Disorders of Language Flashcards
What is meant by lateralisation of language?
idea that one cerebral hemisphere is specialised for language -> dominance.
What percentage of people have language in their left hemisphere?
95% of right handers, 70% of left handers
What role, if any, does the right hemisphere play with language?
plays a role in:
non-propositional language (automatic, basic words)
prosody (intonation, rhythm, stress in speech)
paralinguistic aspects of speech (how we say things - pitch, voice)
What is a non-fluent aphasia? how do these occur?
loss of grammatical/sequential structure to sentences ie may just use nouns, intact selection of content (ie they are the right nouns) = BROCA’s APHASIA -> due to anterior lesions
What is a fluent aphasia?
impaired selection of content (cannot pick the right words -> difficult to comprehend) but intact grammatical structures = WERNICKE’S APHASIA -> due to posterior lesions
What are the features of Wernickes aphasia?
impaired comprehension of speech
fluent (intact grammer) jargonistic language -> neologisms (made up words), paraphasic errors (semantic, phonological)
What are paraphasias? what are the different types?
production of unintended syllables, words, or phrases during the effort to speak.
Semantic -> using the wrong word but with a similar meaning (van instead of car)
Phonological (word that sounds similar to the word they want - boap instead of boat)
Neologisms (making up new words)
What are the non-language associated features of Wernicke’s aphasia?
right quadrantanopsia
no motor weakness
What is conduction aphasia?
Damage to arcuate fasiculus tract -> fluent aphasia - like wernickes but easier to understand. Good auditory comprehension. Cannot repeat words.
What are the features of transcorticol motor aphasias? where is the lesion located?
cingulate and prefrontal cortex lesion -> Non-fluent aphasia = quite extreme (mute), little spontaneous language but can repeat things
What are the mechanisms of recovery of lateralised functions?
contralateral transfer (functions of damaged hemisphere are reorganised to the other side) Ipsilateral re-organisation (damaged function is re-organised to the surrounding areas)
