Language and Aphasia

Question 1

describe language development

Answer 1

• 5-7 month: language-like sounds
• 7-8 months: well-formed syllables
• 1-2 years: first word “mama”, understand connection between word “mama” and visual/acoustic appearance
• 2 years: speak in phrases (children language)
• 3 years: most of the time correct use of words and grammar, they understand the rules of grammar
• 5 years: vocabulary of around 14,000 words

Question 2

describe the function of the left hemisphere (in most people)

Answer 2

• language comprehension
• language expression
• lexicon (although there is evidence of bilateral representations)
• phonetic assembly
• phonetic procession

Question 3

describe the function of the right hemisphere

Answer 3

• communicative and emotional prosody (stress, timing, intonation)
  
  • right anterior damage: wrong intonation
  • right posterior damage: difficulty in interpretation
• pragmatics of language
  
  • damage of right hemisphere: difficulty in construction of sentences into a story
  • difficulty in understanding jokes, sarcasm

Question 4

describe the location of Broca’s and Wericke’s area in the brain

Answer 4

Question 5

describe the language processing of incoming spoken word

Answer 5

• auditory signal → auditory pathway → primary auditory cortex → Wernicke’s area → evocation of the word’s meaning in brain areas near to Wernicke’s area

Question 6

describe the language processing of outgoing spoken word

Answer 6

• nonverbal meanings → conversion to an acoustic image in Wenicke’s area → arcuate fasciculus → Broca’s area → motor cortex

Question 7

describe language processing when reading

Answer 7

• input from left visual cortex → Wernicke’s area → evocation of the word’s meaning in brain areas near to Wernicke’s area

Question 8

describe language processing when writing

Answer 8

• nonverbal meanings → conversion to a motor/visual image in Wernicke’s area → arcuate fasciculus → Broca’s area → premotor area above Broca’s area

Question 9

Answer 9

Question 10

describe components of an aphasia examination

Answer 10

• comprehension
  
  • spoken language
  • written language
• naming
  
  • visual confrontation naming
  • auditory naming
  • tactile naming
• repetition
• expressive speech
  
  • fluent/nonfluent
  • rhythm, prosody
  • content (paraphasia)
  • articulation (dysarthria)
• writing

Question 11

describe Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 11

Question 12

describe the branches of the MCA and what is supplies (Broca’s vs Wernicke’s)

Answer 12

• superior division: Broca’s aphasia
• inferior division: Wernicke’s

Question 13

describe Broca’s aphasia

Answer 13

Question 14

describe conduction aphasia

Answer 14

Question 15

describe Gerstmann syndrome

Answer 15

Question 16

describe global aphasia

Answer 16

Question 17

describe transcortical sensory aphasia

Answer 17

Question 18

describe transcortical motor aphasia

Answer 18

Question 19

describe the aphasia classification tree

Answer 19

Question 20

describe alexia

Answer 20

• word blindness, inability to read
• disconnection between visual and language system
• alexia can result from disruptions in transfer of visual information to left hemisphere language regions
• damage to left visual cortices and the splenium (posterior part) of the corpus callosum

Question 21

describe lesions in alexia

Answer 21

Question 22

describe dyslexia

Answer 22

• difficulty in reading and spelling (despite normal eyesight and hearing, adequate education and normal IQ)
• 10-30% of population
• possible causes:
  
  • children with dyslexia have not developed phonological awareness (ability to attend individual sounds and associate them with letters)
  • abnormalities in ventral (word identification) and dorsal (orthographic-to-phonetic) visual-auditory pathways