SOLITARY DINER'S GLANCE

**SOLITARY DINER\'S GLANCE**

![Level Gaze](foodgaze.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/foodgaze.jpg" height="35%"
width="18%"}\
\
*Gaze direction*. The tendency of a lone diner **a.** to look up in a
cafe or restaurant, and **b.** to move the eyes horizontally across the
view-field while taking a bite of food or drinking from a cup, bottle,
or glass.

*Usage*: Solitary diner\'s glance resembles the cautious *visual
checking* that goes on among unacquainted individuals (e.g., in
elevators and waiting rooms), though it occurs at regular intervals
(i.e., usually with each bite or sip) and with greater frequency. The
behavior may be a protective response to **[stranger
anxiety](strange1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/strange1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

***RESEARCH REPORT***: Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1970) observed that individuals
who ate alone *looked up and around into the distance after each bite or
two*, alertly \"scanning the horizon\" against enemies, much as baboons
and chimpanzees do in the wild.

See also [**EYE
CONTACT**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}.

Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo by Eddy Van der Elsken (Copyright Rapho Guillumette)


SPACE

**PROXEMICS**

![Bodies in Space](proxemic.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/proxemic.jpg" height="35%"
width="30%"}\
\
*I have learned to depend more on what people do than what they say in
response to a direct question, to pay close attention to that which
cannot be consciously manipulated, and to look for patterns rather than
content*. \--Edward T. Hall (1968:83)

. . . *Every cubic inch of space is a miracle*. \--Walt Whitman (*Leaves
of Grass*, \"Miracles\")\
\
*The desire for personal mobility seems to be unstoppable\--it is,
perhaps, the Irresistible Force*. \--Charles Lave (1992)\
\
\
*Spatial signs, signals and cues*. According to its founder, Edward T.
Hall, proxemics is the study of humankind\'s \"perception and use of
space\" (Hall 1968:83).

*Usage*: Like **[facial
expressions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}**,
and
**[postures](posture1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm"
target="_top"}**, space \"speaks.\" The prime directive of proxemic
space is that we may not come and go everywhere as we please. There are
cultural rules and biological boundaries\--explicit as well as implicit
and subtle limits to observe\--everywhere.

*Body space I*. Scientific research on how we communicate in private and
public spaces began with studies of animal behavior (ethology) and
territoriality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1959, the
anthropologist Edward Hall popularized spatial research on human
beings\--calling it *proxemics*\--in his classic book, *The Silent
Language*.

*Body space II*. Hall identified four bodily distances\--*intimate* (0
to 18 inches), *personal-casual* (1.5 to 4 feet), *social-consultive* (4
to 10 feet), and *public* (10 feet and beyond)\--as key points in human
spacing behavior. Hall noted, too, that different cultures set
distinctive norms for closeness in, e.g.,
[**speaking**](speech1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm"
target="_top"}, business, and
[**courting**](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}, and that standing too close or too far away can lead to
misunderstandings and even to *culture shock*.\
\
*Body space III*. Summarizing diverse studies, Vrugt and Kerkstra
(1984:5) concluded that, \"In interaction between strangers the
interpersonal distance between women is smaller than between men and
women.\"\
\
*Crowded space I*. \"*A persistent and popular view holds that high
population density inevitably leads to violence. This myth, which is
based on rat research, applies neither to us nor to other primates*\"
(Waal et al. 2000:77).\
\
*Crowded space II*. \"This pathological togetherness \[resulting from a
rat population explosion which led to killing, sexual assaults, and
cannibalism\], as Calhoun \[1962\] described it, as well as the
attendant chaos and behavioral deviancy, led him to coin the phrase
\'behavioral sink\'\" (Waal et al. 2000:77).\
\
*Crowded space III*. \"*In some of the short-term crowding experiments
conducted by others and ourselves, monkeys were literally packed
together, without much room to avoid body contact, in a cramped space
for periods of up to a few hours. No dramatic aggression increases were
measured. In fact, in my last conversation with the late John Calhoun,
he mentioned having created layers of rats on top of each other and
having been surprised at how passively they reacted*\" (Waal 2000:10).\
\
*Culture*. In Japan, one may *hand prow* (i.e., face the palm-edge of
one hand vertically forward in front of the nose), and
[**bow**](bow1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm"
target="_top"} the head slightly, to aplogize for crossing between two
people, or intruding into another\'s space to move through a crowded
room. \"The hand acts like the prow of a ship cutting through water\"
(Morris 1994:115).\
\
*Elevator space*. **1.** \"In choosing to approach someone in order to
push the \[button on the control\] panel, men and women reacted to
different signals (Hughes and Goldman 1978); men preferred to approach
people who stood with eyes averted to people who looked at them and
smiled; women, however, preferred to approach someone who looked and
smiled\" (Vrugt and Kerkstra 1984:9). **2.** \"Chimpanzees take this
withdrawal tactic one step further: they are actually less aggressive
when briefly crowded. Again, this reflects greater \[primate\] emotional
restraint. Their reaction is reminiscent of people on an elevator, who
reduce frictions by minimizing large body movements, [**eye
contact**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}
and loud vocalizations\" (Waal et al. 2000:81).\
\
*Escalator space*. \"Men reacted more to the person standing
\[immediately, i.e., just one step behind, with the hands reaching
forward on the rail so as to be visible to the person ahead\] behind
them than did women\" (Vrugt and Kerkstra 1984:9). \"Women seem to
prefer to act as if they do not notice anything, so that unwanted
contact can be avoided. Men make it clear in their reactions that they
do not appreciate such a rapprochement\" (Vrugt and Kerkstra 1984:10).\
\
*Library space*. Regardless of an \"invader\'s\" sex, men already seated
at an otherwise unoccupied table view opposites most negatively, while
already seated women view adjacents most negatively (Fisher and Byrne
1975).\
\
*Parking space*. \"A study of more than 400 drivers at an Atlanta-area
mall parking lot found that motorists defend their spots instinctively\"
(AP, May 13, 1997; from research published in the *Journal of Applied
Social Psychology*, May 1997). \"It\'s not your paranoid imagination
after all: People exiting parking spaces really do leave more slowly
when you\'re waiting for the spot . . . . It\'s called territorial
behavior . . .\" (AP, May 13, 1997).

*Office space I*. Office workers spend the day in an average 260
square-foot (down from 1986\'s 275 square-foot), usually rectangular
space. Corporate downsizing and belt-tightening mean that many staffers
now find themselves working in even smaller, modular, 80-square-foot
*cubicles*. (***N.B.***: For some prehistoric context, consider that our
hunter-gatherer ancestors spent their workdays on an estimated
440-square-*mile* expanse of open savannah.) Cubicles replaced the more
exposed, \"pool\" desks which had earlier lined the floors of cavernous
group-occupied workrooms. Though maligned in Dilbert cartoons, cubicles
at least provide more privacy than the 1950s open workrooms, and offer
needed respite from visual monitoring (which is known to be stressful to
human primates).\
\
*Office space II*. \"German business personnel visiting the United
States see our open doors in offices and businesses as indicative of an
unusually relaxed and unbusinesslike attitude. Americans get the feeling
that the German\'s \[sic\] closed doors conceal a secretive or
conspiratorial operation\" (Vargas 1986:98).\
\
*Restaurant space*. Corner and wall tables are occupied first
(Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970).

*Home space I*. Americans spend an estimated 70 years indoors, mostly in
the secure habitat of an average-sized, 2,000-square-foot residences
called a *home* (from the Indo-European root, **tkei-**, \"settle\" or
\"site\"). (***N.B.***: Because there is no counterpart in primate
evolution for a life lived entirely indoors, we bring the outdoors in.
Thus, better homes and gardens include obvious replicas, as well as
subtle reminders, of the original savanna-grassland territory, including
its warmth, lighting, colors, vistas, textures, and plants.)\
\
*Home space II*. Upon re-entering our home (after several hours of
absence), we feel a peculiar need to wander about the home space to
\"check\" for intruders. In mammals, this behavior is known as
*reconnaisance*: \". . . in which the animal moves round its range in a
fully alerted manner so that all its sense organs are used as much as
possible, resulting in maximal exposure to stimuli from the environment.
It thus \'refreshes its memory\' and keeps a check on everything in its
area\" \[this is \"a regular activity in an already familiar
environment,\" which does \"not require the stimulus of a strange
object\"\] (Ewer 1968:66).

*Neighborhood space*. The prime directive of neighborhood space is,
\"Stay in your own yard.\" That we are terribly territorial is reflected
in fences by the barriers they define. According to the American Fencing
Association, 38,880 miles of chain link, 31,680 miles of wooden, and
1,440 miles of ornamental fencing are bought annually in the U.S.
(***N.B.***: Each year Americans buy enough residential fencing to
encircle the earth nearly three times.)

*City space I*. Biologists call the space in which primates live their
*home range*. The home range of human hunter-gatherers (e.g., of the
Kalahari Bushmen in southern Africa) spreads outward ca. 15-to-20 miles
in all directions from a central *home base*. The home range of today\'s
city dwelling humans includes a home base (an apartment or a house) as
well, along with favored foraging territories (e.g., a shopping mall and
supermarket), a juvenile nursery (i.e., a school), a sporting area
(e.g., a
**[golf](golf.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/golf.htm"
target="_top"}** course), a work space (an office building, e.g.)\--and
from two-to-five nocturnal drinking-and-dining spots. We spend most of
our lives **a.** occupying these favorite spaces, and **b.** orbiting
among them on habitually traveled pathways, sidewalks, and roads.

*City space II*. \"*Fixing Broken Windows*, a book by \[Rutgers
criminologist George\] Kelling and co-author Catherine Coles, became a
bible for New York City\'s \'zero-tolerance\' policy toward abandoned
cars, abandoned buildings and even graffiti. \[new paragraph\] \"Kelling
and Coles argue that even small signs of crime and decay in a
neighborhood, such as broken windows, encourage crime by signaling that
such behavior is tolerated\" (Bayles 2000: 3A).\
\
*National space*. We live in one of ca. 160 sovereign nations which
together claim 54% of earth\'s surface, including almost all of its land
and much of its oceans, waterways, and airspace. Over ninety percent of
all nations, including the U.S., have unresolved border disputes (see
[***WWW.Army.mil***](http://www.army.mil/)).

