Development of Higher Mental Processes in Urban and Rural Children

The article presents results of a neuropsychological study of child populations. Representative sample consisted of 2253 children aged 4-11 years, living in different towns and rural areas. The study focused on developmental features of functional brain asymmetry and higher mental processes and their dependence on the child's place of residence. It shows that the urban and rural populations differ in the degree of functional lateralisation, in the development of movements and actions, speech, and visuospatial processes. Therefore each population has its own developmental norms. In the ontogenetic stage explored in the study the right hemisphere was developed better in the rural population, whereas functional systems of the left hemisphere developed quicker in the urban population. This results in the specificity of children's cognitive activity, adaptation to social factors and school education, and mental disorders.