[Development and perspectives of neuropsychology].

Abstract

Neuropsychology is a new discipline placed between neurosciences (neurophysiology, neurochemistry, comparative neuroanatomy) and psychology (experimental psychology. psycholinguistics, linguistics). History of neuropsychology shows, during last and the beginning of the present centuries, a marked trend to localization and association (one center for each function, followed later by a period where globalistic trends predominate, according to which a localized lesion is important mostly because of the modification it produces in the functions of brain as a whole. During the last 30 years, the development of anatomoclinical methods and experimental neuropsychology have again given impulse to a neoassociational trend. By their importance, recent advances in the following topics are underlined: (1) The study of behaviour, particularly regarding the role of neurotransmitters. (2) The concept of "hemispheric specialization" in substitution of "hemispheric dominance". (3) The mechanisms of functional reestablishment in the central nervous system. (4) The role of genetic background and experience in the development of functions of the central nervous system.