*Outer space*. *No national sovereignty rules in outer space. Those who
venture there go as envoys of the entire human race. Their quest,
therefore, must be for all mankind, and what they find should belong to
all mankind*. \--Lyndon Baines Johnson\
\
*U.S. politics*. \"Distance between two shakers who are still connected
at the hand signifies either distrust, aloofness, or reserve. Democratic
presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, often criticized in the media
for his lack of passion in his campaign style, tends to shake hands by
planting his feet and extending his right arm out to meet the oncoming
hand of the other shaker\" (Blum 1988:7-4).\
\
*Neuro-notes I*. **1.** In imaging studies of our brain, the neural
basis of spatial location and navigation shows activation of the right
hippocampus. Travel to a place activates the right caudate nucleus of
the [**basal
ganglia**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target="_top"}
(Maguire et al. 1998). **2.** \"The navigation system includes special
\'place cells\' and \'direction cells\' \[in the hippocampus\] that
flicker visibly in MRI images when a research subject tries to find his
or her way through a simulated urban environment\" (Boyd 2000). **3.**
\"A section of the \[London taxi\] cabbies\' brains, called the
hippocampus, became enlarged during the two years they spent learning
their way around the vast, complicated metropolis\" (Boyd 2000; see
[**PRIMATE
BRAIN**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target="_top"},
*Climbing cues*).\
\
*Neuro-notes II*. Damage to the right parietal lobe\'s angular gyrus and
supra-marginal gyrus may cause problems in our ability to use space
(such as, e.g., a difficulty in dressing, problems orienting in space,
trouble drawing figures in 3D, and neglect of the body\'s entire left
side). Lesions in the right hemisphere\'s parietal lobe may affect our
spatial comprehension.\
\
See also **[ANGULAR
DISTANCE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[CONFERENCE
TABLE](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}**,
**[LOOM](loom1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[STEINZOR
EFFECT](steinzor.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/steinzor.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[TOUCH
CUE](touch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/touch1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Photo by Sanford Roth (copyright *Rapho Guillumette*)\


SPECIAL VISCERAL NERVE

**SPECIAL VISCERAL NERVE**

![Embryonic Special Visceral Nerves](visceral.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/visceral.jpg" height="35%"
width="25%"}\
\
*Neuro term*. **1.** A nerve linked to a facial, jaw, neck, shoulder, or
throat muscle that once played a role in eating or breathing. **2.** A
cranial nerve whose original role in digestion and respiration renders
it emotionally responsive today.

*Usage*: Special visceral nerves mediate those \"gut reactive\" signs of
**[emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"}**
we unconsciously send through **[facial
expressions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[throat-clears](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/throat.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[head-tilts](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headside.htm){target="_top"}**,
and
**[shoulder-shrugs](shoshrug.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoshrug.htm"
target="_top"}**. Nonverbally these nerves are indeed \"special,\"
because the muscle contractions they mediate are less easily (i.e.,
voluntarily) controlled than are those of the skeletal muscles (which
are innervated by *somatic* nerves).

*Evolution*. Associated with the **[pharyngeal
arches](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/pharynx.htm){target="_top"}**,
special visceral nerves control the branchiomeric muscles which once
constricted, or dilated, \"gill\" pouches of the ancient alimentary
canal.

*Anatomy I*. Special visceral nerves include efferent fibers of **a.**
the *trigeminal nerve* (cranial V, for biting and chewing); **b.** the
*facial nerve* (cranial VII, for facial expression); **c.** the
*glossopharyngeal nerve* (cranial IX, for swallowing); **d.** the *vagus
nerve* (cranial X, for **[tone of
voice](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target="_top"}**);
and the *accessory nerve* (cranial XI, for
**[head-shaking](headshak.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headshak.htm"
target="_top"}** and the shoulder-shrug).

*Anatomy II*. The
**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target="_top"}**
of visceral nerves\--which originally mediated the muscles for *opening*
(i.e., dilating) or *closing* (i.e., constricting) parts of the
primitive \"gill\" apparatus in eating and breathing\--are today linked
to the **[limbic
system](limbic.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm"
target="_top"}**.\
\
*Vagus nerve stimulation*. \"As the nerve is stimulated \[by electrical
current from an implanted VNS generator device to treat resistant
depression\], some people may experience a tingling sensation,
hoarseness, or the urge to cough\" (Cantor 2001).\
\
*Neuro-notes*. The *special visceral motor column* (in which special
visceral nerves are rooted) lies in separate brain-stem and spinal-cord
areas from the *somatic motor column* (which controls skeletal muscles).
Overall, the structure of special visceral nerves in mammals is
*conservative* (i.e., is much the same as it used to be in fishes;
Walker 1986:223). The most conservative nerve of all (see Walker
1986:213) may be the glossopharyngeal (cranial IX), which renders cues
such as the
**[Adam\'s-apple-jump](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adajum.htm){target="_top"}**
and throat constriction of the
**[cry](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target="_top"}** so
sensitive, trustworthy, and revealing of mood. In fishes, the vagus may
have been formed from four separate nerves, each similar to the
glossopharyngeal (Walker 1986:213), and may have worked mainly as muscle
constrictors. In reptiles, the accessory nerve split off from the vagus:
\"With the elaboration of the cucullaris to form the trapezius and
sternocleidomastoid complex, we find that the special visceral motor
fibers that supply these muscles separate from the vagus to form a new
cranial nerve, the accessory (XI)\" (Walker 1986:223).

See also
**[DISGUST](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/disgust.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Illustration detail from Larsen 1993 (copyright 1993 by Churchill
Livingstone)


SPEECH

**SPEECH**

![Speech Sound](speech.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/speech.jpg" height="40%"
width="25%"}\
\
*Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh*. \--*Matthew*,
XII, 34\
\
*Talk on, my son; say anything that comes to your mind or to the tip of
your tongue* . . . \--Miguel de Cervantes (*Don Quixote*, 1605:695)\
\
Nixon: *\"But they were told to uh\"*\
Haldeman: *\"uh and refused uh\"*\
Nixon: *\[Expletive deleted.\]* \--Excerpt from the Nixon Tape
Transcripts (Lardner 1997)\
\
\
*Spoken language*. **1.** A verbal and vocal means of communicating
emotions, perceptions, and thoughts by the articulation of
**[words](word1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm"
target="_top"}**. **2.** The organization of systems of sound into
*language*, which has enabled *Homo sapiens* **a.** to transcend the
limits of individual memory, and **b.** to store vast amounts of
**[information](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/info.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage I*: Speech (and manual sign language, e.g., ASL) has become the
indispensable means for sharing ideas, observations, and feelings, and
for conversing about the past and future. Speech so engages the brain in
self-conscious deliberation that we overlook our place in **[Nonverbal
World](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage II*: \"Earth\'s inhabitants speak some 6,000 different
languages\" (Raloff 1995).

*Anatomy*. To speak we produce complex sequences of body movements and
articulations, not unlike the motions of
**[gesture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}**.
Evolutionary recent speech-production areas of the neocortex, basal
ganglia, and cerebellum enable us to talk, while evolutionary recent
areas of the neocortex give heightened sensitivity **a.** to voice
sounds (see [**AUDITORY
CUE**](auditor1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/auditor1.htm"
target="_top"}), and **b.** to positions of the fingers and hands.\
\
*Babble*. **1.** \"Manual babbling has now been reported to occur in
deaf children exposed to signed languages from birth\" (Petitto and
Marentette 1991:1493). **2.** \"Instead of babbling with their voices,
deaf babies babble with their hands, repeating the same motions over and
over again\" (Fishman 1992:66).

*Evolution I*. Spoken language is considered to be between 200-thousand
(Lieberman 1991) and two-million (Gibson 1993) years old. The likely
precursor of speech is sign language (see
**[HANDS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[MIME
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/mimecue.htm){target="_top"}**).
Our ability **a.** to converse using manual signs and **b.** to
manufacture
**[artifacts](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/artifact.htm){target="_top"}**
(e.g., the Oldowan stone tools manufactured 2.4-to-1.5 m.y.a.) evolved
in tandem on eastern Africa\'s savannah plains. Signing may not have
evolved without artifacts, nor artifacts without signs. (***N.B.***:
Anthropologists agree that some form of communication was needed to pass
the knowledge of tool design on from one generation to the next.)

*Evolution II*. Handling, seeing, making, and carrying stone implements
stimulated the creation of conceptual categories, available for word
labels, which came in handy, e.g., for teaching the young. Through an
intimate relationship with tools and artifacts, human beings became
information-sharing primates of the highest order.

*Evolution III*. Preadaptations for vocal speech involved the human
tongue. Before saying words, the tongue had been a humble manager of
\"food tossing.\" Through acrobatic maneuvers, chewed morsels were
distributed to premolars and molars for finer grinding and pulping. (The
trick was not getting bitten in the process.) As upright posture
evolved, the throat grew in length, and the voice box was retrofit lower
in the windpipe. As a result the larynx, originally for mammalian
calling, increased its vocal range as the dexterous tongue waited to
speak.\
\
*Evolution IV*. \". . . the earliest linguistic systems emerged out of
vocalizations like those of the great apes. The earliest innovation was
probably an increase in the number of distinctive calls\" (Foley
1997:70; see **[TONE OF
VOICE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target="_top"}**,
[](verbal1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/verbal1.htm"
target="_top"}*Evolution*).\
\
*Gestural origin*. \"\[David B.\] Givens has called our attention to
matters too often ignored: the biological imperative to communicate,
present along the whole evolutionary track; the persistence, out of
awareness, of very ancient bodily signals and their penetration of all
our social interaction; and the powerful neoteny\--human gestures and
sign language signs make use of some of the same actions to signal
semantically related messages. These same powerful influences, it seems
from the study of sign languages, are beneath and behind language as we
know it today. Thus it should be easier to construct a theory of gesture
turning into language, complete with duality of patterning and syntactic
structures, and thence into spoken language, than to find spoken
language springing full grown from a species but one step removed from
the higher apes\" (Stokoe 1986:180-81).

