Vargas-Medina E. (2021) Figueroa-Nazuno, Jesús Guillermo. En: Jacó-Vilela AM, Klappenbach H., Ardila R. (eds) The Palgrave Biographical Encyclopedia of Psychology in Latin America....
Figueroa-Nazuno,Jesu ´ s Guillermo
Born Huayacocotla,Veracruz(Mexico),30June 1945
Died MexicoCity,8March2018
EstherVargas-Medina
UniversidadLaSalle,CiudaddeMéxico,México
Keywords
Mexico·Humancognition·Naturalsemantic networks
Dr.JesúsFigueroa-Nazunoobtainedhisdegreein PsychologyfromtheCollegeofPsychologyof theFacultyofPhilosophyandLettersofthe NationalAutonomousUniversityofMexico (UNAM,MexicoCity)(NationalAutonomous UniversityofMexico),in1971.Heobtaineda DoctorateinPhilosophy(Ph.D.)fromtheUniversityofEdinburgh,Scotland,in1979,withhis dissertation “ACritiqueofMemoryResearch,” andaDoctorateofSciencefromthesameuniversity,in1980.
DuringhisstudiesinGreatBritain,he publishedsomearticlesinEuropeanjournals.On hisreturnhewasseenassomeone “creativeand restless;recentlyhehasexploredreconstructionin memory,” asDíaz-Guerreropointedout(1984, p.96).
InhisacademicjourneyatUNAM,heparticipatedinpromotingtheworkoftherecently foundedlaboratoriesintheninecampusesofthe NationalHighSchoolaspartof “theplantof youngpeoplewhopreparedthepracticeteachers inthesecampuses” (LaraTapia, 1993,p.21).
Hisconcernforcognitivepsychologywas alwayspresent(cognitiveparadigmofhuman informationprocessing),infrankacademicopposition(notpersonal)tothosewhomheplacedas “behaviorists” and “psychoanalysts” (Ayala Velázquez,Héctor; 1983;Castañeda&López, 1983).Hewasthepromoterofresearchgroups basedontherecruitmentofyoungstudents:he wasalwayssurroundedbyyoungpeople,andhe trainedseveralgenerationsofgraduates,teachers, anddoctors,whocontinuedwiththeacademic andresearchdevelopmentinthedisciplineshe cultivated.Hewasatrueformatoroftalented youngpeople(seeVenegas&Augusto, 2018; Reidl,L.,&Echevestre,M., 2004).
Oneofthegenuineandoriginaldevelopments inhisresearchgroupswasthetheoryandtechniqueof “naturalsemanticnetworks ” (RSN,for itsSpanishacronym)(Figueroaetal.,1976),an innovationforthestudyofmeaningingroupsand individuals,thatis,aformofstudyofrealknowledgeinhumans,whichhadmultipleapplications ineducation,psychology,socialsciences,engineering,computers,administration,physics,and mathematicsteaching,inmanycountries,especiallyinSpanish-speakingcountries.He maintainedthisdevelopmentthroughouthis
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academiclife,whichinvolved42yearsof uninterruptedwork.RSNisaformofknowledge representation,whichmanagestomaintainthe relationshipbetweentheprocessesofacquisition andforgettingofinformation,aswellasapowerfulinstrumentforthestudyofmeaning,basedon atheoryofhumanmemory,whosespecificfoundationistheprocessofreconstructivememory.
TheacademicworkcarriedoutattheUNAM SocialPsychologyLaboratorybetween1985and 1992,initiallyledbyJorgedelValleandlaterby Dr.PabloFernándezChristlieb,shouldbe highlighted(Díaz-Guerrero, 1983).Hecreated spacefortheproductionofnewwindsinthe developmentofMexicancollectivepsychology, which flourishedattheUniversidadAutónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa(UAM-I)(Autonomous MetropolitanUniversity)andwhichamalgamated intheSociedadMexicanadePsicologíaSocial (SOMEPSO)(MexicanSocietyofSocialPsychology)in1985,whereDr.Figueroacollaboratedfromthebeginning.Withtheexpansionof thecurricularinfluenceoftheFacultyofPsychologyoftheUNAM,in1974theSocialPsychology careerwasfoundedattheUAM-I,whereJesús Figueroajoinedin1984andremaineduntil1989. TherehefoundedtheResearchGrouponBasic ProcessesinPsychologyandthentheLaboratory ofComplexSystems,whichwaslatertransferred toLaSalleUniversity,whenhejoinedtheFaculty ofEngineeringasaresearcher.
