Bridge to clinical psychology. Часть I. Учебное пособие для студентов факультета клинической психологии

There are several biological and psychological factors that can affect speech. Among these are:

Diseases and disorders of the lungs or the vocal cords, including paralysis, respiratory infections, vocal fold nodules and cancers of the lungs and throat.

Diseases and disorders of the brain, including alogia, aphasias, dysarthria, dystonia and speech processing disorders, where impaired motor planning, nerve transmission, phonological processing or perception of the message leads to poor speech production.

Hearing problems, such as otitis media effusion and auditory processing disorder can lead to phonological problems.

Articulatory problems, such as stuttering, lisping, cleft palate, ataxia, or nerve damage leading to problems in articulation. Tourette syndrome and tics can also affect speech. A lot of people also have a slur in their voice.

In addition to dysphasia, anomia and auditory processing disorder can impede the quality of auditory perception, and therefore, expression. Those who are Hard of Hearing or deaf may be considered to fall into this category.

3. Language

A language is a particular kind of system for encoding and decoding information. The most obvious manifestations are spoken languages. However, there are also written languages and other systems of visual symbols such as sign languages.

Properties of language. A set of commonly accepted signs is only one feature of language; all languages must define the structural relationships between these signs in a system of grammar, the context wherein the signs are used and dependent on their context the content specificity, i.e. its meaning. Rules of grammar are one of the characteristics sometimes said to distinguish language from other forms of communication. The structural relationships make sense only within language; the structure of language exists only in language. It is impossible to have a logically correct definition of a noun or verb. And logic itself concerns itself with propositions which are

191

closely linked with content specificity i.e. semantics. The origin of language is of great interest to philosophers because language is such an essential characteristic of human life.

Hobbes claimed that language is an extension of the «speech» which humans have within themselves, which takes the classical view that reason is one of the most primary characteristics of human nature. Others have argued the opposite - that reason developed out of the need for more complex communication. A shared communicative culture, with sharing of mental representations to some degree, must have come first, before language, creating a social environment in which language would have been useful and adaptive.

The specific causes of the natural selection that led to language are however still the subject of much speculation, but a common theme which goes right back to Aristotle is that many theories propose that the gains to be had from language and/or reason were probably mainly in the area of increasingly sophisticated social structures.

Human languages are usually referred to as natural languages, and the science of studying them falls under the purview of linguistics. A common progression for natural languages is that they are considered to be first spoken, then written, and then an understanding and explanation of their grammar is attempted. Languages live, die, move from place to place, and change with time. Any language that ceases to change or develop is categorized as a dead language. Conversely, any language that is in a continuous state of change is known as a living language or modern language.

Language and Culture. The connection between the capacity of human society to have distinct cultures and languages has been noted as far back as the classical period and probably long before. The ancient Greeks, for example, distinguished between civilized peoples and barbaros «those who babble», i.e. those who speak unintelligible languages. The fact that different groups speak different, unintelligible languages is often considered more tangible evidence for cultural differences than other less obvious cultural traits.

192

The German romanticists of the 19th century such as Herder, Wundt and Humbolt, often saw language not just as one cultural trait among many but rather as the direct expression of a people's national character.

Franz Boas, founder of American anthropology maintained that the shared language of a community is the most essential carrier of their common culture. Boas was the first anthropologist who considered it unimaginable to study the culture of a foreign people without also becoming acquainted with their language. The fact that the intellectual culture of a people was largely constructed, shared and maintained through the use of language, meant that understanding the language of a cultural group was the key to understanding its culture. At the same time, though, Boas and his students were aware that culture and language are not directly dependent on one another. That is, groups with widely different cultures may share a common language, and speakers of completely unrelated languages may share the same fundamental cultural traits.

Indeed, the origin of language, understood as the human capacity of complex symbolic communication, and the origin of complex culture is often thought to stem from the same evolutionary process in early man. Linguists and evolutionary anthropologists suppose that language evolved as early humans began to live in large communities which required the use of complex communication to maintain social coherence. Language and culture then both emerged as a means of using symbols to construct social identity and maintain coherence within a social group too large to rely exclusively on prehuman ways of building community such as for example grooming. Another parallel between cultural and linguistic systems is that they are both systems of practice, that is they are a set of special ways of doing things that is constructed and perpetuated through social interactions. Children, for example, acquire language in the same way as they acquire the basic cultural norms of the society they grow up in - through interaction with older members of their cultural group.

193

Artificial languages

Constructed languages. Some individuals and groups have constructed their own artificial languages, for practical, experimental, personal, or ideological reasons. International auxiliary languages are generally constructed languages that strive to be easier to learn than natural languages; other constructed languages strive to be more logical («loglangs») than natural languages.

Constructed languages are not necessarily restricted to the properties shared by natural languages. In order to qualify for inclusion the language must have a literature and it must be designed for the purpose of human communication. Specifically excluded are reconstructed languages and computer programming languages.