*Law*. According to the Federal Rules of Evidence (Article VIII.
Hearsay), \"A \'statement\' is (1) an oral or written assertion or (2)
[**nonverbal
conduct**](nvcom.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm"
target="_top"} of a person, if it is intended by the person as an
assertion\" (Rule 801. Definitions).\
\
***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** According to the *CBS Evening News* show (October 17, 1995), the
earliest known recording of a human voice was made on a wax cylinder in
1888 by Thomas Edison. The voice says, \"I\'ll take you around the
world.\" **2.** The world\'s second most-recorded human voice is that of
singer Frank Sinatra; the most recorded is that of crooner Bing Crosby
(Schwartz 1995).\
\
*Sex differences I*. \"During phonological tasks \[i.e., the processing
of afferent (incoming), rhyming, vocal sounds\], brain activation in
males is lateralized to the left inferior frontal gyrus regions; in
females the pattern of activation is very different, engaging more
diffuse neural systems that involve both the left and right inferior
frontal gyrus (Shaywitz et al. 1995:607).\
\
*Sex differences II: Recent finding*. \"Study: Women Listen More than
Men \[Associated Press, Copyright 2000\]\
\"Nov. 28, 2000 --- Score one for exasperated women: New research
suggests men really do listen with just half their brains.\
\"In a study of 20 men and 20 women, brain scans showed that men when
listening mostly used the left sides of their brains, the region long
associated with understanding language. Women in the study, however,
used both sides. Other studies have suggested that women \"can handle
listening to two conversations at once,\" said Dr. Joseph T. Lurito, an
assistant radiology professor at Indiana University School of Medicine.
\"One of the reasons may be that they have more brain devoted to it.\"
Lurito\'s findings, presented Tuesday at the Radiological Society of
North America\'s annual meeting, don\'t necessarily mean women are
better listeners. It could be that \"it\'s harder for them,\" Lurito
suggested, since they apparently need to use more of their brains than
men to do the same task. \"I don\'t want a battle of the sexes,\" he
said. \"I just want people to realize that men and women\" may process
language differently. In the study, functional magnetic resonance
imaging --- or fMRI --- was used to measure brain activity by producing
multidimensional images of blood flow to various parts of the brain.
Inside an MRI scanner, study participants wore headphones and listened
to taped excerpts from John Grisham\'s novel \"The Partner,\" while
researchers watched blood-flow images of their brains, displayed on a
nearby video screen. Listening resulted in increased blood flow in the
left temporal lobes of the men\'s brains. In women, both temporal lobes
showed activity\" (Source: Discovery.com *News*, December 12, 2000).\
\
*Vocal recognition*. In his EMOVOX project (\"Voice variability related
to speaker-emotional state in Automatic Speaker Verification\"), Prof.
Klaus Scherer (Department of Psychology, University of Geneva) and his
colleagues are researching the effects of emotion on speech to improve
the effectiveness of automatic speaker verification (as used, e.g., in
security systems).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \"The general model encompassing both
spoken and signed languages to be presented here assumes that the key
lies in describing both with a single vocabulary, the vocabulary of
neuromuscular activity\--i.e. gesture\" (Armstrong, Stokoe, and Wilcox
1995:6). **2.** \"With all due respect to my esteemed colleague \[Iain
Davidson\], our disagreement doesn\'t really rest so much on whether or
not I see a Broca\'s area on \[fossil cranium\] 1470, whichever Homo it
turns out to be . . . . Our disagreement really stems from whether or
not the manufacture of stone tools gives us any insights to previous
cognitive behavioral patterns, and as I wrote back in 1969, \'Culture: A
Human Domain,\' in *CA* \[*Current Anthropology*\], I think there are
more similarities than not between language behavior and stone tool
making, and I haven\'t retreated from this position, because I haven\'t
seen effective rebuttal, just denial\" (Ralph L. Holloway, posting on
Anthro-L, June 21, 1996, 4:04 PM). **3.** \"We tend to perceive speech
sounds in terms of \'articulatory gestures,\' whose boundaries and
distinctions correspond to articulatory (i.e., somato-motor) features,
not just sound features . . .\" (Deacon 1997:359-60).\
\
*Neuro-notes I*. Speaking is our most complex activity, requiring ca.
140,000 neuromuscular events per second to succeed. No animal on earth
can match a human\'s extraordinary coordination of
**[lips](lips.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm"
target="_top"}**, jaws, tongue, larynx,
**[pharynx](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/pharynx.htm){target="_top"}**,
speech centers, **[basal
ganglia](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target="_top"}**,
cerebellum,
**[emotions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"},**
and memory, all required to utter a phrase.

*Neuro-notes II*. During the 1990-2000 Decade of the Brain,
neuroscientists established that flaking a stone tool and uttering a
word (e.g., *handaxe*) make use of the same\--and closely
related\--brain areas. So nearly alike, in fact, are the neural pathways
for manual dexterity and speech that a handaxe itself may be deciphered
as though it were a paleolithic word or petrified phrase. Because **a.**
the word \"handaxe,\" and **b.** the perception of the worked stone (for
which it stands) both exist as mental concepts (the neural templates for
each are linked in the brain).

*Neuro-notes III*. Speech rests on an incredibly simple ability to pair
stored mental concepts with incoming data from the senses. Ivan Pavlov
(1849-1936; the Russian physiologist who discovered the *conditioned
response*), e.g., observed dogs in his laboratory as they paired the
sound of human footsteps (incoming data) with memories of meat (stored
mental concepts). Not only did the meat itself cause Pavlov\'s dogs to
salivate, but the mental concept of meat\--i.e., memories of mealtimes
past\--was also called up by the sound of human feet. (***N.B.***:
Pairing one sensation with memories of another \[a process known as
*sensitization* or *associative learning*\] is an ability given to sea
slugs, as well.)

*Neuro-notes IV*. Tool use itself probably increased concept formation.
MRI studies, reveal that children who make early, skilled use of the
digits of the right hand (e.g., in playing the violin) develop larger
areas in the left sensory cortex devoted to fingering. Thus, Pleistocene
youngsters who were precociously introduced to tool-making may have
developed enhanced neural circuitry for the task.

See also [**VERBAL
CENTER**](verbal1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/verbal1.htm"
target="_top"}.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})\
Detail of photo by Lennart Nilsson (copyright *Black Star*)


SPEECH ERRORS

**[SPEECH ERRORS]{#SPEECH ERRORS}**

*Vocal cues*. **1.** Mistakes in verbal fluency, including repetition,
stuttering, mispronounced words, incomplete clauses, and
**[throat-clearing](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/throat.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage*: Increased frequency in speech errors may indicate
**[anger](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target="_top"}**,
anxiety, or stress (Mehrabian 1974:89).\
\
*Hem and haw*. **1.** *Hem*: \"A short cough or clearing of the throat
made especially to gain attention, warn another, hide embarrassment, or
fill a pause in speech\" (Soukhanov 1992:841). **2.** *Haw*: \"An
utterance used by a speaker who is fumbling for words\" (Soukhanov
1992:829).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Speech hesitations tend to occur at the
beginnings of clauses, usually after the first word (Boomer 1965).
**2.** \"George Mahl of Yale University has found that errors become
more frequent as the speaker\'s discomfort or anxiety increases\"
(Mehrabian 1974:89).

*Neuro-notes*.
**[Emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"}**
from the **[limbic
system](limbic.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm"
target="_top"}** carries to the *larynx* and *pharynx* through
**[special
visceral](viscera1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm"
target="_top"}** (i.e., \"gut reactive\")
**[nerves](viscera1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm"
target="_top"}**. Anxiety may also divert mental concentration.

See also
**[ADAM\'S-APPLE-JUMP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adajum.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[DECEPTION
CUE](deceive.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/deceive.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[TONE OF
VOICE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


STARTLE REFLEX

**STARTLE REFLEX**

![Kramer](startle.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/startle.jpg" height="50%"
width="25%"}\
\
*I\'m an eccentricity specialist*. \--Michael Richards (Kramer on
*Seinfeld*)

*Neuro term*. **1.** A sudden, involuntary movement made in response to
a touch, an unexpected motion, or a loud noise. **2.** A set of
automatic protective movements designed to withdraw the body and its
parts from harm.

*Usage*: Many defensive
**[postures](posture1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm"
target="_top"}** and
**[submissive](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target="_top"}**
**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}**
(e.g., diverse movements of the **[shoulder-shrug
display](shrugdis.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/shrugdis.htm"
target="_top"}**) derive from
**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target="_top"}**
of the mammalian startle. Its status as a reflex explains why human
beings (in all cultures) **a.**
***[blink](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/blink.htm){target="_top"}***
and *grimace*; **b.** *flex* the neck, elbows, trunk, and knees; and
**c.** *elevate* the
**[shoulders](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoulder.htm){target="_top"}**
when feeling physically, emotionally, or socially threatened (Andermann
and Andermann 1992:498).

***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
Eccentric twisting, plunging, blinking, and flexing spasms made from
1989-98 by *Seinfeld* TV character, Cosmo Kramer are typical of people
with an *exaggerated startle response*. Increasing with anxiety and
fatigue, the startle underlies such culturally recognized \"startle
syndromes\" as Indonesian *latah*, Japanese *imu*, and Lapland\'s *Lapp
panic* (Joseph and Saint-Hilaire 1992:487-88).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: The startle reflex is related to the *Moro* or
\"clamping\" reflex of young primates, which includes **a.** arm, leg,
and spinal-column *extension* movements; **b.** head
**[bowing](bow1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm"
target="_top"}** (over the chest); and **c.**
**[crying](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target="_top"}**
(McGraw 1943:19). Present in the human fetus after 30 weeks, the startle
is predominantly a *flexor* reflex, possibly rooted in the primitive
*orienting* response (Joseph and Saint-Hilaire 1992:487).

*Neuro-notes*. Sudden movements, **[looming
objects](loom1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm"
target="_top"}**, or bright lights trigger midbrain *optic centers*
which automatically turn our faces and eyes toward what could be
dangerous\--before the forebrain knows, on a conscious level, danger
even exists. The midbrain\'s *auditory lobes*, meanwhile, are
reflexively attuned to changes in sound. Located just below the
optic-center lobes, these pea-sized areas control our *auditory
startle*. Picked up by the *cochlear nucleus*, a scream received by the
auditory lobes triggers the
**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target="_top"}**
and circuits of the reticulospinal tract to activate the startle. Thus,
recoiling from a karate yell, e.g., is a primal response prompted by
paleocircuits of the **[amphibian
brain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amphibia.htm){target="_top"}**.

See also **CHATTERING TEETH**, **[FLEXION
WITHDRAWAL](withdra1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/withdra1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of publicity photo (copyright 1998 by *People Weekly*)

\
\


STEINZOR EFFECT

**[STEINZOR EFFECT]{#STEINZOR EFFECT}\
\
![Bodies Aligned with the Leader](steinzor.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/steinzor.jpg"
height="35%" width="40%"}**

*Group dynamic*. The finding that **a.** with minimal leadership,
members of a discussion group address most remarks to colleagues sitting
*across* a conference table; **b.** with a strong leader, members
address colleagues seated *beside* them; and **c.** where leadership is
shared, *no spatial effect* is seen (Sommer 1967).

