Pre Test Excerpt

“Ticco ergo sum”: the tic as a gesture (or the gesture as a tic) in touretters
Florida Nicolai ([email protected])
Dipartimento di Linguistica
Università di Pisa
Silvia M. Sottofattori ([email protected])
Dipartimento di Linguistica
Università di Pisa
Sommario
La sindrome di Tourette insorge nell’infanzia, è
caratterizzata dalla produzione di “gesti” involontari,
semplici e complessi, sia sonori (verbali e non verbali) sia
degli arti e del corpo. Nel presente studio analizziamo i
gesti automanipolativi di tre soggetti tourettiani. L’analisi
parametrica, qualitativa e contrastava di tali gesti, mette in
luce la possibilità di individuare casi in cui il gesto
automanipolativo diventa di fatto un nuovo involucro
all’interno del quale inserire il tic, con il risultato di
potenziare, in qualche misura, la riduzione di tensione e
ansia, cui, si sa, concorrono sia l’automanipolazione sia la
liberazione del tic. Si tratta, dunque, di un fenomeno
diverso rispetto a quello che abbiamo individuato in un
altro corpus e definito “strategia del tic corretto in gesto”,
ma come quello rinvia alla possibilità di considerare il tic
non come del tutto incoercibile e indomabile, ma in qualche
misura controllato dal soggetto che lo fa suo.
Abstract
Tourette’s Syndrome is a neurological chronic disorder
characterized by multiple involuntary movements and
uncontrollable vocalizations called tics. The onset of the
disorder is before 18 years of age, usually during the
childhood. In this research we analyze the self-manipulative
gestures of three touretters. The parametric and contrastive
analysis has shown that in some cases the self-manipulative
gesture may become a new sheath where it is possible to
insert the tic. Consequently, the release of the tic together
with the production of a self-manipulative gesture
strengthen the reduction of the tension and anxiety.
Therefore, this is a new phenomena, different from the
“strategies of a tic corrected in gesture” we have identified
in our previous corpus. However, it shares with our
previous results the possibility of considering the tic not to
be irrepressible but at all controllable by the subject who
identifies himself with his tic.
Tourette’s Syndrome
Tourette’s Syndrome is a neurological chronic disorder
characterized by multiple motor and phonic tics. The
disorder is much more common in males (the male:
female ratio is 3:1) and the average age of onset of
symptoms is 7 years
Criteria for diagnosis of Tourette’s Syndrome are the
presence of multiple motor tics and at least one phonic tic.
Tics occur many times a day and throughout a period of
one year. These uncontrollable movements can involve
different muscle group. Tics can be classified as simple or
complex. Simple tics involve only a single muscle group,
and are mainly confined to the upper body. The most
common simple tics can occur in the head, shoulder and
face. Simple tics can also be phonic and include coughs,
tongue, sniffing, throat clearing, barking and etc. Complex
tics are coordinated and sequential movements that may
resemble normal motor acts or gestures but are
inappropriately intense and timed. Complex phonic tics
take the form of linguistically meaningful utterances and
verbalizations, in some cases coprolalia (swearing) or
echolalia. Tics are usually preceded by a sensation which
can be physical (i.e. scratchy feeling in the throat) or
psychological (i.e. a state of anxiety). These premonitory
symptoms may enable a touretter to recognize an
impending tic and eventually to suppress or to correct it.
Both motor and phonic tics may change in type, location,
frequency, duration and intensity over the years.
The exact pathophysiology of Tourette Syndrome has yet
to be determined. However recent researches have
suggested a dysfunction in the dopamine system.
Moreover, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies
have shown that in touretters is absent the normal
asymmetry of the basal ganglia.
Our interest for this syndrome is supported by the
relatively recent researches which show the important role
play by the basal ganglia and the other subcortical
structures not only in the motor control, but also in
superior cognitive functions. This dysfunction is present
in many other pathologies as Parkinson’s Disease,
Huntington’s Chorea, and in some psychiatric disorders as
OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
Method
Our analysis concerns self-manipulative gestures, that is
movements, produced by the superior limbs, which
release feelings and states of mind such as euphoria,
anxiety, tension, nervousness, etc. These gestures, as the
tics, are useful in order to relieve inner tension, namely,
they can regulate our emotional upset.
The corpus is made up of the movement productions of
three subjects (two males and one female) suffering from
the syndrome since childhood. They have been selected
among 8 subjects. The ten-hours recordings have been
effectuated in different settings with a camera mini-DV,
Sharp VL-Z300S-S, and then annualized and processed
with the programs Windows Movie Maker and Adobe
Premiére Pro 6.5. In some cases a recorder Sony Dat has
been used without altering the ecology of the meetings. In
order to analyze and describe the movements we have
used the parameters pointed out by Poggi (2005):
semantic content, awareness, cognitive construction,
relation gesture-word and relation gesture-meaning.
Example
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thanks the Prof. Mauro Porta ,
President of AIST (Italian Asssociation for Tourette’s
Syndrome), for his competence and assistance during the
subjects’ finding and recordings.
References
Figure 1: This is a sequence of a tic inserted inside the
movements of a self manipulative gesture. The tic is
present from the third slide to the seventh one.
Discussion
The gestures analyzed in the three touretters consists of a
succession of jerks that only at the end of movement
become self-manipulative gestures. The tic is not
immediately canalized towards the parameters of a
socially accepted gesture, but it is neutralized during its
descending phase. It is possible to hypothesize that the
subject decides to insert the tic inside a gesture in order to
give vent to the tic manifestation , and not in order to
control it. Therefore, it is acceptable to state that the
subject seizes the opportunity to carry out a gesture in
order to free the tic relieving his inner tension. The post
hoc explanations, provided by the subjects after the
recordings, confirm this hypothesis. Inner anxiety can be
soothed thanks to the release of tic and not thanks to the
self-manipulation which, however, can reduce the
restlessness.
These results show us that the self-manipulative gesture is
not simulated so as to hide or correct the tic manifestation,
as, on the contrary it is possible to notice in the production
of the feigned deictic gesture (Nicolai, Sottofattori, 2006).
In this case the self-manipulation is executed together
with the tic so that the tic can relieve the inner tension.
According to this analysis we could affirm that the
touretter is able to control the tic so as to he can decide
when and where the tic can be realized. Therefore, a tic,
which is unintentional and uncontrollable by nature,
acquires the characteristic of “intentional”. However, this
is impossible. In reality, the tic is an element structured
inside the touretter, who can identified himself with the
tic. According to this point of view the tic becomes the
affirmation of the touretter. As Sacks (1998) said that in
Tourette’s Syndrome the illness and the consciousness
mould each other, getting more and more complementary
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