Selective deficit of conceptual structures in aphasia: Class versus thematic relations

Conceptual structures in aphasia were investigated by means of a nonverbal test. The understanding of class and thematic relationships was demonstrated to be selectively impaired according to varieties of aphasic deficit. Broca's aphasics showed difficulty evaluating a thematic relationship and did not differ from normal controls as far as class relationships were concerned. The opposite happened for Wernicke's aphasics whose defect seems to be selectively restricted to class relationships.     

Selective semantic-lexical impairment of language comprehension in right-brain-damaged patients

Fifty right-brain-damaged patients and thirty-nine normal controls were given two tests of semantic-lexical discrimination (auditory language comprehension and reading comprehension) and a test of phoneme discrimination. The aims of the research consisted in checking: (A) if right-brain-damaged patients are significantly more impaired than normal controls on the tasks of semantic discrimination even when the influence of associated variables (such as unilateral spatial neglect or general mental impairment) is ruled out; and (B) if semantic-lexical disorders of right-brain-damaged patients are selective or if they are associated with disorders of phoneme discrimination. Results have shown that right hemispheric lesions consistently impair semantic-lexical discrimination but do not hamper phoneme discrimination. Some implications of these results are discussed.     

Comprehension of symbolic gestures in aphasia

One-hundred-and-twenty-eight patients with unilateral hemispheric damage (53 aphasics, 26 nonaphasic left, and 49 right brain-damaged patients) and 25 normal controls were given a test of symbolic gesture comprehension and other tests of verbal comprehension and of reproduction of symbolic gestures. On the test of symbolic gesture interpretation aphasic patients performed significantly worse than any other group of brain-damaged patients. Within the aphasic patients the inability to understand the meaning of symbolic gestures was highly related to the number of semantic errors obtained at a verbal comprehension test. On the contrary, only a mild relationship was found between comprehension and reproduction of symbolic gestures. Some implications of these findings are discussed.     

Anatomoclinical correlations of the aphasias as defined through computerized tomography: Exceptions

We have studied the frequency of exceptions to classical aphasia localizations in right-handed, literate, adult, native speakers of Italian with focal vascular left-hemisphere lesions, correlating clinical and computerized tomography data. Two hundred sixty-seven subjects were given computerized tomography (CT) examinations; lesions were mapped onto lateral diagrams and the sites of the lesions were defined. Patients were then classified as nonfluent aphasics, fluent aphasics, and nonaphasics. Patients with negative CT scans (n = 10) or only "deep" lesions (n = 50) were not studied for anatomoclinical correlations. Of the remaining 207 patients, 36 presented unexpected findings. There were seven cases of fluent aphasia and "anterior" CT lesions and six cases with nonfluent aphasia and "posterior" CT lesions among them. The significance of these findings is discussed.     

Increased susceptibility of aphasics to a distractor task in the recall of verbal commands

The ability of 15 control, 15 nonaphasic brain-damaged, and 15 aphasic patients to carry out three-word commands on the Token Test was studied under three conditions: no delay, 20-sec unfilled delay, and 20-sec delay filled with a counting task. Only aphasics with mild to moderate comprehension deficit participated in the experiment and their scores in the no-delay condition were not inferior to those of the other two groups. The 20-sec unfilled delay did not bring about a decrement of the performance in any group, while all of them were impaired with 20-sec filled delay. The rate of forgetting was, however, significantly greater in aphasics than in patients without language disorders, even when the scores of the no-delay condition were introduced as covariates in the analysis of the filled-delay condition. The same result was obtained when, in a second experiment, 4 sec elapsed between the end of the command and the beginning of the counting activity. The increased susceptibility of aphasics to the disruptive effect of the distractor task is viewed as following a failure in organizing verbal information, a deficit that may contribute to lowering their comprehension level.     

Some aspects of phonological impairment in aphasia

The relationships between expressive and receptive phonemic disorders and between disturbances of phoneme processing and general disorders of auditory comprehension were studied in 69 aphasic patients, by means of a phoneme discrimination test and of a standard aphasia battery. A significant but incomplete correlation between disorders of phonemic output and of phoneme analysis was found. The view is put forth that in some patients only phoneme encoding or decoding is disturbed, whereas in others a central level of phoneme processing is impaired. A significant but partial correlation was also found between disorders of phonological analysis and general disorders of auditory comprehension. This supports the view that, besides sequential phonological analysis, other processes operate in auditory comprehension.     