*Usage*: The Steinzor effect reveals a telling link between **[eye
contact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}**
and
**[dominance](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target="_top"}**.
We may find it difficult, e.g., to gaze directly at, or to cross lines
of sight with, a dominant individual seated nearby at the same
**[conference
table](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}**.

***RESEARCH REPORT***: \"In task discussions, people direct more
comments to those seated across from them in a circle or at a table,
whereas in social discussions, they are more likely to talk to the
person seated next to them. The presence of a directive leader may also
encourage more talking to those in adjacent seats\" (Burgoon et. al
1989:389).

See also **[ANGULAR
DISTANCE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[PROXEMICS](proxemi1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


STOMP

**BOOT**

*Boots\--boots\--boots\--boots\--movin\' up and down again!* \--Kipling,
*Boots*

***![Cool Boots](B43976.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B43976.jpg"
height="35%" width="25%"}\
\
**I had a driving interest in footwear and the artistic possibilities of
making boots. A saddle is a saddle, you just see brown leather. But
boots . . . you see red, yellow, fuchsia, and chartreuse*. \--D.W.
Frommer, bootmaker (Hadley 1993; see [**COLOR
CUE**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target="_top"})\
\
***[Clothing
cue](adorn.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/adorn.htm"
target="_top"}***. **1.** A usually heavy, protective covering for the
**[foot](feet.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm"
target="_top"}**, made of leather, rubber, or
**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target="_top"}**.
**2.** A conspicuous
**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target="_top"}** of
authority and power designed to accent the foot\'s ability to stomp.

*Usage*: Nonverbally, boots suggest strength by adding **a.** *stature*
(i.e., increasing a wearer\'s vertical height; see
**[LOOM](loom1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm"
target="_top"}**) and **b.** *stability* (i.e., giving steadiness to
stance; see **[ANTIGRAVITY
SIGN](antigrav.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/antigrav.htm"
target="_top"}**).\
\
*Anatomy*. Boots give us a more powerful gait and commanding stance. The
boot-shaft\'s snug contact with pressure-sensitive *Pacinian corpuscles*
of the lower leg provides tactile reassurance, while supporting the long
tendons that drop into our feet from muscles above. Boots also stabilize
the ankle joint. By adapting to the physical needs of our feet (and to
the psychic needs of our [**reptilian
brain**](reptile.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/reptile.htm"
target="_top"}) Doc Martens® helped young men and women of the 1990s
feel secure on the streets.

*Cowboy boots*. Fashion trainer John Molloy found that women consider
men in cowboy boots more attractive than men in ordinary shoes.
(***N.B.***: Standing on tiptoes shifts the body\'s center of gravity
forward, causing cowboy-boot wearers to compensate by leaning forward as
well. This makes the human derrière\--already prominent by primate
standards\--protrude an additional 25% \[see **[HIGH
HEEL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highheel.htm){target="_top"}**\]).
Originally adapted from the moderately high *Cuban heel*, American
cowboy boots add ca. two inches to standing height. (***N.B.***: A
man\'s business shoe has only a 1/2-to-3/4 inch upper base of
polyethylene, and a 1/2 inch layer of rubber attached below, called a
*heel lift*, which works as a shock absorber.)

*Evolution*. Boots evolved from leather sandals, as straps grew longer
and thicker to support a human\'s congenitally weak ankles. Sandals
reaching above the ankle (the oldest status symbol for feet yet
discovered) were worn exclusively by Roman army officers. Gradually, the
leather pieces widened until they enclosed the entire foot.

*Media*. By popularizing thick, buckled *motorcycle boots*, Marlon
Brando (*The Wild One* 1954) and Peter Fonda (*Easy Rider* 1969)
furthered the role of footwear as a fashion statement designed to
figuratively \"stomp\" the establishment\'s powers-that-be.

*Psychology*. Blind-and-deaf-born children stamp their feet in anger
(Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12).\
\
*Stamping*. \"In man, stamping the feet in anger seems also to be a
ritualized attack movement\" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:96).

See also **[BLUE
JEANS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bluejean.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[GOOSE-STEP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/goose.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[LEG
WEAR](legwear1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/legwear1.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[MEN\'S
SHOES](mens.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mens.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


STRANGER ANXIETY

**STRANGER ANXIETY**

![Pucker Face](stranger.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/stranger.jpg" height="42%"
width="25%"}\
\
***[Emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"}***.
An innate anxiety, mistrust, or wariness of foreigners, newcomers,
outsiders, or other unacquainted and unknown individuals.

*Usage*: A panoply of nonverbal signs reveals our anxiety as we interact
with unfamiliar people. Before city life, our ancestors spent most of
their time dealing face-to-face with people they knew. Today, we spend a
great deal of time interacting with strangers.\
\
*Psychology*. Our aversion to the intrusion of strangers into our usual
areas may be innate (Thorndike 1940; see
[**PROXEMICS**](proxemi1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm"
target="_top"}).

***[Sweaty
palms](sweaty1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/sweaty1.htm"
target="_top"}***. \"No social relationship is more stressful than the
encounter with a stranger, an unknown and potentially threatening fellow
human being. . . . studies of the galvanic skin response (e.g., McBride
et al. 1965) indicate that anxiety increases in subjects, i.e., skin
resistance decreases, as they are approached by strangers\" (Givens
1978d:351).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** A mild form of stranger anxiety is
*social jeopardy*: \"By saying something, the speaker opens himself up
to the possibility that the intended recipients will affront him by not
listening or will think him forward, foolish, or offensive in what he
has said\" (Goffman 1967:37). **2.** Among Zhun/twasi infants (of N.W.
Botswana), responses to strangers include *cling*,
***[cry](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target="_top"}***,
*approach mother*, *gaze aversion*, *gaze at mother*, *pucker-face*,
***[mouth-hand](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/selftouc.htm){target="_top"}***,
*stare*,
***[smile](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/zygosmi.htm){target="_top"}***[](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/zygosmi.htm){target="_top"},
***[laugh](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/laugh.htm){target="_top"}***[](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/laugh.htm){target="_top"},
and *touch* (Konner (1972). **3.** In western children, responses to
strangers include *sobering*, slight
***[frowning](http://members.aol.com/doder1/frown.htm){target="_top"}***,
and *marked and pronounced puckering* (as negative signs; infants
respond more negatively to adult than to child strangers; Lewis and
Brooks 1974). **4.** In a study of 150 adult encounters with unfamiliar
adults, 90% (137) showed negative signs, e.g.,
\"**[lip-compression](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target="_top"}**[](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target="_top"},
lip-bite,
[**tongue-show**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tonguesh.htm){target="_top"},
tongue-in-cheek; downward, lateral, and maximal-lateral gaze avoidance
\[see
**[CUT-OFF](cutoff1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/cutoff1.htm"
target="_top"}**\];
[**hand-to-face**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/selftouc.htm){target="_top"},
hand-to-hand, hand-to-body, and
[**hand-behind-head**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/handbehi.htm){target="_top"}
automanipulations; and postures involving [**flexion and
adduction**](withdra1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/withdra1.htm"
target="_top"} of the upper limbs\" (Givens 1978d:354). **5.** \"For a
time, scientists thought almost all infants this age \[6-to-8 months\]
were distressed by unfamiliar people. It\'s now clear that babies react
to new people in a wide variety of ways\" (Chase and Rubin 1979:118).

See
also**[FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT](fight.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[FREEZE
REACTION](freeze1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/freeze1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo by Wayne Miller (Copyright Wayne Miller)


SUPERBALL

**SUPERBALL®**

![Superball Wannabes](super.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/super.jpg" height="48%"
width="25%"}\
\
. . . *our little life is rounded* . . . . \--Shakespeare (*The
Tempest*, IV, I)

***[Consumer
product](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}***. A small, lively, spherical
**[artifact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/artifact.htm){target="_top"}**
of
**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target="_top"}**,
designed to bounce approximately 90 percent as high as the point from
whence it was dropped.

*Usage*: Considered a child\'s toy, adults too enjoy Superball\'s
animated bounce. The rhythmic, back-and-forth reciprocity of releasing
and catching a Superball is a \"whole brain\" workout which stimulates
the entirety of the central nervous system (including circuits of the
spinal cord, hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain).\
\
*Anatomy*. Made of Zectron®, the Superball contains 50,000 lbs. of
compressed energy (source: WHAM-O package).\
\
*History I*. In the 1960s, a chemical engineer accidentally created a
plastic product that bounced uncontrollably. Thus the Superball was
born, followed by the Super Gold Ball, Super Baseball, and Super Dice.
\"In one celebrated incident, a giant, promotional Superball was
accidentally dropped from of a 23rd floor hotel window in Australia. It
shot back up 15 floors, then down again into a parked convertible car.
The car was totaled but the ball survived in perfect condition.\"
(Source:
*[www.wham-o.com](http://www.wham-o.com/content/history.html){target="_top"}*)\
\
*History II*. During the 1960s, ca. 20 million Superballs were sold.
However, the toy was so copied by competitors (e.g., today, by Taiwan\'s
Hi-Bouncing Ball) that WHAM-O® \"bounced\" the product from its line.
\"If you\'re one of the countless others who\'ve never been satisfied
with mere copies, the wait is over! WHAM-O has brought back the original
Superball.\" (Source:
*[www.wham-o.com](http://www.wham-o.com/content/history.html){target="_top"}*)\
\
*Literature*. \"It\'s alive!\" (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,
*Frankenstein*, 1818)

*Meaning*. Through its shape, color, texture, and lifelike movements,
the Superball has a great deal to \"say,\" especially to children\--and
to the young at heart. Nonverbally, its body-language motions are
**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}**
which carry information, attract our fancy, and catch our eyes (see
**[MESSAGING
FEATURE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target="_top"}**).\
\
***RESEARCH REPORT***: Our attraction to the zany body language of
Superballs is due, in part, to the unusual amount of energy they
contain. According to the researcher, Margaret D. Campbell, \". . . when
two superballs of different masses are dropped with the larger on the
bottom, the smaller one has its velocity increased by a factor of three
and reaches a final height of nine times its original height.\" Thus,
\"The first collision will have only the effect of reversing the large
ball\'s velocity. For the second collision, involving both balls, we use
the fact that the total momentum and the total kinetic energy of the two
balls is the same before and after the collision, and, solving for the
final velocities, obtain the equations (where Mr = M1/M2 is the mass
ratio):

