Reflections On Dr. Sacks The President's Speech

Reflection on “The President’s Speech” During this clinical tale, Dr. Sacks informs readers about the subject of aphasic’s abilities. Global and receptive aphasia stem from cortical damage to the left hemisphere, the language areas of the brain. He observed aphasic patient’s abilities while they were watching the President’s speech. These patients could tell that the President was lying despite that fact that they are not able to understand the meanings of the actual words he spoke. Though they no longer understand meanings of words, their tonal skills have increased, and they could recognize that he was lying by interpreting the tones of his voice. They all found his speech hilarious for that very reason. The overly theatrical behaviors, grimaces, and gestures all aided them to conclude that his speech was full of falsities. Using other parts of their brain, including the right temporal lobe for tonal information, and the occipital lobe for visual information about the President’s body

Sacks mentioned that Hughlings Jackson compared aphasics to dogs because of their sensitivity to tone and feeling. This seems cruel to say, but it is true and not meant as a put down. When you use happy tones, saying “You are a good boy!” to your dog, they cannot understand the meaning, but they can tell you are happy. This is much like the aphasics who understand language through their heightened tonal reading skills. Patients with tonal agnosia, or aprosodias, have disorders that stem from damage of the right hemisphere. They lose the ability to understand or utilize tones. One patient Dr. Sacks mentioned was Emily. She is not able to tell if people are happy, angry, scared, or whatever other emotions they may have. So, to understand them better, she must watch their facial expressions, posture and movements. Emily also has visual impairments, so to understand even clearer than other patients with tonal agnosia, she must focus completely on word use and