The article by Walenski, Mostofsky, and Ullman attempts to address a subject rarely touched by past research on Tourette's syndrome. They hope to develop an understanding of language development in children with Tourette's. To do this, they have isolated two key aspects of language: idiosyncratic and rule-governed knowlege. They approach this study from an understanding that Tourette's is an extremely complicated mental disorder, with many causes for various symptoms. For example, extremely high levels of dopamine (a basic neurotransmitter) can inhibit both cognitive and motor abilities in those with the syndrome. They first address indiosyncratic knowlege by explaining the function of the lexicon. The lexicon, they explain, primarily controls the "building block" style of knowlege, where someone uses old knowlege to gain new knowlege. On the other hand, rule-governed knowlege is more about memorization of basic rules that apply to language. Thus, in order for a person to develop effective communication skills, he/she must have both forms of knowlege in proper working order.
They go on to apply these basic concepts to TS based on procedural and declarative memory, and how TS affects those two functions. They hypothesize that declarative memory is nearly unaffected by TS, and that only procedural memory is lacking. They break this down further by dividing even procedural memory into several categories: learning implicit rules in procedural memory seems to be largely affected by TS. This likely points to an impairment of idiosyncratic knowlege and the ability to use old knowlege to gain new. Aspects of procedural learning which depend on rule-governed knowlege seem largely unaffected: reaction time, mirror tracing, and rotary pursuit all appear to be normal in TS patients.
The article points to the difficulty in fully understanding Tourette's Syndrome. The complexity of this disease makes it difficult to establish over-arching rules that apply to all TS sufferers. It takes the important step of dissecting the issue of language in TS by breaking down the two. Language is in many ways just as complex as TS, and thus it makes the process much easier to break down the concepts involved in language acquisition/comprehension.
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18 comments:
After watching the movie and reading this article, I have a better understanding of TS, but I am still confused about the why and how it occurs. I do not remember a lot of issues dealing with the language aspect of TS from the movie, so I am not really sure how to relate the movie and this article, but I must say that the movie was easier to understand. I find it really interesting that so many cases are not diagnosed because they do not recognize the symptoms. When they stated that nicotine helps the symptoms of TS, I was really surprised that they are allowing children to use such an addicting drug. Overall, I think there are still a lot of things that we do not know about TS and so many more tests need to be done to figure out more.
I learned a lot from this summary of an article of Tourette Syndrome. I gained knowledge in two key aspects of language: idiosyncratic and rule-governed knowledge. Prior to this summary, I was unaware of what affected people with TS. I now know that their neurotransmitters are different then normal people. Thank you Mike S. for this valid information on Tourette Syndrome.
The movie that we watched in class was interesting.I learned many things about Tourette Syndrome.I didn't know much about TS before reading this summary or watching the movie. This information was very useful and i learned a lot from it.
I didn't know much at all about TS. The brain seems so complicated. I am glad that there are people who study TS and try to help people with this condition. I think the worst thing in life is not to be understood or to be able to communicate ideas concerns and thoughts.
I found the article interesting and informative. Tourette's seems very complicated. I thought the part about the two isolated key aspects of language were interesting. Before this article, I didn't know that idiosyncratic language was the building block of knowledge where someone uses old knowledge to gain new knowledge. Also that rule-governed knowledge is the memorization of basic rules that apply to language. The child must have both forms to be an effective speaker. I enjoyed learning more about TS.
I really didn't know very much about TS before reading this article and watching this film. I think researchers still have a far way to come before they fully understand what makes people with TS say the things they do. I can't believe they allow children to use nicotine, it seems like there might be a better way to help the symptoms.
I learned a lot through the summary,as much as in the video. I did not know about the bwo aspects of language talked about in the summary. I remember that the video talked about how reaction time seemed unaffected, which I found somewhat surprising. As far as nicotine helping tourettes, this could be an interesting phenomenon. Children practicing something unhealthy in exchange for decreasing their symptoms. This could turn into something like the medical marijuana debate. Although nicotine is legal, it would probably be strongly discouraged as far as kids using it is considered.