V1f = \[(Mr - 1) / (Mr + 1)\]V1i + \[2 / (Mr + 1)\]V2i

V2f = \[2Mr / (Mr + 1)\]V1i + \[(1 - Mr) / (Mr + 1)\]V2i

or, if V1i = V2i = Vi

V1f = \[(-Mr + 3) / (Mr + 1)\] Vi

V2f = \[(1 - Mr) / (Mr + 1)\] Vi

and Mr \--\>0,

V1f = 3Vi . . . \[and thus,\] the smaller ball will gain ***three times
the velocity*** it started with . . . .\"\
\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

***E-Commentary***: \"I am a high school student and basketball player,
and I\'m working on a science project. I need some advice. I know this
might be off topic and not in your field, but anyway, I saw your report
on the superball, and for my project I would like to manipulate the
superball material into insoles for my shoes which, in theory (mine
anyway), will improve my jumping ability. Do you think it would actually
work? And if so, how could I manipulate the material into an insole?
Would melting it change its 'bouncy\' properties? Any help would be
greatly appreciated.\" --Jay (8/31/00 8:17:23 AM Pacific Daylight Time)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Neuro-notes*. Like many successful products, a Superball \"speaks\" to
our senses. Its color targets the ventral temporal lobe; when bounced it
addresses the middle temporal gyrus. At a deeper level, via emotional
modules linked to vision centers of the **[amphibian
midbrain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amphibia.htm){target="_top"}**,
lively movements give the Superball its charming \"personality.\" The
diminutive size confers **cuteness**, and (like human skin itself) the
**[smoothness](touch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/touch1.htm"
target="_top"}** of its vinyl contours pleases free nerve endings in our
**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target="_top"}**.

See also **[BIG
MAC®](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})\
Imitation bouncy balls (various brands) amid fragments of Superball
package (copyright 1999 by WHAM-O®)


SWAGGER-WALK

**SWAGGER-WALK**

![Best Swagger Guy](swagger.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/swagger.jpg" height="35%"
width="15%"}\
\
*I don\'t mean military courage, or civil courage, or any special kind
of courage. I mean just that inborn ability to look temptations straight
in the face\--a readiness unintellectual enough, goodness knows, but
without pose\--a power of resistance, don\'t you see, ungracious if you
like, but priceless\--an unthinking and blessed stiffness before the
outward and inward terrors, before the might of nature, and the
seductive corruption of men\--backed by a faith invulnerable to the
strength of facts, to the [**contagion of
example**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/isoprax.htm){target="_top"},
to the solicitation of ideas. Hang ideas!* \--Joseph Conrad (*Lord Jim*,
1899)\
\
***[Broadside
display](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/broadsid.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** A slight or moderate exaggeration in the side-to-side movements
of
**[walking](walk1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/walk1.htm"
target="_top"}**. **2.** A usually masculine style of upper-body
strutting. **3.** A visual means of filling-up space or occupying a
greater expanse of [**personal
territory**](proxemi1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm"
target="_top"}.

*Usage*: In greetings, a man may use the swagger-walk while approaching
another man to demonstrate power, strength, and
**[dominance](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target="_top"}**.
(***N.B.***: The swagger-walk is not generally used to greet a woman.)
In a culturally elaborated version, African-American men may drag one
foot and limp from side-to-side in a *pimp strut*. The swagger-walk may
be seen as men enter taverns or bars, to show \"attitude\" before
engaging in rituals of
**[courtship](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

*Primatology*. Our closest relatives, the great apes, show dominance by
straightening and holding their arms away from the body as they
swagger-walk from side to side.\
\
*Transexuality*. \"I never mind the swagger of young men. It is their
right to swank, and I know the sensation!\" (Morris 1974:83).

***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
The best-known human swagger-walker was John Wayne, in such movie
classics as *Rio Bravo* (1959), *The Alamo* (1960), and *The Green
Berets* (1968).

See also
[**GOOSE-STEP**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/goose.htm){target="_top"},
**[STOMP](boot1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/boot1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright**©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Photo copyright by Yevonde


SWEATY PALMS

**SWEATY-PALMS**

![Fear Water](sweaty.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/sweaty.jpg" height="40%"
width="25%"}\
\
***[Emotion
cue](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotionq.htm){target="_top"}***.
The excretion of eccrine-gland moisture onto the palmar surface of the
hands in response to anxiety, stress, or
**[fear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage*: Sweaty palms may be detected while shaking hands. It is reputed
that former F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover would not hire candidates
whose handshakes were moist and cold.

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Cannon\'s \"emergency reaction\" involves
redistribution of blood from the skin and viscera to the muscles and
brain (Cannon 1929; see
[**FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT**](fight.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm"
target="_top"}). **2.** A college student\'s GSR (galvanic skin
response) is greatest when he or she is approached frontally by a member
of the opposite sex (McBride et al.1965; see [**STRANGER
ANXIETY**](strange1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/strange1.htm"
target="_top"}).\
\
*Neuro-notes I*. Like other
[**body-motion**](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"} cues, sweating requires the movement of body parts to
deliver its watery substance to the skin\'s surface. *Myoepithelial*
cells, which contain smooth-visceral-muscle-like organs, contract to
squeeze the sweaty fluid through thin ducts in the skin. Myoepithelial
\"muscles\" are innervated by sympathetic nerve fibers; the muscle-like
organs also contract in response to adrenaline (Horne 1995:411).

*Neuro-notes II*. **1.** \"Studies in animals have established that the
**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target="_top"}**
is critical for emotional conditioning \[e.g., of the SCR or skin
conductance response (i.e., sweaty palms)\], whereas several human and
nonhuman primate studies have established that the hippocampus and
surrounding regions are necessary for establishing declarative
knowledge\" (Bechara et al. 1995:1115). **2.** \"Bilateral damage to the
amygdala entirely blocked the ability . . . to acquire conditioned SCRs
. . .\" (Bechara et al. 1995:1117). **3.** The subject \"failed to
generate SCRs to the CSs \[conditioned stimuli\] in both the visual and
auditory experiments but was able to provide accurate and complete
factual information regarding which stimuli had been followed by the US
\[unconditioned stimulus\]\" (Bechara et al. 1995:1117). **4.** The
amygdala is \"essential for the coupling of sensory stimuli with affect
. . .\" (Bechara et al. 1995:1117).

See also **[FACIAL
FLUSHING](blush.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/blush.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo copyright by Linda McCartney


TABLE-SLAP

**[TABLE-SLAP]{#TABLE-SLAP}**

*[**Gesture**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}*.
A
**[palm-down](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmdown.htm#PALM-DOWN){target="_top"}**
cue in which a tabletop or level surface is struck by a percussive clap
with the open
[**hand**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target="_top"}.

*Usage*: The table-slap is used **a.** to accent a key speaking point;
**b.** to object to another speaker\'s statement; **c.** to demonstrate
an emotion, e.g., anger or mirth; and **d.** to call attention to one\'s
own presence.

*Observations*. In the workplace, table-slaps are visible at meetings
around a **[conference
table](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}**. In offices with cubicles, senior staff may table-slap
the dividers of junior staff members at will, but the latter may not
slap a supervisor\'s partition, railing, or office door. On a
subordinate\'s cubicle partition, the table-slap signals **a.** \"I am
here,\" **b.** \"I have something to say,\" and **c.** \"I am more
important than you.\" Example: Hearing his boss slap, a senior executive
in range establishes
**[eye-contact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}**
and slaps a nearby surface to answer the call. Each subsequently *averts
gaze*, approaches the other with a
**[swagger-walk](swagger1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/swagger1.htm"
target="_top"}**, and *leans* on a junior staff member\'s partition to
chat, before returning to private offices a short distance away.\
\
*Primatology*. Slapping the ground with an open hand is a gesture
directed by adult or young adult baboons at other baboons in the wild
(Hall and DeVore 1972).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** *Slamming an open hand on a tabletop* is
called a *baton*, a nonverbal sign used to emphasize a speaking point
(Ekman and Friesen 1969). **2.** The *pound* gesture is \"A sharp blow
by one hand against the other immobile hand or against an object such as
a table\" (Brannigan and Humphries 1972:61). **3.** *Slap ground* is an
aggressive gesture in langurs (Dolhinow 1972) and savannah baboons (Hall
and DeVore 1972). **4.** \"The animal \[a chimpanzee\] raises one or
both hands forward or to the sides and hits the ground or an inanimate
object with a flat palm\" (Berdecio and Nash 1981:30). \"In this study
the gesture always appeared to function as an attention getting device.
In general, instances performed with the alert face served as play
invitations\" (Berdecio and Nash 1981:30). **5.** Palm-down
*ground-slapping* is a *threat gesture* in chimpanzees (*Pan
troglodytes*; Goodall 1990) and in bonobos (*P. paniscus*; Waal 1997).

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


TACTILE CUE

**TOUCH CUE**

![Hand Held](touch1.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/touch1.jpg" height="42%"
width="25%"}\
\
*Most decide by \"the touch,\" that is, the feel* . . . . \--Andrew Ure\
\
*Touch is infrequent and usually consists of a slight tap on a woman\'s
shoulder. Or he may run his arm around the waist of a woman visitor. Men
are never touched by \[TV talk-show host, Phil\] Donahue*. \--Walburga
von Raffler-Engel (1984:16).\
\
*Tactile
**[signal](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/signal.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** *Incoming*: A
**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target="_top"}**
received through physical contact with a body part (e.g., a
**[hand](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target="_top"}**
or **[lip](lips.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm"
target="_top"}**), causing it to *feel* (see
**[HOMUNCULUS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/homuncul.htm){target="_top"}**).
**2.** *Outgoing*: A sign of physical contact (e.g., of *pressure*,
*temperature*, or *vibration*) delivered to a body part (see, e.g.,
**[KISS](kiss1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/kiss1.htm"
target="_top"}**).

*Usage I*: Touch cues are powerfully real to human beings. If \"seeing
is believing,\" touching is *knowing*\-- i.e., \"knowing for sure.\"
Touch cues are used worldwide to show
**[emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"}**,
e.g., in settings of childcare, comforting, and
**[courtship](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}**, and to establish personal
**[rapport](rapport1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/rapport1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

*Usage II*:
**[Self-touching](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/selftouc.htm){target="_top"}**
is often seen in anxious or tense settings, as a form of
self-consolation by means of *self-stimulation* (see below, *Usage IV*).

