RE: [xmca] self-regulation

[larry smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com>]

Message from Francine:
Martin - I will give a brief synopsis of the relevant passages from Fuster's 2009 book.Since neither the Table of Contents nor the subject index list left or right prefrontal (orcerebral hemispheres) as organizing terms, you have to read the text to find placeswhere Fuster is discussing the differences. To date, I have only focused on hisdiscussion of creative intelligence.
In Joaquin Fuster's book The Prefrontal Cortex (4th edition 2009 Elsevier)
pages 369-371 are subtitled Creative Imagination - it is consistent with the interpretation of Vygotsky's Theory of Creativity that my husband Larry and I have been putting forth since the 1980's. Note that the only Vygotsky text that Fuster cites is Kozulin's 1986 translation of Thought and Language.Never-the-less Fuster has inferred that for Vygotsky  several consciously directed thought processes are working together in creative thinking. 
In the second column first paragraph p.371, Fuster writes                                      Some developmental psychologists attribute the explosive advent of creative intelligence       to the development of language . . . . Language development, according to Vygotsky (1986),      is at the very essence of the development of intelligence in general . . . .Other cognitive       functions . . . transcend the stage of merely serving intelligence . . . . Thus creative intelligence,      the "intelligence from within," emerges as the aggregate outcome of intelligent attention,      intelligent perception, intelligent memory, and intelligent language. . . .
Note that what Fuster described as aggregates, Vygotsky called psychological systems(Vygotsky, 1932 Imagination and its Development in Childhood). However, sinceFuster was apparently unaware of Vygotsky's three papers on the development of imagination and creativity, Fuster did not include intelligent imagination (i.e., consciouslydirected imagination) among his list of 'higher mental functions.'

Next paragraph,                                  All those developments on which creative intelligence is founded take place in conjunction       with - indeed as a result of - the maturation of the lateral prefrontal cortex. The maturation of the      right hemisphere seems especially important for the development of spatial creativity (Luria and        Simernitskaya, 1977; Lezak, 1995). That of the left, as we all know, is important for the development      of  linguistic creativity, and also arguably, for that of musical and logical creativity. Neither,      hemisphere, however, has exclusive control over one or another form of creativity  . . . .
On page 371 first colum first paragraph.                       To reiterate, the creative process is largely one of making new cognits out of old . . . under       the agency of the prefrontal cortex. 
Even though, Fuster did not elaborate further on the implications of this distinction betweenthe roles of left and right prefrontal cortices in creativity -  I think it is profound. There isa dual consciousness within us (shades of Julian Jaynes), there are two areas of thebrain engaged in different executive functions at the same time - of course, that iswhy we can drive at high speeds in congested traffic and be engaged in some mentaltask at the same time (perhaps, day dreaming, maybe conceptual problem-solving).Notice how much more dangerous this becomes when our external speech is being used in a cell phone conversation or our hands and eyes diverted while texting. 
Also, Vygotsky wrote that talking to one's self silently [or even speaking out loud]enables one to observe and direct one's self as if being directed by another person(a feeling of dual consciousness).Since the speech center is typically in the left cerebral hemisphere, it makes sense that the left prefrontal lobe would have more of the linguistic executive function. Vygotsky was particularly interested in the human ability to plan things out in your head before engaing in overt behavior - animals are only capable of some type of self-regulation of overt behavior.
Also, a review of the research on the hemispheric specializtion of the left and rightcerebral hemispheres, is not the same as looking at the regulatory role of theprefrontal areas of those hemispheres.
Perhaps a new generation of researchers will take on interest in this.
P.S. I will send another e-mail with the citations from Luria & Simernitskaya (1977) andfrom Lezak (1995).

> From: packer@duq.edu
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: [xmca] self-regulation
> Date: Fri, 3 May 2013 18:30:41 +0000
> 
> Hi Francine,
> 
> On checking, the book by Fuster that I have is his "Cortex and Mind." What distinction does he draw in The Prefrontal Cortex?
> 
> Martin
> 
> On May 2, 2013, at 10:02 AM, larry smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Message from Francine,
> > Martin,
> > Fuster makes a distinction between the prefrontal cortices that is particularlyrelevant to creative thinking (on pages 369-371 of his book). Goldberg'sdistinctions between functions of the left and right frontal lobes do not specify the roles of the prefrontal areas. 
> >> From: packer@duq.edu
> >> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >> Subject: Re: [xmca] self-regulation
> >> Date: Thu, 2 May 2013 14:01:52 +0000
> >> 
> >> Yes, I too have Fuster's book, and he draws no distinction between the two prefrontal areas. Goldberg's argument goes further: he suggests that the traditional account -- that the the right hemisphere is involved in spatial cognition, while the left is involved in linguistic and perhaps musical and logical cognition -- is incorrect, or at best an oversimplification. He presents evidence that the left hemisphere handles cognitive strategies that have become routinized, while the right hemisphere is involved in exploring novel situations to which existing codes and strategies are not applicable. The traditional language/nonlanguage dichotomy may simply be a special case of this functional differentiation. In addition, as a task becomes routinized it may be moved from the right to the left hemisphere.
> >> 
> >> Martin
> >> 
> >> On May 2, 2013, at 1:00 AM, larry smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> 
> >>> Message from Francine:
> >>> Martin and Joe, Thank you for the suggesting Goldberg's book.
> >>> 
> >>> I did read Goldberg's book when preparing our 2012 publication (under discussion).But Joaquin Fuster's book  The Prefrontal Cortex (2009) NY:Elsevier was much more detailed in its discussion of the functions of the left and right prefrontal areas (specifically prefrontal areas not just frontal lobes). Yet Fuster still titled his book The Prefrontal Cortex (singular) as if the prefrontal cortices were one unitary area of the brain (using the customary terminology but never-the-less inadvertantly perpetuating the same misconception.)
> >>>> Subject: Re: [xmca] self-regulation
> >>>> From: joe.glick@gmail.com
> >>>> Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 23:05:26 -0400
> >>>> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >>>> 
> >>>> He's also got a book "The New Executive Brain: the Frontal Lobes in a Complex World." 
> >>>> 
> >>>> He was among Luria's last students.
> >>>> 
> >>>> Sent from my iPhone
> >>>> 
> >>>> On May 1, 2013, at 9:48 PM, Martin Packer <packer@duq.edu> wrote:
> >>>> 
> >>>>> Hi Francine
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> There is indeed work by Elkhonon Goldberg that suggests that the frontal lobes are specialized hemispherically. The left frontal lobe seems to be involved in deliberate and context-independent activities that are based on known information, while the right frontal lobe seems to be involved in deliberate, context-dependent activities that are guided by the environment.
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> Martin
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> Goldberg, E., Podell, K., & Lovell, M. (1994). Lateralization of frontal lobe functions and cognitive novelty. Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 6, 371-378.
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> On Apr 29, 2013, at 12:46 AM, larry smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>> 
> >>>>>> Vygotsky was focusing on self-regulation of conceptual thought. I also wonder what brain imaging technology would show about the development of executive function in the prefrontal cortices in deaf people. I think it has been a mistake for neurologists to refer to the prefrontal cortex as if the left and right prefrontal cortices acted in unity.  There must be different self-regulatory systems operating from the left prefrontal cortex (speech) and perhaps some other type of non-verbal self-regulation operates from the right prefrontal cortex.This other type of non-verbal self-regulation could be left prefrontal in the deaf. Brain imaging techniques like the functional MRI could provide a breakthrough. Since Vygotsky was focused on the ability to self-regulate conceptual thought we can expect that self-regulation of sensori-motor functions is going involve the development of a different neurological system.
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> 
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