International auxiliary languages. Some languages, most constructed, are meant specifically for communication between people of different nationalities or language groups as an easy-to-learn second language. Several of these languages have been constructed by individuals or groups. Natural, pre-existing languages may also be used in this way - their developers merely catalogued and standardized their vocabulary and identified their grammatical rules. These languages are called naturalistic. One such language, Latino Sine Flexione, is a simplified form of Latin. To date, the most successful auxiliary language is Esperanto, invented by Polish ophthalmologist Zamenhof. It has a relatively large community roughly estimated at about 2 million speakers worldwide, with a large body of literature, songs, and is the only known constructed language to have native speakers, such as the Hungarian-born American businessman George Soros. Other auxiliary languages with a relatively large number of speakers and literature are Interlingua and Ido.

Controlled natural languages are subsets of natural languages whose grammars and dictionaries have been restricted in order to reduce or eliminate both ambiguity and complexity. The purpose behind the development and implementation of a controlled natural language typically is to aid non-native speakers of a natural language in understanding it. An example of a widely used controlled natural language is Simplified English, which was originally developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals.

194

A programming language is a formal language endowed with semantics that can be used to control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer, to perform specific tasks.

The term «animal languages» is often used for non-human systems of communication. Linguists do not consider these to be «language», but describe them as animal communication, because the interaction between animals in such communication is fundamentally different in its underlying principles from human language.

In several publicized instances, non-human animals have been taught to understand certain features of human language.

While proponents of animal communication systems have debated levels of semantics, these systems have not been found to have anything approaching human language syntax.

4. Learning

Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, preferences or understanding, and may involve different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines.

Human learning may occur as part of education or personal development. The study of how learning occurs is part of neuropsychology, educational psychology, learning theory, and pedagogy.

Learning may occur as a result of habituation or classical conditioning, seen in many animal species, or as a result of more complex activities such as play, seen only in relatively intelligent animals and humans. Learning may occur consciously or without conscious awareness. There is evidence for human behavioral learning prenatally, in which habituation has been observed as early as 32 weeks into gestation, indicating that the central nervous system is sufficiently developed and primed for learning and memory to occur very early on in development.

Types of learning

Habituation. In psychology, habituation is an example of nonassociative learning in which there is a progressive diminution of behavioral response probability with repetition of a stimulus. It is another form of integration. An animal first responds to a stimulus,

195

but if it is neither rewarding nor harmful the animal reduces subsequent responses. One example of this can be seen in small song birds - if a stuffed owl (or similar predator) is put into the cage, the birds initially react to it as though it were a real predator. Soon the birds react less, showing habituation. If another stuffed owl is introduced (or the same one removed and re-introduced), the birds react to it again as though it was a predator, demonstrating that it is only a very specific stimulus that is habituated to (namely, one particular unmoving owl in one place).

Sensitization is an example of non-associative learning in which the progressive amplification of a response follows repeated administrations of a stimulus (Bell et al., 1995). An everyday example of this mechanism is the repeated tonic stimulation of peripheral nerves that will occur if a person rubs his arm continuously. After a while, this stimulation will create a warm sensation that will eventually turn painful. The pain is the result of the progressively amplified synaptic response of the peripheral nerves warning the person that the stimulation is harmful. Sensitization is thought to underlie both adaptive as well as maladaptive learning processes in the organism.

Associative learning is the process by which an element is learned through association with a separate, pre-occurring element.

Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from Pavlovian conditioning in that operant conditioning deals with the modification of voluntary behavior. Discrimination learning is a major form of operant conditioning. One form of it is called Errorless learning.

The typical paradigm for classical conditioning involves repeatedly pairing an unconditioned stimulus (which unfailingly evokes a particular response) with another previously neutral stimulus (which does not normally evoke the response). Following conditioning, the response occurs both to the unconditioned stimulus and to the other, unrelated stimulus (now referred to as the «conditioned stimulus»). The response to the conditioned stimulus is termed a conditioned response.

196

Imprinting is the term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning (learning occurring at a particular age or a particular life stage) that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior. It was first used to describe situations in which an animal or person learns the characteristics of some stimulus, which is therefore said to be «imprinted» onto the subject.

Observational learning. The learning process most characteristic of humans is imitation; one’s personal repetition of an observed behaviour, such as a dance. Humans can copy three types of information simultaneously: the demonstrator’s goals, actions and environmental outcomes (results, see Emulation (observational learning)). Through copying these types of information, (most) infants will tune into their surrounding culture.

Play has been approached by several theorists as the first form of learning. Children play, experiment with the world, learn the rules, and learn to interact. Vygotsky agrees that play is pivotal for children’s development, since they make meaning of their environment through play.

Play generally describes behavior which has no particular end in itself, but improves performance in similar situations in the future. This is seen in a wide variety of vertebrates besides humans, but is mostly limited to mammals and birds. Cats are known to play with a ball of string when young, which gives them experience with catching prey. Play is generally seen in younger animals, suggesting a link with learning. However, it may also have other benefits not associated directly with learning, for example improving physical fitness.

Enculturation is the process by which a person learns the requirements of their native culture by which he or she is surrounded, and acquires values and behaviours that are appropriate or necessary in that culture. If successful, enculturation results in competence in the language, values and rituals of the culture. (compare acculturation, where a person is within a culture different to their normal culture, and learns the requirements of this different culture).

