A Clinical and Psychological Study of Echo-Reactions

Abstract

The automatic repetition of words heard (echolalia) and actions seen (echopraxia) has long been known to occur in certain psychotic states in cases of aphasia and in low-grade mental deficiency. Echographia was established as a sub-type of echopraxia (Pick, 1924). The similarity of the pathological echo-reactions with phenomena occurring normally in childhood during the early period of speech development was pointed out by Wyllie (1894) and Pick (1902), who studied them in aphasia. The most recent study dealing with echo-reactions is that of D. E. Schneider (1938), who described the syndrome echolalia, echopraxia, grasping and sucking. Most previous writers investigated echo-reactions either from the neurological or psychiatric point of view and not enough attention has been paid to the comparative aspect and to the question of a common underlying mechanism. In this study an attempt has been made to investigate that problem.