Right Hemisphere Language Disorder Flashcards
Laterality of Brain Organisation
Bilateral anatomic symmetry between the two hemispheres
Contralateral sensorimotor control of the nervous system
Unilateral functional differences
Cognitive Functions Mediated by Right Hemisphere
Attention, perception, memory, organisation, reasoning, problem solving, planning, self-awareness, orientation
Hemispheric Specialisation - Language
Left hem dominant for language
neural organisation - close knit, integrated on the left, diffuse on the right
Language Processing
Left hem - sequential, discrete info
- phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics
Right hem - holistic, emotional
-Pragmatics, inferencing, prosody (emotional meaning, intonation, voice recognition)
Right Hem Contribution to Language
Key role in:
- discourse level processing and coherence
- Inference generation
- Production and comprehension of non-literal language
- Prosodic and affective processing
- Self monitoring
Specialisation and Lateralisation - Development
Failure to develop a dominant hemisphere may cause development language disorders (SLI, dyslexia)
Right Hemisphere Language Disorder
Begin and end conversations abruptly Poor at maintaining eye contact Talk excessively Irrelevant, tangential, inappropriate comments Fail to make conversational repairs
Pragmatic Deficits
Difficulty identifying speaker’s intention
Reduced ability to cooperate during conversation
- impaired turn taking, inappropriate eye contact, difficulty being appropriate in different contexts
Emotional/Prosodic Deficits
Impaired ability to regulate emotions
Impaired modulation of prosody
Discourse Deficits
Difficulties with both maco/miicro planning - macrostructure (flow) of discourse - difficulty identifying gist of convo - impaired coherence - disorganised thoughts - tangential propositions - Overly concrete - Verbose/circumlocutory Impaired perspective taking/assigning prominence
Anosognia
Denial of illness, no awareness of deficits, poor self-monitoring
Common following RH damage
Non-linguistic Deficits - RHD
Left side neglect
Attention deficits
Visuo-perceptual deficits
Right Cerebral Hemisphere Syndrome
Upper motor neurone damage - left sided weakness Somatosensory loss to left side Left visual field loss Left attentional difficulties Dysarthria (from involvement of UMN) Right hemisphere language disorder
