Inner Speech and Thought
electrical activity during thinking, both with and without verbalization and the use of language. Although seemingly simple, these experiments tackle a very complex subject with which psychologists, linguists, and others are only beginning to come to grip
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MONOGRAPHS IN PSYCHOLOGY AN INTERNATIONAL SERIES Editorial Board Jerome S. Bruner, Center for Cognitive Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Paul Fraisse, Institute of Psychology, University of Paris A. R. Luria, University of Moscow, Moscow, USSR Karl Pribram, Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California Arthur Sommerfield, Department of Psychology, Birkbeck College, London Oliver L. ZangwilI, Psychological Laboratory, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England EXPERIMENTAL ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY B. V. Zeigarnik. 1972 FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF THE HUMAN NERVOUS SYSTEM V. D. Nebylitsyn • 1972 INNER SPEECH AND THOUGHT A. N. Sokolov • 1972
INNER SPEECH AND THOUGHT A. N. Sokolov Institute of Psychology Moscow, USSR
Translated by George T. Onischenko Translation edited by Donald B. Lindsley Departments of Psychology and Physiology and Member, Brain Research Institute University of California Los Angeles, California
99
The table of the maxima and minima of motor speech excitation thus confirms the latter's very irregular character in the mental work (in this case, during mental arithmetic) of both subjects, but particularly of subject K. In view of this fact we deem it possible to distinguish among several different levels of motor speech excitation, basing this differentiation on a statistical criterion-the value of the standard (quadratic) deviation (a). TABLE 17. Maxima and Minima of MSE Intensity and Their Difference (d) during Mental Solution of Arithmetical Problems by Subjects P. and K.
max.
Subject P. min.
d
max.
Subject K. min.
d
1 2 3 4 5
269 417 625 209 857
115 119 178 156 143
154 298 447 53 714
625 2285 1000 1000 2500
125 143 100 125 167
500 1242 900 875 2333
+ 356 +1868 + 375 + 791 +1643
+10 +24 -78 -31 +24
M
475 267
142 37
333 260
1482 849
132 25
1350 828
+1007 707
-10 37
96
96
40
Number of problem
0
Reliability of difference
96
Difference max. min.
194
Electromyographic Study of Inner Speech
On the basis of this criterion we can single out the following three levels of motor speech excitation: 1) the highest level, exceeding the sum of the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation of the intensity of motor speech excitation (> M + a); 2) medium level, equal in magnitude to the arithmetic mean of motor speech excitation plus or minus the standard deviation ( = M ± a); 3) lower level, falling below the difference between the arithmetic mean of the intensity of motor speech excitation and the standard deviation a). Table 18 gives the values of the power, time, and total energy of motor speech excitation, calculated according to the levels of its intensity for subjects P. and K. Table 19 shows the statistical reliability of the difference obtained for the levels of motor speech excitation in these subjects. It follows from these tables that the medium level of motor speech excitation is the most stable one in terms of all indices of electrical activity.
«M -
TABLE 18. The Intensity, Time, and Total Energy for
