Noting that one means of better understanding the nature of cultural differences is to elucidate the cognitive differences between members of differing cultures, this paper examines Alexander Luria's sociohistorical theory of functional cognitive systems. The paper first describes Luria's notion of functional systems, the crux of which postulates an interdependent, processual relationship between cognition and social interaction. It next integrates this notion with current empirical research on perception. Finally, it presents implications for future research on cross-cultural communication based on this theoretical and empirical work. (FL)