Language Therapy for Schizophrenic Patients with Persistent ‘Voices’

1993 ◽  
Vol 162 (6) ◽  
pp. 755-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph E. Hoffman ◽  
Sally L. Satel
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Findings ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Language Therapy ◽  
Language Complexity ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Overt Speech

One of us has hypothesised that the ‘voices' of schizophrenic patients reflect altered preconscious planning of discourse that can produce involuntary ‘inner speech’ as well as incoherent overt speech. Some schizophrenic patients reporting voices do not, however, have disorganised speech. We hypothesise that these ‘counterexample’ patients compensate for impairments of discourse planning by reducing language complexity and relying on highly rehearsed topics. A ‘language therapy’ designed to challenge and enhance novel discourse planning was administered to four such patients; three had significant albeit temporary reductions in the severity of their voices. These clinical findings provide further evidence that alterations of discourse planning may underlie hallucinated voices.

scholarly journals Neurophysiological evidence of efference copies to inner speech

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J Whitford ◽  
Bradley N Jack ◽  
Daniel Pearson ◽  
Oren Griffiths ◽  
David Luque ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrophysiological Study ◽  
Efference Copy ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Mental Action ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Primary Function ◽  
Overt Speech ◽  
Novel Design

Efference copies refer to internal duplicates of movement-producing neural signals. Their primary function is to predict, and often suppress, the sensory consequences of willed movements. Efference copies have been almost exclusively investigated in the context of overt movements. The current electrophysiological study employed a novel design to show that inner speech – the silent production of words in one’s mind – is also associated with an efference copy. Participants produced an inner phoneme at a precisely specified time, at which an audible phoneme was concurrently presented. The production of the inner phoneme resulted in electrophysiological suppression, but only if the content of the inner phoneme matched the content of the audible phoneme. These results demonstrate that inner speech – a purely mental action – is associated with an efference copy with detailed auditory properties. These findings suggest that inner speech may ultimately reflect a special type of overt speech.

A comprehensive, interdisciplinary view of inner speech may be a unique lens through which we can better understand living with aphasia and aphasia recovery

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brielle C Stark ◽  
Julianne M Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Therapy Response ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Living Well ◽  
Narrow View ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
Overt Speech ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Aphasia Recovery

Purpose: While behavioral aphasia therapy is beneficial (Brady et al., 2016), we do not fully understand factors that predict therapy response, or that contribute to extra-linguistic aspects of living with aphasia (e.g., psychosocial). The purpose of this Viewpoint is to postulate that inner speech – the ability to talk to oneself in one’s head – may be an important factor. However, prior work evaluating inner speech in aphasia has been limited in scope. Here, we innovatively draw from interdisciplinary evidence to discuss a more comprehensive view of inner speech and propose how evaluating a multidimensional inner speech may be meaningful in understanding living with aphasia and aphasia recovery. Methods: We give an interdisciplinary overview of inner speech, as it relates to aphasia. Results: Research with persons with aphasia shows that inner speech can be relatively spared in comparison to overt speech. However, this research has taken a narrow view of inner speech, defining inner speech as a covert ‘voice’ drawn upon during experimental tasks, such as object naming, rhyme decisions, or tongue twisters. Cross disciplinary research evaluating inner speech has identified its multidimensionality (specifically, dimensions of intentionality, condensation, and dialogality). Inner speech evaluated across these dimensions in neurotypical populations has shown that inner speech can be related to personal factors like self-awareness; retain phonetic features but also be like ‘thinking in pure pictures; and be both monologic and dialogic. Conclusions: Quantifying a multidimensional inner speech in aphasia will enable future work elaborating on factors related to extra-linguistic and linguistic processes of recovery, as well as living well with aphasia.

Inner Speech and Mental Imagery

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Geva
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Motor Processing ◽  
Articulatory Movements ◽  
Neural Substrate ◽  
Overt Speech

Inner speech has been investigated using neuroscientific techniques since the beginning of the twentieth century. One of the most important finding is that inner and overt speech differ in many respects, not only in the absence/presence of articulatory movements. In addition, studies implicate the involvement of various brain regions in the production and processing of inner speech, including areas involved in phonology and semantics, as well as auditory and motor processing. By looking at parallels between inner speech and other domains of imagery, studies explore two major questions: Are there common types of representations that underlie all types of mental imagery? And, is there a neural substrate for imagery, above and beyond modality? While these questions cannot yet be fully answered, studies of the neuroscience of imagery are bringing us a step towards better understanding of inner speech.

Visual Imagery and Motor Phenomena in Acute Schizophrenia

1967 ◽  
Vol 113 (500) ◽  
pp. 771-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Experimental Validation ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Young Patients ◽  
Clinical Findings ◽  
Interview Technique ◽  
Clinical Observations ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Made In

This paper deals briefly with a few clinical observations made in the course of studies of changes in subjective experience reported by young patients in the early stages of schizophrenia. These studies aimed at delineating the early schizophrenic clinical picture in as specific a manner as possible with a view to later experimental validation, and the clinical findings concerning a group of forty young schizophrenics have been reported elsewhere (Chapman, 1966). The observations on which this paper is based were obtained by the same method of examination and interview technique as previously reported, the observer deliberately identifying with the patient, adopting his particular style of communication and encouraging him in the direct projection of his experiences. Thus these observations have been taken out of a matrix of abnormalities in cognitive function found in schizophrenic patients, and have to do chiefly with their visual imagery and motility. Before proceeding to present and discuss these observations it may be worth while to provide a background against which to view them, by referring first to what we know of normal imagery, and second to the breakdown in perception and cognition found in the patients from whom these observations were derived.