AtUAM-Ihedevelopedworkinthestudyof complexpoliticalprocesses,collectivepsychologyfromtheapproachofsimulationofparticles ininteraction,aswellasbasicpsychosociological processessuchasthestudyofsocialrepresentationsfromthecognitiveapproach,attribution, choice,andsocialcognition(e.g.,researchon diffusepoliticalsupport,perceptionofpolitical phenomena).Duringthisperiod,itmanagedto developandextendtheapplicationscopeofthe naturalsemanticnetworksandcontinuedtomultiplyitsinfluenceintheeducational,social,community,andpsychological fields.Ashisstyleof work,hemanagedtointegratestudentsofsocial psychology,sociology,anthropology,linguistics, economics,mathematics,engineering,andphysics,aswellasfromvariousinstitutionssuchas
EscuelaNacionaldeEstudiosProfesionales (ENEP)Zaragoza(NationalSchoolofProfessionalStudies),UAMXochimilco,UNAM,and LaSalleUniversity.
From1989to1994atLaSalleUniversity,he directedtheComplexSystemsLaboratorywhere hedevelopedworkonneuralnetworks,connectionistsystems,artificialintelligence,andparallel processing.Heparticipatedintheopeningofthe institutionalDoctoratein1991andinlayingthe foundationsfortheopeningofwhatwaslater calledtheLaSalleUniversityResearchCentre.
In1994hejoinedtheUniversidaddelVallede MéxicocampusLomasVerdesandlatercollaboratedintheInstitutoTecnológicoydeEstudios SuperioresdeMonterrey(ITESM)(Instituteof theTechnologyandHigherEducationofMonterrey)CampusEstadodeMéxicoandintheFaculty ofEngineeringoftheUNAM.
From1996untilthedateofhisdeath,hecollaboratedintheComputerResearchCentreofthe InstitutoPolitécnicoNacional(CIC-IPN) (NationalPolytechnicInstitute).Thelinesof researchhedevelopedduringhislastyearswere complexsystems,artificialintelligence, neurocomputing,parallelprocessing,nonlinear dynamics,socialdevelopmentmodels,prediction ofcomplexvariables,bigdata,naturalontologies attheCenterforSimulationandmathematical modeling,automaticlearning,andprediction models.
Hedirectedmorethan300thesesattheundergraduatelevel,46atthemaster ’slevel,and26at thedoctorallevel.Hepublished8booksondifferenttopicssuchasartificialintelligence, neurocomputing,informationprocessing,anddistanceeducation.Hecoauthoredaround 600nationalandinternationalpublicationsand presentedmorethan200papersandkeynote speechesinMexicoandabroad.HewasafulltimeresearcheratUNAM,UAMIztapalapa, UniversidadLaSalle,UniversidaddelVallede México(ValleyofMexicoUniversity)Lomas Verdes,ITESMCampusEstadodeMéxico,and theNationalPolytechnicInstitute.
Heusedtosayandwasafaithfulbelieverof thismaxim: “thereareonlytwoproblemstosolve inscience:toknowtheuniverseandtoknowhow
weknowthatuniverse”;thisallowedhimtobase histwoscientificpassions:Physicsand Psychology.
1SelectedWorks
Calvo,H.,Paredes,J.L.,&Figueroa-Nazuno, J.(2018).Measuringconceptsemanticrelatednessthroughcommonspatialpatternfeature extractiononEEGsignals. CognitiveSystems Research, 50,36 51.
Carrasco,M.,Figueroa,J.G.,&Willen,J.D. (1986).Atestofthespatial-frequencyexplanationoftheMuller-Lyerillusion. Perception, 15,553 562.
Carrasco,M.,Kinchla,R.A.,&Figueroa,J.G. (1988).Visualletter-matchingandthetime courseofvisualandacousticcodes. Acta Psychologica, 69,1 17.