*Usage III*: \"Soft\" or *protopathic* touch\--which is found in
hairless (or glabrous) areas of our skin\--is partly responsible for
itching, tickling, and sexual sensations (Diamond et al.1985:4-6).
Protopathic touch is ancient, but gives little information about the
size, shape, texture, or location of a tactile stimulus.\
\
*Usage IV*: \"Itch\" sensations may trigger the spinal cord\'s rhythmic,
oscillating scratch reflex. Scratching stimulates pain receptors (or
nociceptors) which drown out (i.e., block) the itchy feeling. Primates
often scratch themselves in anxious social settings and when intimidated
by dominant rivals.\
\
*Usage V*:
\"[**Tickle**](tickle1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/tickle1.htm"
target="_top"}\" is a tingling sensation, considered both pleasant and
unpleasant, which often results in
**[laughter](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/laugh.htm){target="_top"}**,
smiling, and involuntary twitching movements of the head, limbs, and
torso.\
\
*Anatomy*. The outer covering of skin is our body\'s largest \"part.\"
Skin makes up about 15% of the body\'s weight (ca. 23 lbs.), and
occupies some 21 square feet of surface area (Wallace et al.1983:254).
Pain and protopathic touch cues are received via free nerve endings in
the skin and hair follicles. More specialized nerve endings have evolved
for finer touch and temperature discrimination. *Mechanoreceptors*
(including *Pacinian corpuscles*, *Merkel\'s disks*, and *Meissner\'s
corpuscles*) sense pressure, stretching, and indenting of the skin.
*Thermoreceptors* (*Krause end bulbs* for cold and *organs of Ruffini*
for heat) are sensitive to changes in temperature.\
\
*Culture*. **1.** According Edward Hall (1966), \"contact cultures\"
(e.g., France, Latin America, and Saudi Arabia) use a greater frequency
of aroma and touch cues than do \"noncontact cultures\" (e.g., Germany
and North America), which use more visual cues. **2.** The *buttock
pat*, used in American football as a sign of encouragement, has spread
to European sports (Morris 1994:14). **3.** In Germany, Austria, Eastern
Europe, and the Middle East, the *buttock slap*\--in which the right
buttock pushes out as if or to be slapped with one\'s own right
hand\--is given as a sign of insult (Morris 1994:14).

*Evolution*. The most primitive, specialized tactile-sense organ in
vertebrates is the *neuromast*, a fluid-filled pit in the skin of
today\'s fishes, which picks up vibrations, heat, electrical, and
(perhaps) chemical signals in the surrounding water. Each neuromast
contains a *hair cell*, which, when moved by water currents generated by
a nearby fish, e.g., stimulates a sensory nerve. Through the neuromast,
the current becomes a nonverbal sign of another fish\'s presence.\
\
*[Handshake]{#Handshake}*. Grasping another\'s hand with a [**power
grip**](power1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/power1.htm"
target="_top"} is a widespread means of expressing congratulations,
contractual agreement, farewell, and greeting. The handshake is European
in origin (Morris 1994), although many cultures touch hands and other
body parts with the hand(s) to greet family members and fellow
tribesmen. These socio-emotional touch cues developed from tactile signs
originally used in
[**mammalian**](mammal.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mammal.htm"
target="_top"} grooming and childcare. **1.** \"We do know that the full
Hand Shake occurred as early as the 16th century because in
Shakespeare\'s *As You Like It* there is the phrase: \'they shook hands
and swore brothers\'\" (Morris 1994:125). **2.** In the *politician\'s*
handshake, two hands reach out to clasp and surround another\'s hand,
like a glove, to intensify the emotions aroused by physical closeness
and \"friendship.\" According to Morris (1994:126), the glove handshake
is widespread in \"diplomatic, political and business circles.\" **3.**
A study reported in the July 2000 *Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology* found that women \". . . who introduce themselves with an
assertive gesture by way of a firm handshake were perceived as being
intellectual and open to new experiences\" (Lipsitz 2000:32).\
\
*Primates*. \"A troop of \[at least 100\] furious monkeys in India\'s
northeastern state of Assam brought traffic to a standstill after a baby
monkey was hit by a car on a busy street. . . . . The angry monkeys kept
traffic at bay for more than a half hour as they tried to care for the
infant. A local shopkeeper said: \'It was very emotional . . . some of
them massaged its \[broken\] legs\'\" (Newman 2000:C14).

*Space*. When Apollo 11\'s pilot, Michael Collins, flew above the Moon,
he felt he could \"almost reach out and touch it\" (Collins1988:5).\
\
*Sports*. Many baseball players go through touch rituals before they
come to bat. \"Nomar Garciaparra, the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox,
has a routine with his batting gloves \[i.e., he compulsively adjusts
and re-adjusts them\] that would rival the machinations during the
changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace\" (Wilkens 1998:E-3).\
\
***RESEARCH REPORTS***: In a review of studies of people touching one
another, Vrugt and Kerkstra (1984) concluded that **a.** touching of
opposite-sex acquaintances, \"even at an early age,\" is avoided (p.
14); **b.** young adults, \"as when bowling,\" touch each other more in
mixed than in same-sex interactions (p. 14); **c.** \"old\" women touch
more than \"old\" men, seemingly due to declining sexual interests (pp.
14-15); **d.** while greeting and departing, men \"behave less
intimately toward each other\" than women behave toward each other (p.
15 \[Author\'s note: But hugging has become more prevalent among U.S.
men since the 1980s.\]); and **e.** women \"[**shrink
less**](crouch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/crouch1.htm"
target="_top"} from being touched by
[**strangers**](strange1.htm){target="_top"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/strange1.htm"} than men\" (p.
15).\
\
*Neuro-notes*: We find pleasure in a carpet\'s softness, as it
stimulates the poorly localized tactile sensations for soft or
protopathic touch, carried by the anterior spinothalamic nerves (whose
[**paleocircuits**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target="_top"}
are phylogenetically older than those for the more precise sensations of
pain and temperature, carried by the lateral spinothalamic nerves.

See also **[AROMA
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[COLOR
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[EMOTION
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotionq.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[TASTE
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/taste.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo (James Dean holds Julie Harris\'s hand; copyright by
Warner Bros., Inc.)


TACTILE WITHDRAWAL

**FLEXION WITHDRAWAL**

![Flexion Protection](withdraw.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/withdraw.jpg" height="35%"
width="25%"}

*Reflexive* ***[body
movement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"}***[](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"}. An automatic escape motion designed to remove a body
part or parts from danger (e.g., flexing the neck to lower and protect
the head).

*Usage*: Flexion withdrawal underlies many *negative* and
***[submissive](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target="_top"}***
nonverbal signs (e.g., cues of disagreement, disliking, and
**[fear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target="_top"}**;
see
**[BODY-BEND](bend1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bend1.htm"
target="_top"}**,
**[BOW](http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[CROUCH](crouch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/crouch1.htm"
target="_top"}**,
**[GAZE-DOWN](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gazedown.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[HEAD-TILT-SIDE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headside.htm){target="_top"}**,
and
**[SHOULDER-SHRUG](shoshrug.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoshrug.htm"
target="_top"}**).

*Business*. Around a **[conference
table](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}**, colleagues may reveal unvoiced negative feelings in
postures influenced by flexion withdrawal, e.g., pulling the hands and
arms backward, away from disliked speakers.

*Biology*. In mammals, the most primitive protective response is a
*flexion withdrawal*, which \"takes the head and neck away from the
stimulus\" (Salzen 1979:130).

*Embryology*. The crouch posture is \"a protective pattern
characteristic of the early embryonic flexion response\" (Salzen
1979:136). By 8 weeks, e.g., the human fetus already \"knows\" to
withdraw its head and neck when its mouth is touched. Defensive,
coordinated flexing and withdrawing movements have been seen in immature
fish larvae, in marine snails, and in human embryos at eight weeks of
age. ln four-legged animals whose brains have been surgically
disconnected from their spinal cords, almost any tactile stimulus will
cause flexor muscles to contract and withdraw a limb from whatever
touched it (Guyton 1996).

*Anatomy*. Human arms and legs have highly developed flexor reflexes.
Automatic escape movements, coordinated by the spinal cord, can be
triggered, e.g., by scalding pot handles\--or by strong emotions from
the
**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Neuro-notes*. Jumping to sound involves body-flexion movements
configured in
**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target="_top"}**
of our **[amphibian
brain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amphibia.htm){target="_top"}**.
Through their nerve fibers, auditory-lobe impulses reach down to excite
spinal networks of interneurons and motor neuronsin charge of muscles
that *flex* our shoulders and arms, and *bow* our heads in the
protective crouch posture.\
\
See also **[NONVERBAL
RELEASE](nvrel1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/nvrel1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of Auguste Rodin\'s *Eve* (photo copyright Descharnes &
Descharnes)


TERRITORY


TICKLE

**TICKLE**

![Tickle Laugh](tickle.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/tickle.jpg" height="50%"
width="20%"}\
\
***[Touch
cue](touch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/touch1.htm"
target="_top"}***. Tickle is a tingling, tactile sensation, considered
both pleasant and unpleasant, which results in
**[laughter](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/laugh.htm){target="_top"}**,
smiling, and involuntary twitching movements of the head, limbs, and
torso.

*Usage I*: Tickling, a playful cue, is often seen in child-child,
parent-child, and male-female (i.e.,
**[courting](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}**) pairs. Its harmless-seeming, \"unserious\" nature has
made tickling an ideal form of communication in courtship\'s fourth (or
**[touch](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig4.htm){target="_top"}**)
phase. The two tickle types are **a.** *knismesis* (a light tickle which
may or may not produce laughter), and **b.** *gargalesis* (a heavy
tickle which usually produces the laugh response). Examples of light
tickle include touching the sole of the foot with a feather, and feeling
a fly walk about on one\'s knee. An example of heavy tickling is
indenting the skin of another\'s ribs or waist with one\'s poking
fingertips. (***N.B.***: In the Middle Ages prolonged tickling was used
as a form of torture.)\
\
*Usage II*: Tickling produces laughter, which releases
euphoria-promoting brain chemicals, such as endorphin, enkephalin,
dopamine, noradrenaline, and adrenaline. Mutual laughter stimulated by
tickling can promote bonding and strengthen emotional ties. Tickling
reinforces psychological closeness through the physical medium of touch.
Tickling the neck, armpits, and sides of the abdomen may also arouse
sexual feelings, as it stimulates nonspecific erogenous areas of the
skin.

