Lateralização cerebral de funções e sua implicação para a cognição humanado paradigma do duplo sistema funcional de processamento a um enfoque de sistema complexo

Resumo

This work examines the cerebral lateralization of functions and its implications to the human cognition at the intersection level between the clinical europsychology and the cognitive psychology. At first, it presents a description and a critical analysis of the contemporary conformation of this field of neuropsychological research with emphasis on the prevalent metatheory and theories conjoint with the conceptual system used at the area. Initially, the neuropsychological approach to the problem of cerebral lateralization is examined in respect to its articulation with the main methods and technics that have determined the state of the art in such area, under a historical approach. Afterwards, the analysis is carried on focusing the main fundamental facets of the problem of the human cerebral lateralization of functions, such as the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres, the conjoint activity of the hemispheres and the relations between individual differences in cerebral lateralization and cognitive performance. In such context are emphasized the difficulties and inconsistencies related to the restrictiveness of the prevalent view, evaluated as an expression of a neuropsychological conception excessively simplified of the problem comprised by the relations between the brain and the human cognition. The second part of the work deals with a tentative development of a systemic approach to the problem of cerebral lateralization of functions looking for a higher degree of complexity. This is a tentative development that starts with a descentralization of the lateral dimension of the nervous system and results in a subsumption of this problem to a more global perspective concerning the cerebral organization of functions and the fundaments for a theoretical construction on neuropsychology. Then, the work follows with an examination of this systemic perspective implications to the relations between normal inter-individual variations in the lateralization of functions and the cognitive habilities, that points to a diminishment of the importance that has been attributed to the cerebral lateralization of functions on human cerebral functioning and cognition. The third part of this work deals with an empirical study concerning the relations among normal inter-individual variations of cerebral lateralization of functions, manipulatory preference and its family history and cognitive performance. This study compares the performances on the WAIS Test of destral subjects with a negative sinistrality familial history with those of sinistral subjects with a positive familial history. The results express an innequivocal similarity of the two group performances on all the WAIS scales. They are discussed mainly in respect to the existence or non existence of direct correspondences among normal variations in the representations of the functions in the lateral dimension of the nervous system, manipulatory preference and cognitive habilities. An integrative summary of the main aspects of the conclusions attained during this work constitutes the final conclusion.

Ficha do documento

Tipo

Tese

Ano

1989

Instituição

Fundação Getulio Vargas

Fonte

Repositório da FGV

Idioma

Português

Acesso

Não informado

Identificador

oai:repositorio.fgv.br:10438/9625

Palavras-chave

PsicologiaHemisférios cerebraisDominância cerebralNeuropsicologiaCognição