ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 focuses on the shift in Alexander Luria’s career from psychology to physiology, and how his research in neuropsychology and psychophysiology that developed from the 1930s interacted with ideas about the unconscious. It seeks to nuance Luria’s transition from psychologist to neuropsychologist and brain researcher, using the archival documents around the defence of his doctorate degree in psychology in Tbilisi and the transfer of it to Moscow in the late 1930s, to argue that the engagement with physiology was both forced and genuine for Luria. The set of archival documents examined in this chapter has not yet been discussed in the existing literature and is most likely presented here for the first time. The chapter outlines some of Luria’s ideas on the role of language in the formation of the mind and presents a comparative analysis of his work alongside psychoanalytic concepts.
