Thursday, November 1, 2007
Tourette and Grammar Rules
What were the main findings of this article? What are the differences between normal children and children with the de la Tourette syndrome when it comes to creating the past tense forms of regular and irregular verbs? What would this difference in logic imply? What are your personal reactions?
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The articled presented evidence that the children with Tourettes had a speeded response to questions dealing with forming the past tense of words when they followed a regular form (bake, baked). The article says that this is caused by some sort of brain abnormality, the same one which accounts for their tourettes. While there was a speeded response for regular past tenses, the TS children had only a normal speed when forming irregular past tenses(bring brought).
I thought that this difference was probably related to the way that their brain processes information. The regular verbs follow a strict pattern, much like the tics of the turrets children, therefore forming these past tenses would be much easier. However when the past tenses did not follow a specific pattern, then the TS kids had a similar response time to regular kids, as if they had no different brain processes than anyone else.
It is interesting that despite their speeded responses the TS kids did not suffer from a lack of accuracy, they simply did things quicker.
Tourette children are faster to respond in rule governed past tense then regular children, but they are not as fast to respond in irregular past tense. The results of forming rule governed past tense and identifying manipulated objects is faster then normal children, because the area that is affected in people with Tourette’s is the frontal lobe. However children with Tourette’s are slower at identifying, non manipulated items such as an elephant. That Tourette’s is difficult to live with especially in a severe case, but due to medical science and electrodes implanted into the brain Tourette’s can be a thing of the past
When I first learned about Tourette's syndrome, I never thought it was a big deal. In fact, I really thought it was all just for attention. As I got older, I realized that it is much more than that. Tourette's is a result from frontal/basal ganglia abnormalities that lead to unsuppressed behavior. The two basic languages, idiosyncratic and rule-governed linguistic knowledge, have been tested.
The study of Tourette’s syndrome leads to some very interesting issues for further investigation. For example, speed increases were found in two tasks that probed procedural memory in very different ways. It will be seen even if other tasks probing processing or learning in procedural memory show similar speed increases. Future studies examine whether morpho-syntax, phonology, lexical retrieval, or other language functions depend on procedural memory or frontal/basal ganglia are also speeded up and to what degree. It is important for studies of Tourette’s syndrome to look at accuracy and time.
Tourette Syndrome seems to have an impact on the portion of the brain that involves suppression of immediate responses. Physical tics and vocalizations that are both appropriate and not appropriate are common to a person with Tourette.This translates into a pattern of language missteps. If a grammar rule is standard, then the Tourette afflicted person performs with greater speed than the non-Tourettes person. If the verb is irregular, then the Tourettes would knee-jerk the standard grammar rule and commit an error. Another difference of interest is the Tourette differentiation of nouns based on tactile function or use. Tools and manipulatives are quickly learned and reaccessed for the TS person showing a significantly slower processing of non-manipulatives. "Hammer" and "elephant" were used as exemplars in the article. One of my half-sisters has a son with Tourettes. Both of her sons are affected by this disorder. She is a very proper person and so both boys are reticent to talk or interact with adults. Both are more comfortable on the soccer field although, they are not particularly skilled. It is just seen as a "safe" way to interact with family.
This article tells the reader of the differences between controlled or "normal" kids, and kids who have TS. Tourett's syndrome is a disorder characterized by motor and verbal tics. These tics originate from the Frontal/basal-gaglia abnormalities. This article tells the reader that in your frontal/basal-ganglia is where your mind has its grammar system of the memory system. The experiment showed that the kids with TS were able to identify the past tense of verbs much faster than the controlled kids. This leads to the conclusion that TS actually speeds up both grammar and manipulated objects for that child. This would explain the tics. The TS children were also able to name pictures quicker than the controlled children. The problem with TS is that though the children respond grammatically quicker, the disorder makes it harder for the kids to do simple tasks like holding a hammer.
This article found that children with TS's procedural knowledge is speeded up. TS children have unsupressed behaviors and their brains work faster than normal children. This comes with a decrease in accuracy however on tests such as creating past tense forms of verbs. So, although their brains work faster than normal children, it does not mean they are more accurate, they're logic seems to form patterns (putting -ed on the end of a verb) and apply it to all verbs. I think this is pretty cool and makes a lot of sense. TS children have uncontrollable tics, like they're bodies can't control what they're brains are doing because it just fires things off randomly. It was cool how this could apply to their grammar and logic. Their brains fire off the knowledge faster without having to think about it. It makes a lot of sense that TS children would work better with procedural knowledge because their brains can take the patterns and spit them out. Declarative knowledge requires logic, and TS brains shoot off the knowledge too fast for them to have a chance to sit their and reason it out.
This article tells us that children with tourette are faster to respond to simple past tense word changes than regular children, but they are not as fast to respond in irregular past tense. This article also explains that this is due to damage of the frontal lobe which helps with word formation.