197

Multimedia learning. The learning where learner uses multimedia learning environments (Mayer 2001). This type of learning relies on dual-coding theory (P aivio 1971).

E lectronic learning or e-learning is a general term used to refer to Internetbased networked computer-enhanced learning. A specific and always more diffused e-learning is mobile learning (m-Learning), it uses different mobile telecommunication equipments, such as cellular phones.

When a learner interacts with the e-learning environment, it’s called augmented learning. By adapting to the needs of individuals, the context-driven instruction can be dynamically tailored to the learner’s natural environment. Augmented digital content may include text, images, video, audio (music and voice). By personalizing instruction, augmented learning has been shown to improve learning performance for a lifetime.

Rote learning is a technique which avoids understanding the inner complexities and inferences of the subject. The major practice involved in rote learning techniques is learning by repetition, based on the idea that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more it is repeated. Although it has been criticized by some schools of thought, rote learning is a necessity in many situations.

Informal learning occurs through the experience of day-to-day situations (for example, one would learn to look ahead while walking because of the danger inherent in not paying attention to where one is going). It is learning from life, during a meal at table with parents, play, exploring.

Formal learning is learning that takes place within a teacher-stu- dent relationship, such as in a school system.

Nonformal learning is organized learning outside the formal learning system. For example: learning by coming together with people with similar interests and exchanging viewpoints, in clubs or in (international) youth organizations, workshops.

Tangential Learning is the process by which some portion of people will self-educate if a topic is exposed to them in something that

198

they already enjoy such as playing an instrument like the guitar or playing the drums.

Dialogic learning is the type of learning based on dialogue. Its conception is based on contributions of diverse disciplines.

Domains of Learning. The three domains of learning are: CognitiveTo recall, calculate, discuss, analyze, problem solve, etc. PsychomotorTo dance, swim, ski, dive, drive a car, ride a

bike, etc.

AffectiveTo like something or someone, love, appreciate, fear, hate, worship, etc.

These domains are not mutually exclusive. For example, in learning to play chess, the person will have to learn the rules of the game (cognitive domain); but he also has to learn how to set up the chess pieces on the chessboard and also how to properly hold and move a chess piece (psychomotor). Furthermore, later in the game the person may even learn to love the game itself, value its applications in life, and appreciate its history (affective domain).

5. What sort of diet do you advise?

During times of stress, appetite can be reduced and some people may not make time to eat.

Helpful tips:

If you are under stress and cannot manage three main meals, you may lose weight. Try having small but frequent nutritious snacks. Try filling up on fluids high in protein. Beverages recommended include full cream milk, soya bean drinks or creamy soups.

The reverse is true for those resorting to eating as a way of coping with boredom and depression. The constant nibbling of snacks and sweets is not uncommon for those seeking temporary emotional relief. If you find it difficult to avoid snacking, you should at least attempt to reduce the number of snacks you have through the day. In addition to this, you may try other healthy lower calorie and/or high-fibre snacks such as plain wheat crackers, wholemeal savoury bunsor chee cheong fun with only a little gravy added.

199

About 50% of our daily dietary intake should be made up of complex carbohydrate. It is important for providing us with the energy we need for all our daily activities. Examples of complex carbohydrate are unpolished brown rice, potatoes with the skin, wholemeal bread, noodles and wholewheat crackers.

Refined carbohydrate is readily available, cheap and makes food more palatable. If eaten indiscriminately however, some of it will eventually be converted to fat for storage. Thus, it would be ideal to gradually reduce the intake of sugar, regular soft drinks, cakes, honey, jellies and sweets in order to reduce your energy intake. As a better alternative, you could incorporate sugar-free sweets, diet soft drinks and reduced sugar or «light» products into your diet to increase variety.

We should try to use 100% corn, soya bean, sunflower, olive oil or soft table margarine instead of butter, ghee, lard or blended oils. These oils should be taken in small quantities as too much of any type of fat is unhealthy. Cholesterol on the other hand is rich in certain foods such as offal, shellfish, fish toe, egg yolk and mayonnaise. Excess stress in the presence of elevated serum cholesterol could accelerated the risk of coronary heart disease. Reducing dietary cholesterol as well as total fat intake aids the health process, combined with infrequent intakes of sugar and fat.

Protein is important in our diet because it is the building blocks for learn muscle formation. Foods, which are excellent sources of protein, are bean meal, lentils, lean meat, curd, fish, eggs, chicken, skim milk and pork. Be wary of hidden fats, which occur concurrently with good protein from animal sources. So for best choice, select skinless chicken, lean meats, steamed fish, boiled curd, reduced fat hard cheese or boiled as opposed to fried eggs.

To ensure we get sufficient vitamins, minerals and fibre, a daily intake of two portions of fruit and vegetables each, should be made part of a balanced diet. In this way vitamin supplementation is not necessary.

In addition to considering the variety of ingredients that make up an interesting dish, is there a particular way of how we should con-

200