Approved For Release 2002/05/17 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000500310001-8 UNCLASSIFIED PAGE: 0011 OF CONSTITUENTS. TEXT: (C(TEXT)) -- NEUROSCIENCES OF ALL SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES, THE NEUROSCIENCES SHOW THE HIGHEST GROWTH POTENTIAL IN THE NINETIES. RESEARCH WORLDWIDE IS TURNING RAPIDLY TO THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND THE NINETIES HAVE THUS BEEN DECLARED THE "DECADE OF THE BRAIN." THE INTEGRATION OF BROAD SECTIONS OF TRADITIONAL SUBJECT AREAS INTO NEUROBIOLOGY IS CREATING NEW SUBDISCIPLINES, AND BOTH REDUCTIONISTIG AND INTEGRATIVE APPROACHES ARE BEING FURTHER DEVELOPED IN THE PROCESS. THE MAX PLANCK SOCIETY FOUNDED AN INSTITUTE OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH IN LEIPZIG IN 1993 TO STUDY THE NEUROSCIENCES. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY IS A STILL YOUNG DISCIPLINE, ALTHOUGH IT IS ALREADY WELL ESTABLISHED ON AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL, OCCUPYING THE AREA WHERE NEUROSCIENCE OVERLAPS WITIi BEHAVIORAL SCIENGS. IT ENDEAVORS TO FIND OUT WHICE PSYCHOLO? ICALLY DESCRIBABLE TASKS ARE PERFORMED IN THE BRAIN BY WILICH STRUCTURES AND IN WHAT FORM. TIE PLANNED INSTITUTE WILL BE WORKING AT THE INTERFACE BET\EEN CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL COGNITION PSYCHOLOGY, INVESTIGATING LINKS BETWEEN PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE BRAIN -- SUCH AS THOSE CAUSED BY CEREBRAL THROMBOSIS, BRAIN TUMORS, OR ACCIDENTAL INJURIES -- AND THE ASSOCIATED CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR AND EXPERIENCE. THIS FIELD HAS RECEIVED A PARTICULAR BOOST FROM TWO RECENT i)2VELOPMENTS: IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE SCOPE OF NEUROLOGY HAS ACQUIREI) A NEW DIMENSION WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN INVASIVE ((AS PUBLISHED)), HIGH-RESOLUTION BRAIN IMAGING PROCESSES (CT ((COMPUTER TOMOGRAPHY)), MRT, AND PET (CEXPANSIONS NOT PROVIDED))). THESE PROCI.SSES MAKE IT POSSIBLE NOT ONLY TO LOCATE BRAIN INJURIES WITH MUCH GREATER PRECISION BUT ALSO TO TRACE THE ACTIVITIES OF SELECTED BRAIN STRUCTURES IN THE WAKING STATE AND SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF PARTICULAR ACTIONS. SECONDLY, CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL COGNITION PSYCHOLOGY HAVE RECENTLY GROWN MUCH CLOSER TOGETHER UNDER THE CONCEPT OF "COGNI'IVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY," AS A RESULT OF WHICH THE TWO BRANCHES HAVE STIMULATED ONE ANOTHER TO A REMARKABLE DEGREE AND A MARKED IMPROVEMENT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN THE IDENTIFICATION ANU DESCRIPTION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF THE PATHOLOGICAL PRUCESSES THAT TAKE PLACE IN THE BRAIN. IN THE LIGHT OF THESE TECIINICAL AND THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENTS, NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL RESEAKCH MAY BE REGARDED AS HAVING AN EXTRAORDINARILY HIGH INNOVATION POTENTIAL. IT MUST ALfO BE SAID THAT THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY HAS SO FAR LARGELY PASSED GERMANY BY. THE MATN REASON FOR THIS LOSS OF GHOUND PROBABLY LIES IN THE FACT THAT THE DISCIPLINES EMBRACING NEUROP! CHOLOGY -- PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROLOGY /NEUROBIOLOGY -- ARE TRADITIONALLY ASSIGNED TO DIFFERENT FACULTIES AT GERMAN UNIVERSITIES AND ARE “SUS KEPT SEPARATE AT THE INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL. THIS CHASM WILL NOW BE BRIDGED BY AN INTERDISCIPLINARY MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE. UNCLASSIFIED Approved For Release 2002/05/17 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000500310001-8
