Aphasia, Apraxia, Agnosia
Aphasia
Definition
Disturbance of language.
Causes: stroke (most common cause); mass lesions (e.g., tumor); neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., primary progressive aphasia).
Left hemisphere dominant for language in 95% of right-handed people and most left-handed people.
Motor Aphasia
Lesion Location
Any gyrus of insula or upper bank of peri-Sylvian cortex from anterior inferior frontal region to anterior parietal.
Syndromes
Broca Aphasia (Major Motor Aphasia)
Speech intelligible but nonfluent. Small parts of speech (conjunctions, prepositions, etc.) reduced or absent (telegraphic speech).
Impaired: fluency, naming, repetition, writing.
Intact: verbal, written comprehension.
Usually late effect of stroke.
Speech Apraxia
Abnormal coordination of any part of motor apparatus of speech: breathing (dysphonia), articulation (dysarthria), emotional tone (aprosody).
Usually follows mutism.
Mutism
No speech output; comprehension intact; writing sometimes preserved.
Hemiparesis often present. Usually immediately after acute stroke.
Sensory Aphasia
Lesion Location
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