Clinical forms of aphasia

Abstract

A survey is given on the history of knowledge of aphasia and on the necessity and possibilities of classification of aphasic disability. Also the association of clinical syndromes of aphasia with particular damage to the brain is outlined. For Wernicke's aphasia (fluent aphasia with comprehension deficit) a superior posterior temporal lesion is obligatory. The persistent jargon aphasia is associated with a lesion of the supramarginal gyrus. Broca's aphasia is seen with posterior inferior frontal lesions, but additional central and subcortical components are involved in persisting deficit. The lesions producing transcortical motor aphasia involve the supplementary speech area of Penfield. Transcortical sensory aphasia is related to lesions that overlap the watershed area between the middle cerebral and the posterior cerebral arteries.