Case Study - Tan

Question 1

What disorder did tan have?

Answer 1

Broca’s aphasia

Question 2

What did Broca’s originally call aphasia? Who coined it as aphasia?

Answer 2

Broca originally called it aphemia but then trousseau coined aphasia

Question 3

What were the locations of tans lesions?

Answer 3

Posterior inferior frontal gyrus of the left hemisphere
Brodmanns areas 44 & 45
Likely to be more medial lesions of the insula and corpus striatum but he chose to preserve the brain rather than dissect it so we can’t be sure

Question 4

What functions were impaired?

Answer 4

Could only say the word tan with varying intonation and speed
Articulation
Word finding
Repetition
Producing and comprehending complex grammar
Effects were both orally and written

Question 5

What functions were spared ?

Answer 5

Comprehension of speech

Question 6

At the time of this case study what two big psychological debates were going on? Why was this case important ?

Answer 6

The localist vs holiest debate was going on and the study showed that language could be localised to the frontal lobe.

Also in the process of debunking phrenology so this was important because it showed specific brain areas not the lumps on the skull were important

Question 7

Which other areas have been shown to be important for speech production? Not necessarily In the frontal lobe

Answer 7

Underlying white matter if the frontal lobe

The insula and basal ganglia

Question 8

What is the age, gender and real name of patient tan?

Answer 8

51 male called leborgne