Analogy Between Sequential Errors in Aphasia and the Behavior of a Cybernetic System (SARF)

Abstract

ANALOGY BETWEEN SEQUENTIAL ERRORS IN APHASIA AND THE BEHAVIOUR OF A CYBERNETIC SYSTEM (SARF) Daniel Bertaux, Andre-Roch Lecours and Frangois Lhermitte Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Hepital de la Salp~triere, Paris, France ABSTRACT A comparison is made between a very frequent type of error in aphasia ("Sequential Errors" involving a pair of identical linguistic units, like phonemes or graphemes) and the behavioural "failures" of a cybernetic system: SARF . The structure of the Sequential Errors is explicated, and rules for describing them are given briefly . The similarity between these errors, and the errors made by an independently constructed cybernetic system, SARF, is shown . The conditions of a correct comparison between SARF behaviour and the language production of aphasic people are examined . Hypotheses are inferred about the functional structure of brain mechanisms responsible for both abnormal and normal integration and seriation of asemantic units in language production; these hypotheses have led to new evidence at other levels of language.