Language & aphasia Flashcards
Where is Wernicke’s area located?
Posterior 2/3 of superior temporal gyrus
Prognosis of transcortical sensory aphasia
Variable; pts with vascular etiology will often exhibit improvement of comprehension, improve to anomic aphasia, or nearly resolve
Subcortical aphasia Type III
Posterior & anterior extension (global aphasia)
Prognosis of transcortical motor aphasia
Variable, pts with vascular etiology may evolve to anomic aphasia or symptoms may nearly resolve
Prognosis of conduction aphasia
Variable; pts can recover & evolve to anomic aphasia or almost completely resolve
Subcortical aphasia Type I
Anterior superior extension; fluency marked by short phrases, impaired articulation, poor repetition for low frequency phrases, intact comprehension for semantic info, poor writing, poor comprehension of syntactic info
Word class effects
Tendency of aphasia pts to have differential ability depending on the type of word (e.g., Broca’s aphasics skip more connection words)
Paragrammatism
Inaccurate selection of function words
Where is Broca’s area located?
Opercular & triangular portions of the inferior frontal gyrus
Neuroanatomical correlate of transcortical motor aphasia
Lesion of dominant frontal lobe, often anterior or superior to Broca’s area
Role of Broca’s area
Translating neural word forms into their articulatory sequences & sequencing words & their endings into utterances that have meaning (appropriate syntactic structure)
Scanning speech
Speech disorder of cerebellar origin that is characterized by variable intonation assoc. w/ involuntary interruption between syllables
Profile of transcortical motor aphasia
Similar to Broca’s, but fluency less impaired, & repetition intact
What is the role of the right hemisphere in language?
Prosody, attitudinal, emotional, & gestural aspects of language & behavior
Typical course/presentation of subcortical aphasia
Usually mutism or hypophonic voicing, poor articulation; repetition better than speech due to fewer paraphasias & reduced dysarthria; comprehension often relatively preserved; frequently transient with acute onset
Neuroanatomical correlate of Wernicke’s aphasia
Lesion of dominant inferior perisylvian fissure, often extending superiorly to parietal region affecting the supramarginal gyrus
Morphemes
Smallest meaningful units of a word
Aphemia
Nonaphasic, nondysarthric impairment of fluency caused by problems with initiation & maintenance of motor mvmt
Profile of anomic aphasia
Impaired naming with frequent circumlocutions or paraphasias
Polygot
Individual who is fluent in more than on language, may display different patterns of language impairment & recovery for each language