He was one of the founders of the Institute of Psychology of the USSR and the laboratory of neuro-physiology of training.
In the 1920s he started his academic career under the guidance of Ivan Pavlov, Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine in 1904.
Furthermore, he "elaborated the theory of functional systems (FS) which tied together subtle neuro-physiological mechanisms and integral activity of an individual.
FS theory was considered as the “methodological bridge” between psychology and physiology".
[citation needed] Currently, his work is highly regarded in Russian and international psychophysiology.