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Evgenia D. HomskayaFootnote 1—one of Aleksandr Luria's first students and longest collaborators—was born in Moscow on August 7, 1929. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Homskaya's father, David Moiseevich HomskyFootnote 2 (1901–1982), became a soldier of the Red Army. He was subsequently injured and while in a hospital in Saratov (a city on the Volga river) he met Lubov’ Mihailovna Belyakova (1899–1991), a nurse. They decided to move together to St. Petersburg to study where David entered the division of airplane engineering, and Lubov’ entered the division of chemistry of St. Petersburg University. After graduating from the University, David Homsky—a very talented engineer—was offered a position as the chief engineer of a Moscow factory for airplane construction. The factory gave them a flat as living accommodations, and the family moved to Moscow. While working there, David Homsky organized the construction of many aviation factories in Russia. His wife traveled often with him until the birth of their children Evgenia and her brother Peter (1925–1999) who became an engineer and professor of engineering. Their schooling occurred in Moscow where Evgenia was noted to be a very good pupil and was even mentioned in a newspaper article as among the best pupils in Moscow. Along with attending traditional schooling, both children took music lessons.
At this time a period of repression began in the Soviet Union and David Homsky was arrested in 1942. He became seriously ill in prison but was liberated in 1943 after almost dying. His health improved, and he returned to his family and working as an engineer in Moscow.
Evgenia graduated from secondary school in 1947 with a gold medal and entered the division of psychology of the Department of Philosophy of Moscow State University. Her Master's thesis, supervised by Professor A.N. Sokolov, studied the changes in human acoustic sensitivity with perception of different words. It was a way to study the psychosemantic features of an individual's conscience. After graduating from Moscow University in 1952, Homskaya worked as a laboratory assistant in a sanatorium for oligophrenic (essentially, congenitally mentally retarded) children that was a clinical division of the research laboratory studying such children at the Institute of Defectology (special education). The chief of the laboratory at that time was Professor A.R. Luria. Beginning then, and for the next 25 years, Evgenia worked closely with Luria, becoming one of his most devoted pupils. Even after his death in 1977, she continued to develop Luria's ideas, publish his works, and cherish his name until the last day of her own life.
In 1957 Evgenia defended her Ph.D. dissertation entitled “The role of speech in compensation of disturbances of conditioned motor reactions in children.” She studied idiopathic mentally retarded and oligophrenic children and found that verbal mediation compensates motor disturbances in children with mental retardation, but not in children with oligophrenia. This study was thought to support Luria's hypothesis about the role of speech in normal and abnormal development at the time.
From 1958 until 1980 Evgenia directed a group of psychophysiologists in the Laboratory of Neuropsychology at the Burdenko Institute of Neurosurgery of the Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences. At the same time, up to the last day of her life, she continued to lecture in the Division of Neuropsychology of the Department of Psychology of Moscow State University. Evgenia was a full professor of this Division by 1974.
The main focus of Evgenia's research work at the Laboratory of Neuropsychology was the study of psychophysiological and neuropsychological functions of the frontal lobes of the brain. In 1971, she defended her doctoral dissertation entitled “Frontal lobes of the brain and activation processes.” Using electrophysiological methods she studied EEG reactions to counting and irrelevant tasks. It was found that initiation of activity regulated by speech provokes generalized and stable activation of the EEG in healthy subjects and in patients with brain injury except for those patients with lesions of the medio-basal frontal lobes. Evgenia proposed a new method for the evaluation of EEG wave asymmetry. Changes in EEG wave asymmetry were found to be more sensitive to intellectual capabilities than the amplitude and frequency spectrum of the EEG. The results of this study permitted one to differentiate frontal and pseudo-frontal (secondary frontal) symptoms in patients as well to reveal subclinical (latent) frontal symptoms. The dissertation was published in the Russian book Brain and Activation (1972), which was translated into English and published in the USA in 1983.
In 1973 Evgenia was awarded the Premium of Lomonosov of the Second Degree for her work in neuropsychology. Throughout her career, different problems of neuropsychology were investigated by Evgenia: verbal regulation of ocular and manual movements; brain mechanisms of visual perception; EEG correlates of voluntary attention, memory, intelligence; and others. Like her teacher A.R. Luria, Evgenia always combined research work with the clinical neuropsychological assessment of brain-damaged patients, teaching the art of diagnosis to her pupils. Evgenia's 1987 textbook Neuropsychology, which underwent several subsequent editions, was a tour-de-force summary of major theoretical and clinical issues in neuropsychology. The book served not only as an important teaching tool for Russian students of neuropsychology, but expanded upon Luria's earlier formulations in Higher Cortical Functions in Man and provided updated information as a scientific foundation for contemporary neuropsychology.
