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Summary
Computerized evaluation of pauses between spoken words can be conducted in the medical office or over the telephone. Frequency and duration of long speech hesitation pauses (LP = > 1 sec.) can be correlated with coronary-risk and mood. Pauses of 100 + msec are sorted into many fluency levels. Peak fluency of LP irrespective of pause-time, and at maximal pause-time, are behavioral correlates of mood. At intermediate fluency they are explained by left-hemisphere, right-hemisphere and interhemispheric transit, respectively. Short pauses (SP = < 1 sec.) sorted at these fluency nodes monitor competence of asymmetric and interhemispheric brain functions. Diurnal mood variation is monitored by comparing the morning and evening frequency and duration of the patient's pauses. The frequency of pauses within < 1.16 second may diagnose manic mood modulated by the basal region of the right temporal lobe. LP and SP may monitor interrelationships among mood and thought disorders subserved by the left dorsal prefrontal cortex.