scholarly journals Inner versus Overt Speech Production: Does This Make a Difference in the Developing Brain?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 939
Author(s):  
Franziska Stephan ◽  
Henrik Saalbach ◽  
Sonja Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Preparation Phase ◽  
Overt Speech

Studies in adults showed differential neural processing between overt and inner speech. So far, it is unclear whether inner and overt speech are processed differentially in children. The present study examines the pre-activation of the speech network in order to disentangle domain-general executive control from linguistic control of inner and overt speech production in 6- to 7-year-olds by simultaneously applying electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Children underwent a picture-naming task in which the pure preparation of a subsequent speech production and the actual execution of speech can be differentiated. The preparation phase does not represent speech per se but it resembles the setting up of the language production network. Only the fNIRS revealed a larger activation for overt, compared to inner, speech over bilateral prefrontal to parietal regions during the preparation phase. Findings suggest that the children’s brain can prepare the subsequent speech production. The preparation for overt and inner speech requires different domain-general executive control. In contrast to adults, the children’s brain did not show differences between inner and overt speech when a concrete linguistic content occurs and a concrete execution is required. This might indicate that domain-specific executive control processes are still under development.

scholarly journals Understanding rumination as a form of inner speech: probing the role of motor processes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ladislas Nalborczyk
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Motor Processes ◽  
Condensed Form ◽  
Verbal Process ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Overt Speech ◽  
Speech Motor

Rumination is known to be a predominantly verbal process and has been proposed to be considered as such as a dysfunctional form of inner speech (i.e., the silent production of words in one’s mind). On the other hand, research on the psychophysiology of inner speech revealed that the neural processes involved in overt and covert speech tend to be very similar. This is coherent with the idea that some forms of inner speech could be considered as a kind of simulation of overt speech, in the same way as imagined actions can be considered as the result of a simulation of the corresponding overt action (e.g., walking and imagined walking). In other words, the motor simulation hypothesis suggests that the speech motor system should be involved as well during inner speech production. The corollary hypothesis might be drawn, according to which the production of inner speech (and rumination) should be disrupted by a disruption of the speech motor system. We conducted a series of five studies aiming to probe the role of the speech motor system in rumination. Overall, our results highlight that although verbal rumination may be considered as a form of inner speech, it might not specifically involve the speech motor system. More precisely, we argue that rumination might be considered as a particularly strongly condensed form of inner speech that does not systematically involve fully specified articulatory features. We discuss these findings in relation to the habit-goal framework of depressive rumination and we discuss the implications of these findings for theories of inner speech production.

scholarly journals Theta activity phase-locks to inner speech in silent reading

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Yao ◽  
Jason R. Taylor ◽  
Briony Banks ◽  
Sonja A. Kotz
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Silent Reading ◽  
Theta Activity ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Activity Phase ◽  
Reading Patterns ◽  
Theta Phase ◽  
Overt Speech ◽  
Processing Network

Growing evidence shows that theta-band (4-7Hz) activity in the auditory cortex (AC) phase-locks to the rhythm of overt speech. However, does theta activity in AC also phase-lock to inner speech? Previous research established that silent reading of direct speech quotes (e.g., Mary said: “This dress is lovely!”) elicits more vivid inner speech than indirect speech quotes (e.g., Mary said that the dress was lovely). Using EEG, the present study found that direct (vs. indirect) quote reading was associated with increased theta phase-locked activity (phase and power) over trials at 250-500 ms during quotation reading with sources estimated in the speech processing network. An eye-tracking control experiment confirmed that increased theta phase-locked activity in direct quote reading could not be driven by reading patterns and may reflect the onset of inner speech. These findings provide novel evidence for a functional role of theta activity in reading-induced inner speech.

Is auditory imagery defective in patients with auditory hallucinations?

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. EVANS ◽  
P. K. McGUIRE ◽  
A. S. DAVID
Keyword(s):  
Inner Ear ◽  
Phonological Loop ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Auditory Imagery ◽  
Auditory Verbal Hallucinations ◽  
Inner Voice ◽  
Psychological Models ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Verbal Transformation

Background. A variant of the ‘inner speech’ theory of auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia suggests that there is an abnormality of the relationship between the ‘inner voice’ and ‘inner ear’, such that hallucinators are unable to distinguish inner ‘imagined’ speech from real external speech, and so misrecognize inner speech as alien.Methods. Five experiments were carried out comparing 12 schizophrenic patients who were highly prone to hallucinate, with seven patients who were not, on a series of auditory imagery tasks that are differentially dependent on inner voice/inner ear partnership for successful performance: parsing meaningful letter/number strings; the verbal transformation effect; phoneme judgements; pitch judgements, and homophony and rhyme judgements.Results. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no evidence that the group with the propensity to hallucinate were impaired on tasks requiring normal inner ear/inner voice partnership.Conclusions. Together with previous work indicating no impairment of the phonological loop in patients who hallucinate, these results suggest that inner speech and auditory verbal hallucinations are not connected in a simplistic or direct way. Indeed, a reappraisal of psychological models of hallucinations in general may be warranted.

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