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Language disorders
01 ACQUIRED APHASIC SYNDROMES: A PRIMER FOR NEUROLOGISTS, PSYCHIATRISTS, AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGISTS
A. B. Hillis, J. Hopkins. University School of Medicine, USA
The classic aphasic syndromes, such as Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia, each consist of a collection of separate (dissociable) impairments of language processes supplied by a single major artery. Occlusion of the associated artery causing damage to the entire vascular territory, or sufficient stenosis to cause poor blood flow in the entire vascular territory, leads to the complete syndrome. When only part of the vascular distribution is affected, selective components of the syndrome can be observed. Recovery from stroke, which takes place via a variety of mechanisms from tissue restoration to reorganisation of structure/function relations, can also result in highly selective residual deficits in isolated components of language tasks. Aphasic syndromes due to conditions other than stroke (for example, degenerative disease, tumour, infections) do not typically correspond to classic aphasic syndromes, because the damage is not limited to vascular territories. Aphasia due to these conditions, or due to small or chronic stroke, can be best described by identifying which cognitive processes underlying language tasks are impaired. For example, picture naming is often impaired in different degenerative diseases. However, these diseases may selectively affect different components of the complex process underlying picture naming. That is, the cognitive processes required for accurate oral naming of a picture include: access to a structural description of the object depicted in the picture, access to the semantic representation or meaning, access to the spoken word form, and motor programming of the speech articulators. Since each of these component processes may take place in different brain regions, neural dysfunction of a variety of brain regions can affect oral naming, but in distinct ways. These principles will be illustrated with cases of language deficits due to a variety of neurological disorders.
02 DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS OF LANGUAGE AND READING: WHAT SHOULD ADULT NEUROLOGISTS, PSYCHIATRISTS, AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGISTS KNOW ABOUT THESE?
M. Snowling. University of York, UK …