Investigation of Speech Functions. Receptive Speech

Abstract

The investigation of speech functions comprises a very important part of the study of a patient with a defect in higher cortical functioning. This is true because a very large proportion of man’s higher mental activities is formed and functions in close association with the second signal system and because speech has such an important function in human social intercourse and intellectual activity. Until this point in our discussion of investigative methodology, speech was considered only in relation to those operations in which it has a subsidiary role; in the present discussion, the state of the speech functions themselves will be of central interest.