Relevance. Eye-tracking study of reading is widely used methodology in modern psychology. But there is a lack of such studies in Russian language. Particularly, there are few eye-tracking studies of reading on early stages of acquisition of this skill. 

Objectives. The main aim of our study is to describe process of reading in children 9-10 years old. We compare state of cognitive functions of children and state of their reading skills and try to describe possible strategies for mastering the skill of reading based on indicators of oculomotor activity. 

Methods. 56 third graders participated in the study, mean age – 9.62 years old. The reading skills were assessed using the method “Reading regular and irregular words”. We also record eye-movements of the children during reading the corpus of sentences designed for early schoolchildren. Cognitive functions were assessed by neuropsychological assessment adapted for children of 6–9 years old. 

Results. We separated the sample into two subgroups with relatively low and high state of reading skill and found differences in the state of cognitive functions and in the oculomotor activity of children in these groups. The children with relatively low reading skill often had weaknesses of executive functions, functions of visual-spatial and auditory information processing. They made more fixations and their fixations were longer than children with high state of the reading skill. A qualitative analysis of the reading of two children with dyslexia and two children with selective development of sub-lexical / lexical routes made it possible to describe the features of reading in children with the weakness of the both strategies or one of them.

Conclusion. The results obtained in the study, on the one hand, show a general interrelation between the features of reading mastering and the state of individual cognitive functions of children, and on the other hand, they indicate that there is no rigid determination of the level of reading development by the state of cognitive functions.

A brief biographical sketch about Evgenia Davydovna Chomsky (07.08.1929—06.03.2004)

The article presents the overview of the basic approaches, concepts and directions in studying personality in neuropsychology. Neuropsychiatric approach is based on phenomenological description of personality disorders in patients with various brain damages. Neuropsychological studies of personality held in A.R. Luria school that are mainly present in works under E.D. Homskaya guidance, in order to experimentally study brain organization of personality suggest using structural-functional model that includes emotional, motivational and executive processes and self-awareness. Aphasiology postulates, that personality disorders are secondary to communication disabilities that occur in speech pathology. Finally, neuropsychoanalysis focuses on cerebral mechanisms of unconscious processes and personality functioning in different pathological models. The paper presents the results of the study held. With the use of neuropsychological syndrome analysis method 50 young adult male patients have been studied with pathocharacterological spectrum disorders divided in two groups: schizoid personality disorder (30 patients) and schizotypal personality disorder (20 patients). It has been established that both groups have specific cognitive disturbances that indicate frontal-parietal-thalamic connections. Lateral differences are revealed: neuropsychological symptoms that are associated with left hemisphere dysfunction are specific for schizotypal personality disorder; neurocognitive deficit that is associated with right hemisphere is specific for patients with schizoid personality disorder. Perspectives of personality neuropsychology are discussed.

The article presents the results of a longitudinal population-based neuropsychological study of the development of higher mental functions (HMF) in primary school children from Grades 1 through 3 of Moscow secondary school (n=84). The dynamics of HMF components in the sample in general and in groups of children with different (measured in the 1st grade) level of HMF (high, medium, low) was followed with the help of seven indexes that reflect the status of the individual components of HMF, such as executive functions (voluntary regulation of activity), serial organization of movements and actions, processing of kinesthetic, auditory, visual and visual-spatial information, regulation of activation. The study showed a positive dynamics in the overall state of structural-functional components of HMF in the examinees. Groups of children with different baseline levels of HMF steadily kept the differences in the degree of development of HMF components in each evaluation, despite the fact that the highest dynamics of HMF components was found in children with initially low, and the lowest — in children with initially high levels of HMF components. Among the components the lowest dynamics was found in the development of voluntary regulation, that is, the functions of programming, regulation and control of activity. No significant dynamics of these functions from the first to the third grade in children with high baseline functioning may be related to the fall of their learning motivation as their learning proceeds in the Zone of actual and not proximal development.

The paper considers the history of development and different aspects of the new neuropsychological theory of social brain, its relations with Luria’s and Vygotsky’s understanding of humans as a social and biological unity. Different theoretical models of analyzed. Experimental studies of influence of brain damages on social cognition and social behavior are described. Social features of child early development are of primordial value for understanding of social brain. This understanding is closely related to the important theory of developmental psychology, proposed by P. Galperin, underlying a double interaction between morphological and functional development. It is proved by negative consequences of child social deprivation on his brain development as well as by evidences of cultural differences in neuropsychological assessment. New understanding of social brain is proposed to be social and cultural determination and regulation of brain functioning.

Based on the analysis of A.R. Luria’s works belonging to different periods of the formation and development of neuropsychology, the author highlights the main directions in the future development of the problem of neuropsychological factors. The author suggests possible aspects of the differential learning of the structural components of spatial factor, in accordance with its functional multiplicity in the systemic structure of the higher mental functions. 

The article is dedicated to problem in usage of main principals of syndrome neuropsychological analysis in psychiatry. Main requirements for realization of A.R. Luria’s syndrome approach are given: accountancy of psychopathology, conceptualization of brain functioning particularities, and special attention to the researched psychological reality. The prospects for further development of neuropsychology in psychiatry, including the assessment and theoretical perspectives, are observed.

Actual problem of a modern neuropsychology is elaboration of batteries of tests combining advantages of qualitative and quantitative approaches. In this article we describe an important step of quantitative processing of neuropsychological data in “Method of neuropsychological assessment of children of 6—9 years” the formation of the generalized indices. The described procedure of the statistical analysis of neuropsychological results appreciably reproduces the logic of the expert who is carrying out the qualitative syndrome analysis of HMF-dysfunction. The formation of indices is considered on an example of neuropsychological assessment of 98 elementary school students with learning disabilities and 33 students with autistic disorders. 

This article aims to acquaint the wide community of general and special education teachers, psychologists, speech and language therapists, including those who work in integrative and inclusive environments, with the outlines of child neuropsychology and neuropsychological approach to assessment, prevention, and remediation of learning disabilities. In the last 20 years the field of psychological theory and practice named school neuropsychology which bases itself upon Vygotsky’s and Luria’s ideas has been developing in Russia. It is actively penetrating the psychological and educational practices involving effective research based methods. Unfortunately, many professionals working in educational sphere and even school psychologists are not aware of the goals and methods of this approach to overcoming learning disabilities. This article aims to contribute in closing this gap. 

The article discusses the question of application of the neuropsychological method in psychogenetic research. It is suggested to use neuropsychological indexes as endophenotype — an intermediate part between genotype and phenotype. Results of experimental study of mono- and dizygotic 43—62 year old twins are reported. Consideration of programming and control index (executive functions index) as an endophenotype has demonstrated that neuropsychological indexes may become a basis for the qualitative analysis of the intelligence structure.