Hi Leaf, our son used to very clearly swear ( unfortunately he went on to loose all forms of speech). It first began very early on after his brain injury. It was in response to pain - when interventions happened. Speech therapist explained how these words can still be spoken as described in the studies you posted.
The brain is very complex and fascinating something we all take for granted until something happens to it - unfortunately that is something we all know only too well on this forum.
I am not sure if it applies in his case, though I know in mine most of my long term issues actually happened due to inflammation, which causes the tails to melt from the bud part of the neuron - those won't be the right terms for those parts. The brain has grey matter and white matter, and the bud is in one sort and the tail in the other, so when the tail melts the connection is literally gone. Of course all of this is on such a teeny tiny level you can't see it via mri or catscan. Not sure if it happens with the neurons elsewhere.
The melting generally happens the first 3 months or so , if I remember rightly. Of course if people need surgery there may be more if it happening afterwards.
This is part if the reason people with brain injury often get such a hard time - a lot of powers that be count nothing they can't see on an xray, mri, or catscan as genuine. Of course it does show up on functional mri's though those only are done for research as far as I can tell because of the expense.
I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to lose all speech. No surprise with the constant pain, irritation, and frustration, that a lot of bloopers would be raining while it was possible.
Well Pax, they way I see it is a lot if grumpy people get that way cause they get fed up with how they are often treated, or it's down to various limits they have on them that rub.
I have tried replacing them too but it’s hard. I find the more fatigued I get the less I can control it and sometimes the alternatives just don’t quite hit the spot!
It’s funny because if I am in a social situation I will work really hard to use appropriate language but as soon as we get in the car to head home the floodgates open!
I didn’t swear much before tbi so those studies are really interesting.
Not swearing but word finding related, I recently called the front door ‘the guardian of the threshold’. I thought that was actually quite cool.
Hi Leaf... I completely get it! Before my BI I could do what Pax is suggesting but now I can't conjure up a 'replacement' in my injured brain and unfortunately for the recipient swear words are an instant reaction that I can't seem to control. This always happens with medical tests that hurt and are my immediate response to pain. I've done a lot of apologising to doctors/consultants!
I also find it hard to control my language when I am angry/upset/frustrated and that's usually when people choose not to 'hear me' and discount my BI like an injury that has 'mended' like a broken leg does. Grrrrr!
Thank you for the links Leaf, I'll take a look if I can get my brain to focus so I can read and concentrate as I'm really interested in all info and research.
may have thought many profanities whilst in my come, a year latter had little awareness of many social skills. Up set loved ones frequently with what I said/ did. Time allowed rewiring to improve my interaction. Lost husband, friends and siblings who couldn’t accept the new version of me, mums love was amazing!! 20 years later I was the only one who supported her through dementia/ Alzimers till she died. Then they all came out of the woodwork!! Bar one who supported both her and me!! Proved there are certain traits I certainly don’t want to rediscover!!
That’s so interesting Leaf! Thanks for passing those links along.
I found this paragraph quiet interesting:
..two-part model of speech where the left deals with novel sentences, while the right takes care of common units of speech like cursing, as well as counting, and reciting days of the week, and a host of other fixed verbal expressions, all of which have been preserved in people with aphasia..
It seems the words that have a specific patterns or are automatically/unconsciously used like swear words are stored on the right… I never really swore much until after my accident! So that explains it! 😅
I seem to have the most damage on the left side and I’ve lost language, spelling etc. and it is so difficult trying to pull the correct word out when I can’t pronounce the word I hear in my head.
Oddly enough when I’d talk right after the accident I was replacing the first few letters of every word with the next few letters of the next word in a sentence (the weirdest pattern that I could not consciously repeat) but no issues with any swear words… even the 6 foreign language swear words I’d learned in elementary school when every kid that spoke a different language taught us their favourite swear word. 😂
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