Lecturer's Précis -
Freud (1891)
"On
Aphasia" [Extract]
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First published online 11:12 4th March 2002, Copyright Derek J. Smith
(Chartered Engineer). This version [HT.11
- reinstate lost links] dated 18:00 8th December 2010
An earlier version
of this material appeared in Smith (1996; Chapter 7). It is repeated here with
minor amendments and supported with hyperlinks.
Sigmund Freud as
Cognitive Modeler
Long before he achieved fame with
his theory of psychoanalysis, the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
was a competent neuropsychologist, having published an influential monograph on aphasia in 1891. In
it, he used information flow diagrams to explain the relationship between a
word and its referent. The paper became better known after it had been
translated into English (Stengel, 1953), and positively reviewed (Pribram, 1969; Henderson, 1992). Here is the core argument
in the words of the reviewer whose paper first brought the monograph to the
present author's attention .....
"From the psychological point of view the
'word' is the functional unit of speech; it is a complex concept constituted of
auditory, visual and kinaesthetic elements. [] We
learn to speak by associating a 'word sound image' [Wortklangbild]
with an 'impression of word innervation' [Wortinnervationsgefühl]. When we have spoken we are
in possession of a 'kinaesthetic word image' [Sprachbewegungsvorstellung], ie.
of the sensory impressions from the organs of speech. [] We learn the language
of others by endeavouring to equate the sound image
produced by ourselves as much as possible to the one [we originally heard], ie. we learn to 'repeat'. [] We learn to spell by
associating the visual images of the letters with new sound images. [] We learn
to read by linking up with each other, according to certain rules, a succession
of word innervation impressions and kinaesthetic word impressions []. Next we associate with
those word images acquired by spelling the significance attached to the
original word sounds. [] We learn to write by reproducing the visual images of
the letters with the help of kinaesthetic impressions
received from the hand (cheiro-kinaesthetic
impressions) until we have obtained identical or similar pictures. [] The word,
then, is a complicated concept built up from various impressions, ie. it corresponds to an intricate process of associations
entered into by elements of visual, acoustic and kinaesthetic
origins. However, the word acquires its significance through its association
with the 'idea (concept) of the object' [Objektvorstellung]
[which] is itself another complex of associations [Assoziationskomplex]
composed of the most varied visual, auditory, tactile, kinaesthetic
and other impressions. [] In the light of observations in speech disorders we
have formed the view that the word concept (the idea of the word) is linked []
to the object concept. In consequence, we have arrived at a division of speech
disorders into two classes: (1) verbal aphasia [verbale
Aphasie], in which only the associations between
the single elements of the word concept are disturbed; and (2) asymbolic aphasia [asymbolische
Aphasie], in which the association between word
concept and object concept are disturbed." (Henderson, 1992:33-37;
emphases added; German inserts from Vogel, 1992.)
Freud saw the primary sensory and
motor areas as being anatomically tied to particular functions because they
were directly connected to specific sensory or motor mechanisms. However, he
then saw them as "radiating" their primary activity out across
secondary and association areas of cortex, and drew attention to what might
happen when the radiations from different primary areas overlapped. In these
areas of overlap, he argued, "complexes of associations" (above)
would be formed, linking visual information to auditory, auditory to tactile,
tactile to articulatory, etc. And wherever this
happened, areas to deal with the conceptual side of language - semantic
areas - would develop quite automatically. (We mention this argument because it
is wholly compatible with the more recently developed holographic theory of memory, in which
great emphasis is laid on what happens when two beams of wave energy coincide.)
All this is shown diagrammatically below.
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Freud's (1891) Linked Storage Systems: Freud suggested that when an object is known to the mind,
two main storage systems are involved, namely a word concept system
and an object concept system. The word concept system stores
the surface forms of the name of the object, and the object concept system
stores all the mental associations of that object - the things which give
that object its meaning. The word concept system (the Wort
system) has, in turn, four lesser elements. These are the Bewegungsbild,
or "motor-image", the Klangbild,
or "sound-image", the Lesebild,
or "read-image", and the Schriftbild,
or "write-image". The object concept system (the Object-Associationen system) has, in turn, at least three
(and potentially a lot more) lesser elements. These are acustik,
or auditory object associations, taktil,
or tactile object associations, and visuell,
or visual object associations. Note how the overlapping
"radiations" from primary projection areas serve to create more
complex association areas. Note also that the primary connection between a
word and its meaning is between the sound image of the heard word and the
visual elements of the associated concept. And note finally that the
idea of a distributed semantic representation linked to separate input and
output word stores remains at the heart of modern psycholinguistics. It is unclear how much Freud may have been influenced by the earlier work of Kussmaul (1878), whose diagram is similar in some respects. |
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Redrawn from white-over-black originals of Figures 8 and 9 of the Vogel (1992) edition of Freud (1891). This version Copyright © 2002, Derek J. Smith. Freud actually drew single lines in Figure 8, and introduced the radiations in Figure 9: we show here how the two arguments can be merged into a single diagram. |
Evaluation and Further
For more detail we recommend the
following websites .....
General commentary from Rizzuto (2007 online)
Integration into modern psycholinguistic theory (Dell et al, 1997/2007
online)
Karl Pribram
himself on holographic memory.
References
Freud, S. (1891). Zur Auffassung der Aphasien.
Vogel, P. (Ed.) (1992). Sigmund
Freud: Zur Auffassung der Aphasien.
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Recommended |