From 1972 until 1980 Evgenia directed the Laboratory of Neuropsychology at the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She continued her research in “neuropsychological psychophysiology” by studying the functional states of the brain, interhemispheric organization of cerebral activity, and individual differences in healthy subjects. In the last years of her life Evgenia became interested in the cerebral organization of emotions; possibilities of use of neuropsychological methods for the analysis of borderline pathology (e.g., in subjects with the “Chernobyl syndrome”); computer methods of neuropsychological assessment; and other problems.
Evgenia contributed much to the development of theoretical problems of Russian and worldwide neuropsychology. The interrelationships between Lurian neuropsychology; the cultural-historical approach of Vygotsky and the biological sciences; and the theory of neuropsychological factors were principle topics covered by her work. During her scientific life, Evgenia published more than 300 works in Russian, English, and other languages. In 1996 she became Emeritus Professor at Moscow University; however, Evgenia still continued to remain active professionally. In 1997 she was Chair of the Program Committee of the First International Luria Memorial Conference in Moscow, and in 2002 she served as the President of the Second International Luria Memorial Conference in Moscow, which celebrated the centennial anniversary of Luria's birth and may be the last major international meeting recognizing many of Luria's students and colleagues.
In her personal life, Evgenia remained a quiet person. She lived with her ill mother for many years and served as a wonderful caretaker for her until she died in 1991. She never married and had no other immediate family in recent years, but always took great care of the family of her nephew, Alexander Homsky, who is her sole surviving relative. Evgenia spent a good deal of her personal time in scientific study, and perhaps her most enduring personal quality was her devotion to the scientific work and legacy of her teacher, A.R. Luria.
Evgenia wrote in her last paper, dedicated to the memory of Luria: “It is important that Lurian neuropsychology should retain its place among other neurosciences. This depends not only on the overall situation in our country, but, even more important, on the representatives of Luria's school (present and future), and their dedication to science, enthusiasm, as well as their loyalty to the scientific trend established by Luria” (Homskaya, 2005, p. 9). Every Russian neuropsychologist will consider these words to be their personal duty both to Aleksandr Luria and to Evgenia Homskaya, and neuropsychologists worldwide will also continue to benefit from reading and applying the concepts of these distinguished scientists.
Notes
We are using the Anglicized version of Homskaya's name in this obituary, rather than the direct transliteration from Russian (Khomskaia), as this is the way she signed her name in English and it is closer to the Russian pronounciation.
The family name could also be transliterated as Chomsky. Interestingly, Aleksandr Luria was convinced that Homskaya's family was related to the family of the noted linguist Noam Chomsky, based on similar physical and mental attributes between Evgenia and Noam, and the correspondence of family names. According to Professor Chomsky (personal correspondence to David Tupper, August 2004), although his family did originate from Russia in the same time period, such a connection is impossible to confirm due to lack of available documentation.
Selected Bibliography of Evgenia D. Homskaya (Chronological Order)
Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (1960). Section of medical psychology and psychophysiology of the Moscow division of the psychological association. Vop. Psikhol. 6(2): 164–166 (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., Khomskaya, E. D., and Konovalov, Yu.V. (1961). Participation of the verbal system in the regulation of vegetative components of reflexes in cases of local brain damage. Vopr. Neirokhir. 4 (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (1962). Disturbances of intellectual operations in cases of local brain damage. Doklady APN RSFSR 6: 97–104 (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (1962). An objective study of ocular movements and their control. Psychol. Beitrage 6: 598–606.
Luria, A. R., and Homskaja, E. D. (1963). Le trouble du rôle regulateur du language au cours des lésions du lobe frontal. Neuropsychologia, 1: 9–26 (In French).
Luria, A. R., Kutsemilova, A. P., and Chomskaja, E. D. (1964). Analisi neuropsicologica di una sindrome pseudofrontale da tumore cerebellare. Cortex 1: 9–26 (In Italian).
Luria, A. R., Pribram, K. H. and Homskaya, E. D. (1964). An experimental analysis of the behavioral disturbances produced by a left frontal arachnoidal endothelioma (meningioma). Neuropsychologia 2: 257–280.
Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (eds.), (1966). Lobniye doli i reguliatsiya psikhicheskikh protsessov (Frontal lobes and the regulation of psychological processes), Moscow Univ. Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (1966). Introduction. In: Luria, A. R. and Homskaya, E. D. (eds.), Lobniye doli i reguliatsiya psikhicheskikh protsessov (Frontal lobes and the regulation of psychological processes), Moscow Univ. Press, Moscow, pp. 5–6 (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., Kutsemilova, A. P., and Homskaya, E. D. (1966). On pseudofrontal symptoms after tumors of the cerebellum. Vopr. Neurokhir. 2: 45–48 (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., Pribram, K., and Homskaya, E. D. (1966). Disturbances of programmed actions in a case of a massive lesion of the left frontal lobe. In: Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (eds.), (1966). Lobniye doli i reguliatsiya psikhicheskikh protsessov (Frontal lobes and the regulation of psychological processes), Moscow Univ. Press, Moscow, pp. 554–575 (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., Homskaya, E. D., Blinkov, S. M. and Crichley, M. (1967). Impaired selectivity of mental processes in association with a lesion of the frontal lobe. Neuropsychologia 5:(2), 105–117.
Luria, A. R., Kutsemilova, A. P., and Homskaya, E. D. (1967). Frontal lobe tumors developing without any external signs of disturbance of higher cortical functions. Vopr. neirokhir. 3: 51–54 (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (1969). Neurophysiological symptoms of damage to the medial structures of the cerebral hemispheres. In: Glubinniye structuri mozga, V. 1. Meditsyna, Moscow (In Russian).
Luria, A. R., and Homskaya, E. D. (1970). Frontal lobes and the regulation of arousal processes. In: Mostofsky, D. (ed.). Attention: Contemporary theory and analysis, Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, pp. 303–330.
Homskaya, E. D. (1972). Brain and Activation. Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian). English translation: E. D. Khomskaia (1983), Brain and Activation, Pergamon, New York.
Homskaya, E. D. (ed.) (1975). Functional States of the Brain, Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Luria, A. R. (eds.) (1977). Problems of Neuropsychology: Psychophysiological Studies, Nauka, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1978). A systemic study of the bioelectric activity of the brain during mental work. In: Smirnov, A. A., Luria, A. R. and Nebylitsin, V. D. (eds.). Estestvennonauchnyye osnovy psikhologii (Basic science foundations of psychology), Pedagogika, Moscow, pp. 234–253 (In Russian).
Vladimirov, A. D., and Homskaya, E. D. (1981). Processes of Extrapolation in the Ocular Motor System, Nauka, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., Tsvetkova, L. S. and Zeigarnik, B. V. (eds.). (1982). A. R. Luria and Contemporary Psychology, Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (ed.) (1984). Neuropsychology: Readings Book, Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Batova, N.Ya. (1984). Neuropsychological study of the influence of the emotional factor on verbal memory. Vop. Psikhol. 3 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Efimova, I. V. (1985). Ocular motor activity as a sign of the functional state of the brain. Hum. Physiol. 11(2) (In Russian and English).
Homskaya, E. D. (ed.), (1986). Neuropsychological Analysis of Interhemispheric Asymmetry, Nauka, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1987/2002/2003). Neuropsychology (several editions). Moscow University Press/Russian Psychological Association Press/St. Petersburg, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., Efimova, I. V., and Sirotkina, E. B. (1988). Interhemispheric asymmetry and voluntary regulation of intellectual activity (Psychodiagnostic problems). Vop. Psikhol. 2: 147–152 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (ed.) (1989). New Methods of Neuropsychological Research, Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Efimova, I. V., and Homskaya, E. D. (1990). Interhemispheric asymmetry and vegetative regulation during mental activity. Hum. Physiol. 16(5). (In Russian and English).
Homskaya, E. D., and Gasimov, F. M. (1991). On spatial orientation in subjects with different profiles of interhemispheric asymmetry of the brain. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, ser. 14, Psychology 4: 35–41 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Efimova, I. V. (1991). A Typology of individual profiles of interhemispherical asymmetry. Vestn. Mosk. Univ., ser. 14, Psychol. 4: 42–47 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1992). Aleksxandr Romanovich Luria: A scientific biography, Voenizdat, Moscow (In Russian). English edition (2001), Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.
