[Speech recognition in the norm and pathology]

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to study theoretically and experimentally clinical and electrophysiological correlates of the human abilities to recognize emotions in speech. It was shown that the disorder of the recognition of emotions in speech occurred following the lesion of the right temporal region, however the most serious defect of recognition manifested itself at the frontal temporal localization of the lesion. The comparison of the EEG characteristics between two groups of subjects with high and low indices of recognition of emotions in speech revealed a higher level of activation in the posterior temporal regions of the right hemisphere and in the frontal regions of the left hemisphere in the group with the low index of recognition. Clinical data and findings obtained in electrophysiological studies permitted us to make a conclusion that the recognition of emotions in speech involved not only temporal regions of the right hemisphere, but also speech centers in the left hemisphere.