I know a boy my age who suffers from a mild form of Tourette's Syndrome. He does not have any physical tics, although he did when he was younger. Today, his only problem is that he constantly repeats words from sentences that he recently spoke or heard. While this has undoubtedly made people question his intelligence, I know first hand that just because some one suffers from this disease is not a reason to call them dumb. He is currently going to Butler University in Indiana and getting high grades.
from Jason Valentine:
The elevated and technical jargon made this article difficult to read, but I think I got the general message. This had more meat than the other articles we've read.
The motor nerves in the frontal lobe, (where the rule-based memory of grammar is stored) are abnormal. The “easy” past tense verbs like walk->walked are learned faster because of this abnormality. Unfortunately, however TS sets a blockade for irregular verbs. A turrets student learns the irregular verbs like all of the other children. The models and charts of this article show the normalcy of turrets students in comparison to a control group. The limiting factor has nothing to do with an inability to learn, but an interruption in the brain. TS kids have an advantage over average kids in some ways, but their disadvantage is the overpowering tics that develop independently. The tics have nothing to do with the command of the subject of grammar. The only deficit found in TS students was in the realm of recognition of regular, as opposed to irregular, verb type.
From Bobbi Jo:
The article states that children with TS generally respond
faster than mentally healthy children when producing past tense
of regular verbs (slip-slipped) and when naming pictures of
manipulated objects. On the other hand, TS children are not
typically faster when producing irregular verbs (bring -
brought) or inconsistent regular verbs. The conclusions and
the article in general were somewhat confusing for me. It is
hard for me to understand how a child with TS can identify
something such as a hammer quicker than a mentally healthy
child but is slower to respond with a something such as a dog.
I am assuming that this obviously has something to do with the
way their brain processes information, but as for the
scientific processes; I am clueless.
Tourettes Sydrome or TS as sometimes put develops in childhood. TS is a developmetal disorder charcterized by motor and verbal tics.The tics apprear to be caused by disturbances of the basal ganglia and closely connected regions of the cortex especially motor and cognitive regions of the frontal lobes. They have found that TS children were faster than typically developing control children in producing rule-governed past tenses. Generaly it seemes crucial for studies of TS to measure not only resposne accuracy but also response time, a dependent variable that has been largely ignored in previous studies of language in TS.Also, A declarative memory enhancement could be explained by abnormalities that the dysfunction of procedural memory can lead to an increase in declarative memory may be abnormal.
Tourettes Syndrome is a disorder that effects the frontal lobe of the brain. People with TS have a quicker than normal response to forming past tense words that follow a regular form (jump, jumped). However, they perform more slowly than normal when identifying non-manipulated items, such as elephant. TS is often accompanied by tics and uncontrollable verbal outbursts, which are sometimes vulgar. In a way, it is like the brain processes much faster than the body can master, rendering verbal communication sometimes wreckless. There are films and TV shows that make fun of people with TS, making them the basis for many jokes and comical outbursts. But, TS is a detrimental disorder that should be taken seriously. While it does not prevent people from communicating successfully, it can hinder clear and concise vocal performance.
I think our culture is insensitive with Tourette's Syndrome. People find in funny when in movies, someone with Tourette's shouts an obscene word. This was a really interesting article to read, while presenting another side of the language/grammar spoken by children with Tourette's Syndrome. Suffering from motor and verbal tics, people with Tourette's have abnormalities in the frontal lobe. The children with TS were quick to respond and conjugate verbs with regular past tenses, but they were slower (they were at the normal speed compared to children without Tourette's) at verbs with irregular past tenses. It seems the children's brains would slow down to consider the forms of irregular verb tenses.
I never thought that people with TS could actually have an advantage when it comes to certain grammar skills. Although children with Tourette's syndrome have to deal with involuntary movements and tics, they catch on faster to some grammar skills than children without the disorder. The heightened rate of speed is a result of abnormalities in the brain, which is the same abnormality as the tourettes. The tics in TS are essentially involuntary and fast so it is interesting to think that this rapid movement may not just only be physical but mental in other areas as well.
Tourette's Syndrome is a development disorder shown with verbal and motor tics. These people may experience tics or uncontrollable outbursts. Abnormalities in the frontal lobe are responsible for most TS. It was interesting to me that TS patients are faster producing regular rule governed past tenses than normal people and their accuracy did not suffer. They do have more trouble with irregular past tenses, however. I did not know much about TS and this article was very informative.I was surprised that the people with TS did have one advantage over normal people.
When I first learned about Tourette's syndrome, I never thought it was a big deal. In fact, I really thought it was all just for attention. As I got older, I realized that it is much more than that. Tourette's is a result from frontal/basal ganglia abnormalities that lead to unsuppressed behavior. The two basic languages, idiosyncratic and rule-governed linguistic knowledge, have been tested.
The study of Tourette’s syndrome leads to some very interesting issues for further investigation. For example, speed increases were found in two tasks that probed procedural memory in very different ways. I thought that this difference was probably related to the way that their brain processes information. The regular verbs follow a strict pattern, much like the tics of the turrets children, therefore forming these past tenses would be much easier.
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