Seemingly a disease isolated to French Canadians,
particularly lumberjacks from the Moosehead region of Maine and the Beauce
region of Quebec. The condition is often familial. Age of onset is usually
between 12 and 20 years. Affected persons have an exaggerated startle reflex
produced by the slightest stimulus; if given a short, sudden, quick command,
they respond with the appropriate action, often echoing the words of the
command (echolalia and echopraxia), even if it was expressed in a language
foreign to the patient (i.e., the “parrot” response).