Approved For Release 2002/05/17 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000500310001-8 UNCLASSIFIED PAGE:0012 . A PARTICULAR FEATURE OF THE FOUNDING OF THIS INSTITUTE IS THAT IT REQUIRES FACILITIES FOR INSTITUTIONALIZED COOPERATION WITH A UNIVERSITY TO AN EXTENT THAT HAS NOT TO DATE BEEN. THE NORM FOR MAX PLANCK INSTITUTES. IT IS ONLY BY WORKING CLOSELY WITH A FACULTY OF MEDICINE WITH AN EFFICIENT CLINICAL FACILITY THAT THE !NSTITUTE CAN ENSURE ACCESS TO A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF CHRONICALLY BRAIN-DAMAGED PATIENTS TO BE ABLE TO WORK SUCCESSFULLY. IN THE SAME WAY, IT NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO WORK WITH A DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY COVERING A WIDE RANGE OF DISCIPLINES AND OPEN TO NEUROBIOLOGICAL ISSUES. TIT. HUMANITIES AND SCCIAL SCIENCES ((SUBHEAD)) -~ ECONOMICS THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF GERMAN UNITY, THE LATEST STEPS IN WESTERN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECGNOMIC SYSTEMS IN EASTERN EUROPE REPRESENT MAJOR INCENTIVES AND CHALLENGES TO ECONOMIC RESEARCH THAT IT MUST ADDRESS BY DEPLOYING, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CRITICALLY REVIEWING, ITS WHOLE ARSENAL OF METHODS. NUMEROUS FIELDS OF NATIONAL ECONOMY RESEARCH ARE AFFECTED, ADDED TO WHICH SOLVING THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THESE PROCESSES REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ACTION STRATEGIES SUPPORTED BY RESEARCH. ECONOMIC RESEARCH HAD PREVIOUSLY CONCERNED ITSELF MAINLY WITH THE PROCESSES THAT OCCUR WITHIN GIVEN ECONOMIC SYSTEMS AND WITH THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THOSE SYSTEMS, NOT WITH CHANGES IN ECONOMIC ORDERS PURSUED TO THE EXTREME OF TRANSFORMATION. THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK SURROUNDING ECONOMIC PHENOMENA AND ITS MODIFICATION HAS CONSEQUENTLY BEEN ANALYZED BY ONLY A VERY FEW ECONOMIS™TS. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOCIALIST SYSTEMS REVEALED A GLARING SCIENTIFIC GAP. THE SAME APPLIES TO THE WIDESPREAD DISREGARD FOR THE SIGNIFICANCE OF KNOWLEDGE FOR WORK-SHARING ECONOMIES, WHICH, AMONG OTHER THINGS, LED TO SOCIALIST SYSTEMS STILL PASSING A FEW DECADES AGO FOR ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE PROBLEMS COULD APPARENTLY BE SOLVED SOLELY IN ECONOMIC TERMS. HERE TOO, THERE WERE JUST A FEW ISOLATED RESEARCHERS WHO, DECADE AFTER DECADE, STRESSED HOW TIE KNOWLEDGE PROBLEM WAS BEING NEGLECTED IN ASSESSMENTS OF THE ORGANIZABILITY OF SOCIALIST ECONOMIC SYSTEMS. JUST HOW MUCH THESE SYSTEMS, PRECISELY AS A RESULT OF THEIR NECESSARILY UNECONOMIC ORGANIZATION, LIVED ON THEIR ASSETS TO THE POINT OF OUTRIGHT ECOLOGICAL RAPE IS ONLY NOW EMERGING TO THE FULL. WITH REGARD TO THE KNOWLEDGE AND INSTITUTION PROBLEM THERE IS A LOT OF GROUND TO BE MADE UP, AND NOT ONLY IN GERMANY, IN BASIC ECONOMIG RESEARCH, THE RESULTS OF WHICH WILL THEN BE ABLE TO PROVIDE A BASIS FOR POSSIBLE ECONOMIC POLICY MEASURES. ADMIN (MORE) 3 JUN AV/KUTSCHER/SM 12/0844Z SEP WG 814 BT #0463 NNNN UNCLASSIFIED Approved For Release 2002/05/17 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000500310001-8