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Après avoir esquissé les grandes lignes de la biographie de AR Luria, cet article présente ses travaux en psychologie générale, essentiels pour la compréhension de sa conception de la neuropsychologie : 1) sa participation à la construction de la théorie historique et sociale de la psychologie, développée avec LS Vygotski ; 2) le rôle du langage dans le développement des activités psychiques supérieures chez l’enfant (i.e. conscientes et volontaires) et, tout particulièrement, la régulation du comportement par le langage intérieur.

Starting with an overview of AR Luria’s biography, we will present his works in general psychology which are key to his conception of neuropsychology (this will be developed in a forthcoming paper). We will focus on the construction of the historical and cultural theory of psychology developed with LS Vygotski, according to which, in man, the natural mental activities, related to the genetic evolution and shared by all humankind, are transformed into higher cortical functions (that is conscious and voluntary activities) through the mediation of language and the products of social activity, thus differ according to the development of societies. We review the Luria’s studies devoted to support the theory in his expeditions in Central Asia, his studies in twins and intellectual disabled children, and the demonstration of the role of speech in the child development of the higher mental activities and regulation of behavior.