is also an unintelligible part of the word. Therefore, although the thinking process of a patient who is "deprived of speech" is slightly reduced, he is still able to think. D. Jackson said that goal-oriented speech is related to the left hemisphere of the brain, and emotional speech is related to the activity of the right hemisphere.

D. Jackson was one of the first to put forward the idea of the complex structure of MNS functions. According to him, each function consists of 3 levels: "lower" (spinal cord, brain stem), "middle" (motor and sensory centers of the cerebral cortex) and "higher" (forehead of the brain) fragment). When the "higher" centers are damaged, not only pathological symptoms appear, but also positive changes are observed: the "lower" centers are freed from the control of the "higher" centers and strengthen their activity. An example of this is the strengthening of spinal reflexes when the central pyramidal pathways are damaged. D. Jackson said that if in aphasia the impairment of speaking, reading and writing skills are negative symptoms, the preservation of emotional speech and understanding someone's words are positive features. He announced in 1868 that aphasia is observed not only when the left hemisphere of the brain is affected, but also when the right hemisphere is affected. These patients were very sick. These conclusions of D. Jackson motivated the study of functional asymmetry of the brain. Later, a number of centers were discovered in the cortex of the large hemispheres of the brain. Therefore, scientists consider D. Jackson to be the first to put forward the doctrine of "functional asymmetry of the brain".

An understanding of the science of neuropsychology
Neuropsychology is a science that studies higher mental functions in local and diffuse lesions of the brain. Of course, this science studies the stages of formation of higher mental functions in ontogenesis by connecting them to the morphofunctional systems of the brain. Neuropsychology was formed on the basis of neurology, psychology and physiology.

First, let's talk about the main terms and phrases used in neuropsychology.

Functional system is a morphofunctional structure consisting of afferent and efferent systems responsible for various conscious activities.
A neuropsychological symptom is a disorder of higher mental function that occurs in local lesions of the brain.
A primary neuropsychological symptom is a symptom caused by direct damage to a center responsible for a specific psychological function.
A secondary neuropsychological symptom is a disorder of another higher mental function caused by the appearance of a primary neuropsychological symptom.
Neuropsychological syndrome is a set of several neuropsychological symptoms, the mechanism of origin of which is related to each other.
Neuropsychological factor is an etiological factor causing neuropsychological syndrome.
Syndrome analysis (factor analysis) is a method of determining neuropsychological disorders caused by damage to morphofunctional structures.
Neuropsychological diagnosis is a conclusion obtained as a result of neuropsychological examinations carried out in order to determine the topical diagnosis of local and diffuse lesions of the brain.
Localization of higher mental functions is a concept that indicates that a specific area of the brain is responsible for a specific higher mental function.
Interhemispheric functional asymmetry is an asymmetrical arrangement of functions in the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Interhemispheric relations - a phrase that indicates the mutual participation of both hemispheres in the performance of certain functions.

Neuropsychological therapy

diagnosis and treatment of attention and memory disorders
Diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias
diagnosis and treatment of post-stroke speech disorders
diagnosis and treatment of mental retardation in children
sleep disorders and diagnosis and treatment