Mark Bracher
Recent work in various areas of cognitive science has provided empirical substantiation for Lacan's three registers of mental functioning (Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic). The mutually independent research projects of Stern, Bucci, Greenspan, Schore, Horowitz, Pennebaker, and Vaughan all demonstrate that human subjects process experience and construct identity simultaneously in three different modes, which can be referred to as the affective (Lacan's Real), the perceptual or imagistic (Lacan's Imaginary), and the conceptual or linguistic (Lacan's Symbolic). This research also demonstrates that virtually all psychological capacities--from perception and cognition to general intelligence, artistic and scientific creativity, and responsive and responsible social action--depend on communication between and integration among these three registers. Certain cultural resources--including the opportunity to engage in certain language practices--are particularly useful, these researchers have discovered, in fostering optimum development and integration of the three registers, as well as in rectifying deficient development and resolving conflicts within and between registers. This paper will explore how pedagogical strategies can maximize the development and integration of the three registers and thus enhance students' general intelligence and creativity, as well as their personal well being and social responsibility.