Experimental pathology of the highest nervous activity : lecture delivered on May 10th, 1934 at the Post-Graduate Medical Institute in Leningrad / I.P. Pavlov.

  • Ivan Pavlov
Date:
1935
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experimental pathology of the highest nervous activity : lecture delivered on May 10th, 1934 at the Post-Graduate Medical Institute in Leningrad / I.P. Pavlov. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    understood on the basis of our laboratory results con- cerning isolated illness of separate points in the ce- rebral cortex. It can scarcely be disputed that stereotype skeletal movements may and should be understood as expres- sions of a pathological inertness of the excitatory process in the cortical cells which are connected with movement. That perseverations should be looked upon in this same manner only in the cells of speech movement. But | at first glance it is more difficult to explain in the same manner fixed ideas and paranoia. However, understanding isolated morbid points of the cortex not only in a literally crude anatomical sense but also in a structurally-dynamic one (as I have mentioned above) seems to me, has set aside this difficulty to a sufficient degree. Here is another case: it seems to hover between neurosis and psychosis. In cases of persecutory delusions sometimes the patient irresistibly considers reality that which he fears and wants to avoid. For instance, he desires to possess a secret and it appears to him that all his secrets are constantly being disclosed in some way. He wants to be alone, even though he is alone in his room and everything lies open before his eyes, he still imagines that someone else is there with him. He wishes to be respected and it seems to him that literally at every moment he is being insulted in some way or other by words, signs, or facial expressions. PrERRE JANET Calls it «les sentiments d’emprise», as if someone is taking hold of the patient. : It seems to me that this case physiologically is based upon the ultraparadoxical phase, which I have already mentioned and which you know consists of the following.
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