***[Word](word1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm"
target="_top"}***[](word1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm"
target="_top"} *origin*. \"Tickle\" comes from Middle English *tikelen*,
\"to touch lightly.\"

**[Consumer
product](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}**. Tickle Me Elmo® \". . . laughs and shakes when
tickled. Tickle Elmo once to make him giggle. Tickle him a second time
to make him laugh longer. Tickle Elmo a third time to make him shake and
laugh uncontrollably. There is an auto shut-off for longer battery life
(batteries included)\" (Plush Elmo ad by Fisher Price).

**RESEARCH REPORTS**. While the philosophers Plato and Aristotle
speculated about tickling, the first scientific study was published
in1872 by Charles Darwin. **1.** \"Everyone knows how immoderately
children laugh, and how their whole bodies are convulsed, when they are
tickled\" (Darwin 1872:197). **2.** \"The anthropoid apes . . . likewise
utter a reiterated sound, corresponding with our own laughter, when they
are tickled, especially under the armpits\" (Darwin 1872:197-98). **3.**
\"Such movements \[i.e., **[jerking
away](withdra1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/withdra1.htm"
target="_top"}**\], as well as laughter from being tickled, are
manifestly reflex actions . . . .\" (Darwin 1872:198). **4.** A study in
*Nature Neuroscience* (Nov. 1998) by University College London
researchers determined **a.** that during self-tickling, areas of the
cerebellum are active (causing the anticipation of tickle cues), but
**b.** that cerebellar areas are not active when subjects are tickled by
experimenters (thus causing an emotional, *surprise* response).\
\
*Innateness*. Recent studies suggest that, like laughter, which first
appears in infants between 23 days and four months, the tickle response
is innate. Studies of deaf-and-blind-born children, for example, show
normal bodily responses to being tickled. Because tickle sensations
travel through the same nerves as tactile impulses for pain and itch,
they stimulate similar movements of tactile-withdrawal and scratching,
both of which are innate as well.

*Anatomy*. The most ticklish areas of the body for light-tickle
sensations (based on the duration of laughing and
[**smiling**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/zygosmi.htm){target="_top"})
are, in order, **a.** underarms, **b.** waist, **c.** ribs, **d.** feet,
**e.** knees, **f.** throat, **g.** neck, and **h.** palms. Though heavy
tickling usually produces laughter, most people say they dislike being
tickled.\
\
*Evolution*. Tickling and breathy, laugh-like panting exhalations appear
in the human being\'s closest primate relatives, the great apes. The
primate tickle response may have evolved, in part, from the mammalian
scratch reflex, which utilizes ancient vertebrate pathways for pain. The
scratch reflex produces rhythmic movements of the limbs, designed to
remove the irritating sources of itch stimulated, for instance, by
mosquitoes and flies. Tickling a dog\'s abdomen produces repeated
movements of the hind limb to rid the body of imagined fleas. The
withdrawal response, an innate escape motion designed to remove a body
part from danger, produces an involuntary movement away from a
tickler\'s annoying fingertips.\
\
*Erogenous tickle*. Like other forms of touching, tickling may stimulate
sexuality as an erotic stimulus to the skin (see
**[feet](feet.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm"
target="_top"}**). Touching *nonspecific* erogenous areas of the neck,
armpits, and sides of the abdomen, e.g., may produce pleasurable
tickling sensations. Touching *specific* erogenous zones (i.e., the
mucocutaneous skin of the genital regions; see **[LOVE SIGNALS
V](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig5.htm){target="_top"}**) may
stimulate acute sexual sensations. (***N.B.***: Specialized
mucocutaneous end-organs appear to be involved in experiencing tactile
pleasure from erogenous zones.)

*Neuro-notes*. Tickle (and *itch*) sensations are produced through mild
stimulation of the nerve endings (group C unmyelinated fibres) for
**[pain](pain1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/pain1.htm"
target="_top"}** (i.e., group C unmyelinated fibres). As noted above,
heavy tickling by oneself of one\'s own body does not lead to laughter.
Imaging studies suggest that the brain\'s cerebellum anticipates the
tickling movements, and thus unconsciously nullifies the required
element of surprise. The reason human beings laugh while being tickled
is still unknown. Tickle\'s laughter may be prompted by a neural link
between vocalizing and grooming in the [**cingulate
gyrus**](cingulat.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cingulat.htm"
target="_top"} of the [**mammalian
brain**](mammal.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mammal.htm"
target="_top"}.\
\
Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo by Eve Arnold (copyright *Magnum*)


TOUCH CUE


TREE SIGN

**TREE SIGN\
\
![Tree Trance](tree.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/tree.jpg" height="35%"
width="35%"}**

*I wonder about the trees:\
Why do we wish to bear\
Forever the noise of these\
More than another noise\
So close to our dwelling-place?* \--Robert Frost (*The Sound of Trees*)

***[Signal](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/signal.htm){target="_top"}***.
A message emitted by the bark, branches, crown, leaves, or trunk of a
perennial woody plant (see **[EFFERENT
CUE](efferen1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/efferen1.htm"
target="_top"}**).

*Usage*: People of all ages find something elementary and comforting in
trees, which have long been symbols of transcendental beliefs among
traditional folk such as the Druids. Taking the world as a whole, the
custom of climbing trees is still widespread, especially among those
young enough to mend after a fall. (***N.B.***: The phone number of Tree
Climbers International, a voluntary association of human beings
dedicated to arboreal climbing, is 404/659-TREE.)

*[**Word**](word1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm"
target="_top"} origin*. The word *tree* comes from the ancient
Indo-European root *deru-*, derivatives of which include *endure*,
*trust*, and *truth*.

*Anthropology*. An arboreal theme is rooted in human perception,
language, and thought. Trees and tree-climbing have become psychic
planks in the mind\'s evolutionary platform, not only of Druids but of
modern folk as well. Bark and limbs still appeal to
**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target="_top"}**,
and even now a human\'s primate eyes seek shelter and safety overhead in
branches and boughs. Thus influenced and inspired, Claude Monet painted
willows, while poets have celebrated oaks, and municipal governments
have lined their city streets with sycamores, maples, and elms.\
\
*Archaeology*. Included in the 5,300 year-old Copper Age \"Iceman\'s\"
equipment were **a.** an arrow quiver reinforced by a *hazel wood*
spine, **b.** 14 arrows made of *viburnum wood*, **c.** a backpack made
of an arch of hazel wood and two slats of *larch*, **d.** a
copper-bladed ax with a handle made of *yew*, and **e.** two eight-inch
tall canisters made of *birch bark* (Rensberger 1992; see [**CONSUMER
PRODUCT**](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}).\
\
*Culture*. In the British Isles, *knuckle touch-wood*\--rapping the
knuckles on a wooden surface (e.g., on top of a [**conference
table**](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"})\--offers \"protection.\" \"This is an ancient
superstitious practice dating back to the days of tree-worship, when it
was the custom to touch the sacred oak to placate the powerful Tree
Spirits. The roots of the mighty oak were thought to descend into the
underworld\" (Morris 1994:151).\
\
*Evolution I*. The earliest tree yet discovered by humans is a
40-foot-high, fossilized *Eospermatopteris*, unearthed in Gilboa, New
York, near Manhattan. Now on display at the Smithsonian, the oldest tree
dates back ca. 365 million years to the Middle Devonian Period of the
Paleozoic Era, ca. 363 million years before the arrival on earth of the
first fossil human, *Homo*.

*Evolution II*. Trees have a very special meaning. Human beings, along
with lemurs, monkeys and apes, evolved from a long line of tree climbing
*primates*, a biological order of agile mammals with grasping hands,
which originated ca. 65 m.y.a. in the Paleocene Epoch of the Cenozoic
Era.\
\
***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
To focus world attention on the plight of redwood trees, activist Julia
Hill lived in an ancient redwood named \"Luna\" for 738 days, beginning
on December 10, 1997. Explaining the significance of her bold gesture
and months of survival on a wooden platform 180\' above terra firma in
northern California\'s Humboldt County, Hill invoked the nonverbal
medium of
[**touch**](touch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/touch1.htm"
target="_top"}: \"\'They \[the redwoods\] touched me unlike any malls,
cars, make-up and magazines,\' said Hill, who brought the audience to
laughter by simulating the first time she hugged a redwood. \'It was a
spiritual level that no cathedral, church or money could touch in me\'\"
(Tran 2000).\
\
*Oregon Heritage Tree*. **1.** \"BROOKINGS, Ore.\--A sequoia tree
planted on the spot where a Japanese bomb fell in the southern Oregon
forest in 1942 will be named an Oregon Heritage Tree\" (Anonymous
2001D). **2.** \"Nubou Fujita, who dropped firebombs on Oregon forests
during WWII, returned in 1992 to plant a sequoia tree in a peace
ceremony\" (Anonymous 2001D). **3.** \"He \[Fujita\] died in 1997 and
his daughter scattered some of his ashes near the tree\" (Anonymous
2001D).

*Sacred trees*. **1.** Nonverbally, the great size of trees is a factor
in their worship (see
[**LOOM**](loom1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm"
target="_top"}). **2.** Important in the sacredness of trees, as well,
is a spatial concept, i.e., of being at the *center* (see
[**PROXEMICS**](proxemi1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm"
target="_top"}): \"The tree cult is most clearly present in Ireland
where there was a special term for the sacred tree, *bile*. Each tribe
had a sacred tree, or grove of trees, probably at an inauguration site
near the centre of the tribal territory . . .\" (Eliade 1959).

See also **[BRANCH
SUBSTITUTE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/branch.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[GREEN](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[HERBS &
SPICES](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/herb.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[POWER
GRIP](power1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/power1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


VEHICULAR STRIPE

**[VEHICULAR STRIPE]{#VEHICULAR STRIPE}\
\
![\"Speed\" Stripe](vstripe.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/vstripe.jpg"
height="35%" width="38%"}**

*It was an effort to make the car look longer and lower*. \--Harley Earl
(Patton 1992:185)

*Product cue*. **1.** A horizontal pinstripe, painted by hand or by
mechanical means, running the length of a motor vehicle just below the
windows. **2.** Any of several thin, linear markings **a.** of *chrome*
stripping or
**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target="_top"}**,
or **b.** stamped as embossments or indentations, running along the
sides of an automobile or truck body.

