Evening star., 1935-04-18
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
RY THOMAS r HENRY
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

ess in which We employ. inaudibly to
a great extent. words and their sub
stitutes as symbols Of objects and
situations and Of our knowledge and
feelings concerning them. Language
is developed from a series Of vastly
complex conditioned responses involv-
ing all the sensory organs and all
manner of sensory stimuli. The ques-
ton suggests itself at this point why
does not the same conditioning mech
aniSm operate in the reverse direction?
From the nature of the conditioned
response we should expect that any
language symbol, whether expressed
or In thought. would evoke all the
other components Of the response,
especially the auditory. since the pri-
mary element in Language develop
ment is the circular ear-vocal reflex.
1T Is not unlikely that in the early
stages of the childs linguistic ad-
ventures such experiences do occur
and that his thinking evokes medley
Of what might be called hallucina-
tions."
As one emerges from childhood
the Veterans Administration psychia-
triSt points out, the complex Of ex-
perience teaches the individual to dis
regard the irrelevant responses, and
to separate what actually happens
from the illusory experience which
accompanies it. One can Judge from
the rest of the environment which
perceptions are true and which are
false and soon arrives at the point
where there is hardly any conscious
ness of the false.
For example, the sound Of a dinner
bell may evoke various fleeting sensa-
tions-a vision of the expected guest,
auditory sensations of his voice. smell
and taste sensations of some dish
known to be on the menu. The small
child might be puzzled to know what
was real and what false about the sit
uation For the normal adult. however.
the only perception recognized as real
Is the sound of the bell. From ex-
perience and analysis of the rest Of
the environment he knows that the
ringing of the bell is the only thing
that actually happened.
But" says DR.. Brown, "the ad-
juStment is never complete. Under
different conditions, when attention
is weakened or impaired, or when the
corrective influence of the environ
ment is absent, any Of the sensations
evoked may be accepted as real. Thus
in extreme fatigue. starvation. hyp-
noSis, day dreaming. sleep, ETC., the
L.
stimulus will be accepted as true and
their hallucinatory character not
realized"
In other words, the corrective inhi-
bition imposed by experience with the
environment is removed and one re-
acts-by seeing, hearing and SMELL
ing things-as does the small child
In whom the inhibitions Of expert
ence have not been built up.
Now 1t Is curious, DR.. Brown says,
that the types Of mental disease in
which hallucinations are most likely
to be reported are those In which
there is withdrawal from the environ
ment and repression to the status Of
early childhood. In keeping with this.
the hallucinations are most likely to
be auditory-the victim has gone back
to the stage Of the child getting its
first conceptions of language. in which
the image of an object arouses, as .
conditioned response, the sound asso-
| ciated with 1t.
CuriousIy enough, such hallucina-
tions are seldom reported by the in
sane-sucii as the maniac depres.
tion With the actual onvirunmont,