Francesco Passalacqua Laura Sizer CS 148: Other Minds October 3rd, 2011

Imaging the Voice

Many individuals, while learning to read, develop the habit of internally verbalizing the words that they read on a page, significantly slowing down their reading efficiency. Now, of course, there are many exceptions: individuals who never particularly adapted that habit, or perhaps those who learn to speed read through a variety of means of available to modern readers. But what about individuals who have incurred damage to their primary auditory cortex resulting from stroke, particularly individuals with Pure Word Deafness (PWD)? Does this imply that they no longer have an internal monologue while reading? How exactly do we know that they do not experience an internal audible voice? By setting up a control group of individuals who do not have brain damage to read, explicitly with an internalized monologue, along with an experimental group of individuals with PWD attempting to read with an internal monologue, we will try to answer these questions. My hypothesis is that we will see a lack of electrical activity in the left superior temporal lobe, associated with auditory perception, in contrast to the control group of individuals without brain damage. Through inference, my hypothesis would also imply that PWD individuals to not experience an internal linguistic auditory monologue. Inversely, a null hypothesis would result in neural activity occurring in the superior temporal lobe of patients with PWD, inferring they are explicitly deaf to external linguistic vocalization, yet are still capable of producing and understanding internal audible speech. We shall see.

EEGs (Electroencephalography) are logically the most efficient method of recording the appropriate imaging information for this experiment, even considering their drawbacks. EEGs have a poor spatial resolution, yet have an incredible temporal resolution, detecting neurological changes down to a few milliseconds. This benefit arising from the fact that EEGs measures brain waves directly, rather than through blood oxygenation levels, such as in MRIs or PET scans. This is convenient for the purpose of this experiment as auditory perception, internal and external, is processed very quickly by our minds. Also, EEG is the most practical considering the volunteers must be attentive, and reading from some paper or digital source, which is easy to accomplish while wearing an EEG recording net. Although it is not entirely necessary to have a high spatial resolution for the purpose of this experiment, as the EEG provides the capability to sense if strong electrical activity occurs in the superior temporal area while reading to oneself, fMRIs would provide the appropriate spatial resolution to pinpoint the exact areas of the temporal region where internal auditory vocalization occurs. They provide noninvasive, incredibly high spatial resolution imaging, and can record signals from all over the brain, not just superficial signals. The drawback to fMRIs that makes it difficult to justify their use in this experiment is the necessity for the volunteer to remain utterly still while they are reading. Knowing this, and along with the massively more economical factor of EEGs, we shall be utilizing its brain imaging potential for this experiment. To make our findings significant it is imperative that we choose the appropriate individuals and most desirable number of them to account for variability. For the control group of non-stroke volunteers, we should test a minimum of ten individuals. A number of this size would be manageable in the context of EEGs but more importantly

would provide feedback on the various parts of the superior temporal region that fire during internal vocalization. It ideally would also benefit us to locate ten individuals with PWD, but considering the rarity of the condition, four individuals would suffice. Even having only four individuals would provide significant information, as the superior temporal region in general should hardly be active if the hypothesis is correct. Therefore, the slightest amount of neural activity will provide the necessary information for the experiment. Attaining significant results would spark a myriad of questions related to the interconnection between external and internal perception. Now, seeing as we are dealing with a particular condition, making the claim that PWD patients do not experience audible internal monologue would have to be supported by a consistent lack of neural firing in the areas of the superior temporal lobe which show activity in non-PWD patients. Meaning all four PWD individuals will have to exhibit a lack of activity in the area. In general, significance implies that the results could have happened by chance 5% of the time or less. A confirmed hypothesis could raise furthur questions and curiosities related to PWD patients. Does their lack of an internal monologue make them automatic speed readers, relying on vision and conceptualization of language to process words directly rather through an interpretation from their internal auditory reverberation? What does this lack in the ability to produce intelligible internal vocalization imply about PWD patients egos? Does it perhaps imply that they have less of an influence from the internal voice on their thoughts and behavior? This would be an intriguing case study to explore furthur if the original hypothesis is confirmed.

Work Cited
H e m p h i l l , R . E . , a n d E S t e n g e l . " A S t u d y o n P u r e Wo r d D e a f n e s s . " w w w. n c b i . n l m . n i h . g o v . B r i s t o l C i t y a n d C o u n t y M e n t a l H o s p i t a l , 0 4 / 0 1 / 1 9 4 0 . We b . 2 O c t 2 0 1 1 . < h t t p : / / w w w. n c b i . n l m . n i h . g o v / p m c / a r t i c l e s / P M C 1 0 8 8 1 8 5 / p d f / j np s ych i at r y0 0 0 11 -0 0 55 . pd f>.