*Usage*: Vehicular stripes decorate virtually all U.S. automobiles
produced since 1927. Through an optical illusion, horizontal stripes
suggest that cars are both \"longer\" and \"lower\" to the ground.
Horizontal stripes also suggest greater \"speed.\"

*Evolution*. The vehicular stripe originated as a **[messaging
feature](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target="_top"}**
around the body (or \"beltline\") of the 1927 LaSalle. According to its
inventor, Harley Earl, \"This strip was placed there to eat up the
overpowering vertical expanse of that tall car\" (Patton 1992:185).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \"Earl dictated that a single highlight
should run the length of the car, like a theme or plot\" (Patton
1992:185). **2.** Originally, \"These encircling lines were painted by
hand instead of by mechanical means because a rule line is a \'dead\'
line, and a perfect, rule line lacked the insouciant raciness a hand
drawn line gives a finished automobile\" (Patton 1992:185).

*Neuro-notes*. We are highly stimulated by edges, lines and linear
details (perhaps from a primate fascination with branches and trees).
Just as the linear necktie (see
**[NECKWEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/neckwear.htm){target="_top"}**)
creates an illusion of greater verticality and physically imposing
height (see **[HIGH-STAND
DISPLAY](highstan.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highstan.htm"
target="_top"}**), the automobile pinstripe creates an illusory vision
of length and \"speed.\" This is because one layer of our primary visual
cortex contains specialized *orientation-selective* neurons, which
respond only to vertical or horizontal lines, or to linear angles
between the two.

See also **[CONSUMER
PRODUCT](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[VEHICULAR
GRILLE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vegrille.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


VERBAL CENTER

**VERBAL CENTER\
\
![Where the Words Are](verbal.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/verbal.jpg" height="35%"
width="35%"}**

*\"The question is,\" said Alice, \"whether you* can *make words mean so
many different things.\"\
\"The question is,\" said Humpty Dumpty, \"which is to be the
master\--that\'s all.\"* \--Lewis Carroll (*Through the Looking-Glass*)\
\
*Neurologists have found a tiny area of tissue\--about 1 centimetre
square\--near to Wernicke\'s area that lights up only when consonants
are heard*. \--Rita Carter (1998:150)\
\
\
*Neuro term*. A component of the brain, such as *Broca\'s* or
*Wernicke\'s area*, which governs the use of manually articulated (i.e.,
signed) or vocally articulated (i.e.,
**[spoken](speech1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm"
target="_top"}**) language. Also, an association (arcuate) fiber link,
such as the *arcuate fasciculus*, connecting verbal components.

*Usage*: Verbal centers are used to control the production and/or
comprehension of linguistic communication and
**[words](word1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm"
target="_parent"}**.\
\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

***VERBAL CENTERS***\
\
*Angular gyrus*. A visible bulge on the cerebral cortex marking regions
of the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes (behind Wernicke\'s area)
which link visual word recognition with other linguistic abilities.\
\
*Arcuate fasciculus*. A tract of association fibers connecting Broca\'s
and Wernicke\'s areas. In a less robust form, the arcuate fasciculus may
predate\--and thus may be a preadaptation for\--speech. Similar tracts
of association fibers (the superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior
longitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus) found in the
right-brain hemisphere connect nonverbal centers of the cerebral
cortex.\
\
*Basal ganglia*. \"It is likely that the enlargement of the prefrontal
cortex reflects, in part, its role in speech production. The rewiring
appears to involve the [**basal
ganglia**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target="_top"};
data from recent comparative studies suggest that basal ganglia circuits
may be the key to the unique brain bases of human speech and syntax\"
(Lieberman 1991:106-07).\
\
*Broca\'s area*. A premotor module of the neocortex (in the lower
lateral frontal lobe; specifically, Brodmann\'s areas 44 and 45)
identified in 1861 by Paul Broca as essentially involved in the
production and control of human speech. Damage to this area (called
Broca\'s aphasia) produces problems in speaking (while comprehension of
another\'s speech is left unimpaired). According to Philip Lieberman,
Broca\'s area \". . . has no functional equivalent in nonhumans\"
(Lieberman 1991:24; but see below, *Evolution I* and *II*). Recently, a
language module immediately anterior to Broca\'s area has been
identified, which suggests that the Broca module may be involved in
sequencing complex articulations which are not just limited to speech.
Broca\'s area does not seem to control syntax (i.e., the combinatorial
or grammatical arrangement of speech elements; see below, *Neuro-notes
II)*.\
\
*Insula*. Some regard the insula as a verbal center (see, e.g., Ardila
1999). Damage to the left insula may result in language disturbances,
including Broca\'s aphasia, conduction aphasia, speech apraxia, mutism,
and the word-deafness of Wernicke\'s aphasia (Ardila 1999). (\"Then on
the other hand, recent studies of anatomical connections of the insula
point to an important viscero-limbic role and it has been suggested that
the insula may influence verbal motivation and verbal affect\" \[Ardila
1999\].)\
\
*Planum temporale*. \"The planum temporale (PT) is a key site within
Wernicke\'s posterior receptive language area in the left hemisphere of
the human brain and is thought to be an epicenter within a dispersed
mosaic of language-related regions in the cerebral cortex. The left
hemisphere predominance of the PT is more pronounced than any other
human brain asymmetry\" (Gannon 1998:220). (See below, *Neuro-notes*.)

*Wernicke\'s area*. A supplementary-auditory module of the neocortex (in
the left temporal lobe; specifically, Brodmann\'s areas 39, 40,
posterior 21 and 22, and part of 37) identified as involved in the
understanding of auditory words. Damage to this area (called Wernicke\'s
aphasia) produces problems in deciphering the meanings of the speech
sounds one hears (even of one\'s own speech sounds). According to a
recent study, Wernicke\'s area is not unique to *Homo* (see below,
*Neuro-notes*).\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

\
*Embryology*. \"It is important to recognize that the speech areas of
the human brain are already formed before birth . . .\" (Eccles
1989:87).

*Evolution I*. **1.** \"The evolutionary origin of human language may
have been founded on this basal anatomic substrate, which was already
lateralized to the left hemisphere in the common ancestor of chimpanzees
and humans 8 million years ago\" (Gannon 1998:220). **2.** Regarding
endocasts of *Homo habilis* skulls: \"There was a further development of
the inferior frontal lobule in the Broca area, but most remarkable was
the rounded fullness of the inferior parietal lobule \[corresponding to
part of Wernicke\'s area\]\" (Eccles 1989:23).\
\
*Evolution II*. In non-human primates, Broca\'s area controls muscles of
the face and vocal tract. **1.** \"The homologue of Broca\'s area in
nonhuman primates is the part of the lower precentral cortex that is the
primary motor area for facial musculature\" (Lieberman 1991:106). **2.**
In monkeys, the link between Broca-like and Wernicke-like areas is not
as massively connected as it is in humans (Aboitiz and Garcia 1997).\
\
*Nonverbal speech areas*. With regard to language, relationships between
the right (nonverbal) and left (verbal) hemispheres are still poorly
understood, with more deference being paid by researchers to the
left-hand (i.e., dominant) side. **1.** In the right cerebral
hemisphere, modules control the production and interpretation of the
nonverbal communication that accompanies words, e.g., [**facial
expressions**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target="_top"},
[**voice
tones**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target="_top"}, and
**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}**
of the arms and hands. (Some of the latter, hand gestures are actually
more verbal than nonverbal \[see, e.g., **[MIME
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/mimecue.htm){target="_top"}**\].)
**2.** *Prosody*\--the emotional content of speech\--is right
hemispheric in human beings with left-hemisphere verbal centers. **3.**
The right (or non-dominant) hemisphere is less involved in literal
meanings of a speech element than it is with interpreting the figurative
meanings conveyed by, e.g., hesitations, humor, metaphor, poetry, and
voice tone. **4.** Damage to the right parietal lobe\'s angular gyrus
and supra-marginal gyrus results in **a.** problems using spatial
concepts, **b.** difficulties dressing one\'s own body, **c.** feeling
spatially disoriented, **d.** inability to draw simple 3D pictures, and
**e.** neglect of left-handed body parts and objects to the left.\
\
*Stuttering*. \"But the stutterers were far less left-dominant;
activation in their brains was shifted toward the right in both the
motor and auditory language areas, revealing an inherent difference in
the way the two groups \[normal and stutterers\] process language\"
(Barinaga 1995:1438).\
\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

***E-Commentary***: \"I have two questions about the arcuate fasciculus,
the fiber bundle from Wernicke\'s area to Broca\'s area. Can anyone help
me? **1.** Are there also fibers going in the opposite direction, from
Broca\'s area to Wernicke\'s (we know that many cortico-cortical
connections are bidirectional\--what about this one?)? **2.** How many
fibers are we talking about? **3.** A third question: What can anyone
tell me about connections between Wernicke\'s area and the angular
gyrus? (Bidirectional? How many fibers?) Thanx loads.\" \--Syd Lamb,
Linguistics and Cognitive Science, Rice University Houston TX 77251-1892
USA; smlamb@OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Sydney M Lamb) (Tue Jan 30 14:02:03 1996)\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

\
*Neuro-notes I*. In most humans, Wernicke\'s area is significantly
larger in the left hemisphere than it is in the right. Its asymmetry
dwarfs that of most other cerebral-cortex modules. And yet, though
specialized for language, Wernicke\'s area is not unique to *Homo*.
Recently, e.g., Patrick Gannon and his colleagues measured the
corresponding area of chimpanzee brains. After spreading apart 15 chimp
brains at the temporal lobe (i.e., at the sylvian fissure), they
measured the planum temporale, and found it to be larger on the left
than on the right in 14 cases (Gannon et al. 1998).\
\
*Neuro-notes II*. \"Lesions to Broca\'s area and its vicinity do not
affect semantic abilities, nor do they disrupt basic syntactic
abilities. Most notably, Broca\'s aphasics combine lexical meaning into
propositions, create and analyze sentences of considerably complex
structure, and are also able to synthesize and analyze words
morphophonologically. It thus follows that most human linguistic
abilities, including most syntax, are not localized in the anterior
language areas\--Broca\'s area and deeper white matter, operculum, and
anterior insula\" (Grodzinsky2000).\
\
*Neuro-notes III*. **1.** \"We can assert unequivocally: no
combinatorial language abilities reside in the non-dominant cerebral
hemisphere\" (Grodzinsky2000). **2.** \"Thus the evidence is that this
side of the brain has an important an role in communication, but makes
no syntactic contribution to language use\" (Grodzinsky2000).

Copyright**©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)