Figueroa,J.,Solís,B.M.,&González,E.G. (1974).Thepossibleinfluenceofimagery uponretrievalandrepresentationin L.T.M. ActaPsychologica, 38,425 428.
Figueroa,J.,González,E.G.,&Solís,V.M. (1976).Anapproachtotheproblemofmeaning:Semanticnetworks. JournalofPsycholinguisticResearch, 5(2),107 115.
Figueroa,J.,González,E.G.,&Solís,V.M. (1981).Unaaproximaciónalproblemadel significado:lasredessemánticas [Anapproachtotheproblemofmeaning: semanticnetworks]. LatinAmericanJournal ofPsychology, 13(3),447 458.
Figueroa,J.,&González,G.E.(1982).Efectosde lacantidaddematerialsobrelamemoria reconstructiva[Effectsoftheamountofmaterialonreconstructivememory]. LatinAmericanJournalofPsychology, 14(1),55 62.
FigueroaNazuno,J.,VargasMedina,E.,&Cruz Cortés,N.(Eds.)(2007). Metodologíaparala educaciónadistancia[Methodologyfordistanceeducation].CIC-IPN(printandCD version).
GamboaSuasnavart,J.,OsornioReséndiz,J.C., LomRomero,R.,OmarTapiaLeyva,C.,VargasMedina,E.,&FigueroaNazuno,J.(2007). Lasredessemánticasnaturalescomo
procedimientoparalaextracciónde conocimiento,parasuusoen interoperatividadsemántica[Naturalsemanticnetworksasaprocedureforknowledge extraction,foruseinsemanticinteroperability].InProceedingsof18thautumnmeetingof communications,computing,electronicsand industrialexhibition(ROC&C07),Acapulco, Gro.,25 30Nov.
VargasMedina,E.,&FigueroaNazuno,J.(1985). Larepresentacióndesaludyenfermedaden diversosgrupossocialesdelDistritoFederal [Therepresentationofhealthanddiseasein diversesocialgroupsinMexicoCity].IVMexicanCongressofPsychology,MexicoCity, 15 19Nov.
MárquezCornelio,Y.,&Figueroa-Nazuno, J.(2012). Signi ficantlearningusingAlphaBetaassociativememories.Lecturenotesin computerscience.In17thIberoamericancongressonprogressinpatternrecognition,image analysis,computervision,andapplications, CIARP2012.
References
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Castañeda,S.,&López,M.(1983).DevelopingthecognitiveintheFacultyofPsychology.InJ.UrbinaSoria (Ed.), FacultaddePsicología:TestimoniosdeVeinte Años1973 1993.[Facultyofpsychology:Twentyyear testimonials1973 1993] (pp.59 76).Universidad NacionalAutónomadeMéxico.
Díaz-Guerrero,R.(1983).Losprimerosdiezañosdela FacultaddePsicología.InF.García&J.Molina(Eds.), UnadécadadelaFacultaddePsicología:1973 1983 [AdecadeoftheFacultyofPsychology:1973 1983] (pp.71 80).FacultaddePsicología,UNAM.
Díaz-Guerrero,R.(1984).Contemporarypsychologyin Mexico. AnnualReviewofPsychology,35,83 112. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.35.020184.000503
LaraTapia,L.(1993).20Añosdespués:Memoriasen tornoalacreacióndelaFacultaddePsicología.In J.UrbinaSoria(Ed.), FacultaddePsicología: TestimoniosdeVeinteAños1973 1993[Facultyof psychology:Twentyyeartestimonials1973 1993]
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Reidl,L.,&Echevestre,M.(2004). LaFacultadde PsicologíadelaUniversidadNacionalAutónomade México:Treintaañosalavanguardia[TheFacultyof PsychologyoftheNationalAutonomousUniversityof
Mexico:Thirtyyearsattheforefront].FacultyofPsychology,UNAM.
Venegas,C.,&Augusto,C.(2018).Entrevistaconel Dr.ArturoBouzasRiaño[InterviewwithDr.Arturo BouzasRiaño]. RevistaElectrónicadePsicología Iztacala,21(3),817 846.