The article was very in depth and I enjoyed it a lot. I really liked how it broke down the different types of learning. Now that I think about it, it is obvious that there are different types for different situations. Before this article I just didn’t think about it much. The part about what specifically is wrong with people who have TS was fascinating. I never really understood exactly what was wrong. Reading this article helped me understand not just the mind of a person with TS but also a more normal brain. The brain is so complicated that it is difficult to study it directly. It is often easier to study a brain that is malfunctioning and figure out what in it is different from a healthy brain. This kind of comparison is often where we learn the most.
Bryan Norbut
I understand TS alot more. I also understand that they grasp developmental language more easily than rule governed language. The anatomical and neurological reasons behind this phenomenom are still confusing to me because I dont understand the terminology being used. It is surprising to me that we can marginalize a group of people who at times are even smarter than those inside the community than we consider normal. TS students naturally develop langauge skills faster than than non TS counteparts. Wow, how the world fears what it doesn't understand.
I can definatley see why TS is a disease that is very hard to understand. Watching the movie and reading the article made me understand the types of tics that people have and when they occur. However, I often wonder, why do these people have the particular tics that they have? For instance, why does one person blurt out cuss words and the other person blink their eyes? Why are there differences between verbal and phsycial tics?
I think that the article and movie helped me understand more about TS outside of the stereotypes. I'm still having a difficult time understanding why it is that TS is so commonly misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. Perhaps I'm making it too simple, but it seems as though the symptoms are rather obvious and that doctors and specialists are overlooking the obvious. I do have a greater comprehension of how complicated the actual disease is. I also believe I have earned a greater respect for the people and families affected by this disease.
The article and move were both very interesting an educational. I find it interesting that studies have shown that nicotine can stimulate certain areas of the brain and help patients function more normaly. I have read about research on using nicotine to treat ulsheimers patients as well. Similar to the medical marijuana debate though, doctors do not want patients to smoke, but use alternative methods of aquiring the drug. Such as the THC pill for medical marijuana users.
I thought that the movie we watched in class was easier to understand than the article, but I still learned a lot about TS. I did not know that TS patients can take dopamine to suppress their ticks and outbursts. I also did not know that it sometimes did not work for all TS patients and that they had to work harder to become "normal." I think it is sad that there is not an understanding from people because they are uneducated about the disease. Hopefully they can find a cure and prevent the ticks and outbursts.
After watching the movie and reading the article, I gained a better understanding of TS. Before reading this article, I was not really familiar with the syndrome. I knew TS dealt with verbal outbursts, but I did not know they had physical tics as well. I am glad to see that for some as they get older; they are able to hold their tics back. Also, there is medicine, which does not always help with the syndrome, but at least there is some way to help prevent the tics from occurring. All in all, I have learned a lot about TS by watching the movie and reading the article.
This article had a lot of interesting information on TS and how children with TS learn language. Between the movie and the article I have gained a better understanding of how and why children with TS say and do certain things. I never truly understood how children with TS learn language. There are several factors that contribute to learning when it comes to children with TS. There are idiosyncratic and rule-governed knowledge aspects of language. The way the brain functions is also a large part of how children with TS learn language. Many children with TS can learn language just as easily and in some cases faster than children without TS. Before reading the article and watching the movie I didn't know hardly anything about TS. Many people have the wrong ideas about children with TS and misjudge them because of this. Children with TS can be as smart as you and me, but because they have tics or sudden outbursts of words then people think that they can't learn like normal children. Children with TS are very fast learners because of the speed processing that they have. Procedural memory and declarative memory are key factors in learning language and processing the information. Children with TS do fine with declarative memory. It is procedural memory where they have the problems. Overall the summary of the article was good and I learned a lot from the article and the movie.
I think it is amazing how a person with TS is more likely to have better manual type skills. It would be very hard having TS, esp with the amount of ridicule a child or person would receive. Also, nicotine helping people with TS is neat too, but it makes sense because both affect the neurotransmitters.
The summary and the movie taught me a lot about TS. I did not know that TS was difficult to diagnose I assumed that it would be fairly simple to recognize the symptoms.
I find the subject of tourette's syndrome to be an interesting one. i was unaware of what was effected with this syndrome and I never knew all of the signs for it. Now I do, and i believe it will help me in interacting with people of all ages through the rest of my life, since I won't be so confused as to what might be wrong with the person.
---bonnie
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