Abstract
Vygotsky begins by noting that functions are transferred from lower nervous centres to higher ones (e.g. from the peripheral to the central, from the midbrain to the cortex). But the lower centres retain the ability to function, and can revert to their function when the higher system is damaged. Vygotsky then argues that if higher functions have already emerged in development, it is also possible for the lower functions to entirely transfer their functions to the higher centres when they are damaged. For Vygotsky, this shows a very clear unity of mental and physical development, and he concludes with some thoughts about how growth and development might be related, noting that the traditional relationship, which places growth as a precondition for development, could be the very opposite of the truth.
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Notes
- 1.
Ludwig Edinger (1855–1918) was a German physician and neurologist. Being poor himself, he was an early advocate of universal education. Also because he was poor, he had a hard time financing his research, but he eventually succeeded in setting up the neurology department at the University of Frankfurt with his wife’s money. He performed many observations on children born without any cerebrum, who generally lived for a short time after birth. Edinger’s daughter, Tilly, was the founder of paleoneurology—the study of dinosaur brains! She did much of her research while hiding from the Nazis in the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Frankfurt (the Edingers were Jews).
- 2.
In our time, we can see the “upward transfer” of functions quite easily in male-to-female transexuals who have sex reassignment surgery. In most cases, this involves removal of sex glands, and in some cases, this does result in a temporary diminution of sexual function. However, because sexual functions in humans are transferred to higher centres in the nervous system and the cortex, transexuals are usually able to lead normal sex lives after sex reassignment. A negative example, where higher centres are cut off from lower centres, is the practice of “pre-frontal lobotomy”, which, although banned in the USSR and Germany, was very widely practised in the USA, England, and Scandinavia. After the cortical centres are cut off from lower centres, patients sometimes lost symptoms that were considered pathological (lobotomies were, for example, used to “treat” homosexuals and transexuals, as well as epileptics and depressives). But often the brain lost all control over lower functions, resulting in paralysis (e.g. Rosemary Kennedy, the president’s sister) or death (Josef Hassid, one of Poland’s greatest violinists).
- 3.
Babinski’s reflex occurs in babies and children up to two years old. You stroke the bottom of the foot, starting from the heel and pressing firmly with a finger or a pencil, as you move the pencil or finger towards the toes. The big toe moves upward and the other toes fan out. If this reflex occurs in older children or in adults, it can be a symptom of nervous disorders such as multiple sclerosis, meningitis, brain tumours, strokes or spinal cord injuries of various types.
- 4.
After introducing and explaining each law, Vygotsky “formulates” it, presumably on the blackboard, so that the students can remember it. The “formulation” is usually quite short and memorable, and this one is no exception.
- 5.
Vygotsky warns that when the link between higher and lower functions is disrupted, it is not always the case that the lower centres simply take the place of the higher as best they can (as when the vice-president takes over from the president). With the rupture of the link, the lower centres are “emancipated”, that is, independent. But the higher centres are emancipated too, and when the higher centres are emancipated with the rupture of the link to the lower centres, it is possible, in some instances and above all with some intercortical (that is, intermental) assistance, for the higher functions to re-assert some control.
One example of this, chronicled by Luria (1972) was Lev Zasetsky, the patient who received a severe brain wound in the Battle of Smolensk in 1943 when he was in his early twenties. Zasetsky lost sensory perception in one half of his body, and also who could not remember more than what was given by immediate or “eidetic” memory, which lasts only a few seconds after the present. By using written language, Luria taught him to use a higher centre to carry out daily life tasks such as lighting a stove.
- 6.
The motor speech area of Broca is located in the frontal lobe, but the auditory centre is in the temporal lobe.
Note that Vygotsky uses the term “centre” in a very general way. For example, when he is talking about phylogenesis, the brain as a whole is a higher centre, with respect to the rest of the nervous system. Within the brain, the cerebral cortex is a higher centre, with respect to the rest of the brain. Within the cerebral cortex, active, voluntary centres such Broca’s area are higher than passive, involuntary centres, such as the auditory area on the temporal lobe.
Throughout this lecture, Vygotsky has been showing us how the “depiction” that arises from the observation of symptoms can differ dramatically from the underlying causes. So, for example, different syndromes may arise from the same lesion (in an adult and in a child) while the same syndrome can result from very different brain lesions. When neurosurgeons operate on the brain they are very concerned with the precise areas of the brain, and so they do not use general terms such as “higher centre” or “speech centre” (as you can see there are many different centres involved in speech). But Vygotsky’s purpose here is not to give an accurate topographical map of the brain, but rather to discuss how the process of psychological development has an analogue in the process of neurological development, and for this purpose, the term “higher centre” is very useful.
- 7.
There are many kinds of encephalitis (including Japanese encephalitis, which is born by mosquitoes). As Vygotsky says, encephalitis can cause seizures and uncontrollable motion particularly in children—such children were often diagnosed as “juvenile delinquents” and some of them, in the USA, given lobotomies. But in adults, it can produce the very opposite—a kind of paralyzed, immobile state.
There was an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica worldwide in 1930, leaving many people immobile for the next 30 years. Oliver Sacks wrote his 1973 book “Awakenings” about his (limited) success in treating cases of people who had been essentially asleep since the 1930s with the drug L-DOPA. Some of the patients recovered for a short time, and then lapsed back into immobility. Harold Pinter also wrote a 1983 play about it (“A Kind of Alaska”). It is this kind of encephalitis that Vygotsky discusses in the next paragraph.
See Vilensky et al. (2007) a historical survey of more recent work.
.
- 8.
At the beginning of the chapter, Vygotsky said that there “it was usual” to say that were three laws. But he also said that the last law was in need of emendation and amendment. So now it appears that there are four laws.
References
Luria, A. R. (1972). The man with a shattered world. Cambridge: Harvard.
Pinter, H. (1983). Other places: Three plays (A Kind of Alaska, Victoria Station, and Family Voices). New York: Grove Press.
Sacks, O. (1976). Awakenings. Harmondsworth: Pelican.
Vilensky, J. A., Foley, P., & Gilman, S. (2007). Children and encephalitis lethargica: A historical review. Pediatric Neurology, 37(2), 79–84.
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Vygotsky, L.S. (2019). The General Laws of Physical Development in the Child: The Nervous System. In: L. S. Vygotsky's Pedological Works. Perspectives in Cultural-Historical Research, vol 7. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0528-7_7
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