Homskaya, E. D., and Batova, N. Ya. (1992/1998). The Brain and Emotions, Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Kayenkina, M. A. (1993). Experimental study of emotions through smell evaluation of subjects with different profiles of lateral organization of the brain. Vestn. Mosk. Univ., ser. 14, Psychology. 3: 34–48 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (ed.). (1995). Neuropsychology Today, Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., Privalov, N. N., Enikolopova, E. V., Efimova, I. V., Budyka, E. V., Stepanova, O. B., and Gorina, I. S. (1995). Methods for Evaluating Hemispheric Asymmetry and Hemispheric Interaction, Moscow University Press, Moscow (In Russian)
Homskaya, E. D. (1996). Neuropsychology of individual differences. Vestn. Mosk. Univ., ser. 14, Psychology 2: 24–32 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1996). The role of L.S. Vygotsky in the works of A.R. Luria. Vop. Psikhol. 5: 72–82 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1996). The participation of medical psychologists in the Chernobyl program. Psikhol. obozreniye 1/2: (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1996). A. R. Luria. In: Zinchenko, V. P. and Mesheryakov, B. G., Dictionary of Psychology, Pedagogika-Press, Moscow, pp. 180–181 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Ryzhova, I. A. (1996). Computer study of voluntary movement regulation in workers surmounting consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe. Sotsialnaya i Klinicheskaya Psikhiatriya (Social and Clinical Psychiatry) 4: 32–40 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1997). Alexander Romanovich Luria: Memories. In: Rubtsov, V. V. and Yaroshevsky, M. G. (eds.). Eminent Psychologists of Moscow, Institute of Psychology Press, Moscow, pp. 217–231 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1997). Methodological problems of contemporary psychology. Vop. Psikhol. 3: 112–132 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1997). The neuropsychological school of A.R. Luria. Vop. Psikhol. 5: 79–100 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (1997). A study of the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe from the position of ecological neuropsychology. Psychol. J. 6 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., Efimova, I. V., Budyka, E. V., and Enikolopova, E. V. (1997). The Neuropsychology of Individual Differences, Rospedagentstvo, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., Glozman, J. M., and Tupper, D. E. (eds.). (1997). First International Luria memorial conference. Abstracts, Russian Psychological Association Press, Moscow (In Russian and English).
Homskaya, E. D., and Akhutina, T. V. (eds.) (1998). A.R. Luria's 1st International Memorial Conference Proceedings, Russian Psychological Association Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (ed.). (1999). Readings Book in Neuropsychology, Russian Psychological Association Press, Moscow (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Moskvin, V. A. (eds.). (2000). Neuropsychology and Psychophysiology of Individual Differences, IPKRO Press, Moscow-Orenburg (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., and Stepanova, O. B. (2000). Lateral features of the voluntary regulation of the rate of hand movements. In: Homskaya, E. D. and Moskvin, V. A. (eds.), Neuropsychology and Psychophysiology of Individual Differences, IPKRO Press, Moscow-Orenburg (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., Udachina, E. G., and Kvasovets, S. V. (2000). Relationships between the profile of hemispheric asymmetry and indices of preceding eye movements. In: Homskaya, E. D. and Moskvin, V. A. (eds.), Neuropsychology and Psychophysiology of Individual Differences, IPKRO Press, Moscow-Orenburg (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (2001). Achievements of national psychology in the studies of the problem “Brain and Mind.” Psychol. J. 3: 5–13 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (2003) A.R. Luria and contemporary psychology. In: Akhutina, T. V., and Glozman, J. M. (eds.), A.R. Luria i psikhologia XXI veka. Doklady II Mezhdunarodnoy Konferentsii pamyati A.R. Luria (Luria and psychology of the 21st century: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference to the memory of A.R. Luria), Fedorovets, Moscow, pp. 3–9 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (2003). Neuropsychological approach to the study of the typology of healthy persons (actual state and perspectives). In: Akhutina, T. V. and Glozman, J. M. (eds.), A.R. Luria i psikhologia XXI veka: Doklady II Mezhdunarodnoy Konferentsii pamyati A.R. Luria (Luria and psychology of the 21st century: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference to the memory of A.R. Luria), Fedorovets, Moscow, pp. 28–33 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (2003). Clinical neuropsychology: an entirety or a part? Vop. Psikhol. 5: 33–46 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D., Stepanova, O. B. and Gorina, I. S. (2003). On the voluntary regulation of hand movements in talented schoolchildren. Vestn. Mosk. Univ., ser. 14, Psychol. 1: 23–29 (In Russian).
Homskaya, E. D. (2005). The achievements of Lurian neuropsychology in the study of the problem “Brain and Mind” In: Akhutina, T., Glozman, J., Moskovich, L., and Robbins, D. (eds.), A.R. Luria and contemporary psychology: Festschrift celebrating the centennial of the birth of Luria, Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, NY, pp. 3–12.
Xomskaya, E. D. (2002). La escuela neuropsicológica de A.R. Luria. Rev. Espanola neuropsicol. 4(2–3): 130–150 (In Spanish).
Xomskaya, E. D. (2002) El problema de los factores en neuropsicologia. Rev. Espanola neuropsicol. 4(2–3): 151–167 (In Spanish).
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Glozman, J., Tupper, D. Obituary—Evgenia Davydovna Homskaya. Neuropsychol Rev 16, 95–98 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-006-9006-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-006-9006-6