Research in the consulting room

Psychoanalysis, this paper argues, has since its inception practised an effective method of research based on the clinical consulting room, and this explains its success in generating new knowledge over a long period. Different sciences evolve research methods which are appropriate to their particular objects of study. The clinical research method is well adapted to the distinctive object of study of psychoanalysis?-?the variety of unconscious states of mind. Convergences between psychoanalytic and more conventionally scientific methods, including experimental studies, are greatly to be welcomed, but the paper nevertheless suggests that additions to psychoanalytic understanding will continue to come mainly from clinical work with children and adults. Selon l'auteur, la psychanalyse a pratiqué dès ses débuts une méthode de recherche fort efficace, basée sur ce qui se déroule dans le cabinet de consultation clinique; c'est cela, dit-il, qui explique son succès à faire naître, depuis fort longtemps, de nouvelles connaissances. Chaque discipline scientifique développe sa propre méthode de recherche, censée s'appliquer à ses objets d'étude spécifiques. La méthodologie clinique est bien adaptée à l'objet d'étude spécifique de la psychanalyse, à savoir la diversité des états psychiques inconscients. S'il convient, bien évidemment, à accueillir certaines convergences entre la méthode psychanalytique et d'autres, plus classiquement scientifiques (y compris les études expérimentales), l'auteur prétend néanmoins que des avancées dans la compréhension psychanalytique continueront à surgir principalement du travail clinique auprès d'enfants et d'adultes. In questo articolo si sostiene che la psicoanalisi ha fin dal suo esordio messo in pratica un metodo di ricerca efficace basato sul lavoro clinico nella stanza di consultazione, e questo spiega come sia stato possibile produrre con successo nuova conoscenza nell'arco di un lungo periodo. Scienze diverse sviluppano metodi di ricerca appropriati ai loro particolari oggetti di studio. Il metodo di ricerca clinico si adatta bene all'oggetto peculiare di studio della psicoanalisi - la molteplicita' degli stati mentali inconsci. Ben vengano le convergenze tra il metodo psicoanalitico e altri metodi scientifici piu' convenzionali, compresi gli studi sperimentali, ma nell'articolo si suggerisce che nuove aggiunte al sapere psicoanalitico continueranno a venire soprattutto dal lavoro clinico con adulti e bambini. Dieser Artikel argumentiert, dass Psychoanalyse seit ihren Anfängen eine effektive Forschungsmethode, basierend auf dem klinischen Behandlungszimmer, praktizierte und dies erklärt ihren Erfolg, neues Wissen über eine lange Zeit hinweg zu schaffen. Verschiedene Wissenschaften erschaffen Forschungsmethoden, die jeweils ihren Studienobjekten angemessen sind. Die klinische Forschungsmethode ist dem bestimmten Studienobjekt der Psychoanalyse -die Verschiedenheit von unbewussten Gemütszuständen, angepasst. Konvergenzen zwischen psychoanalytischen und konventionelleren Wissenschaftsmethoden, einschliesslich experimenteller Studien, sollten sehr willkommen geheissen werden, aber der Artikel schlägt vor, dass Zusätze zum psychoanalytischen Verstehen hauptsächlich weiterhin aus der klinischen Arbeit mit Kindern und Erwachsenen kommen werden.     

Hemispheric prevalence in acoustical attention

Two experiments were conducted in which monaural clicks were presented to the right or left ear preceded by biaural verbal (Experiment 1) and musical (Experiment 2) warnings. After the “neutral” warnings, the clicks could be presented to the right or left ear equally often (50%); after the warnings which directed the attention to the left or right ear, the clicks could be presented to either the “expected” (67%) or to the “unexpected” (33%) ear. In Experiment 1 there was a cost effect for the “unexpected” ear and reaction times were significantly faster when the clicks were presented to the right ear. In Experiment 2, the musical warnings brought about a cost effect while no significant ear advantage was observed.     

Residual reading capability in a patient with alexia without agraphia

A case of pure alexia due to an ischemic lesion of the occipital temporal region is described. Written words could be matched but not read. Immediate memory span for graphemes was defective. The reading defect probably depends on the inability to modify the written word “globally”; the phonological process was intact, but the memory disturbance impeded reading. The dissociation is explained by the preservation of word forms, which are linked to the semantic stage. Nonwritten stimuli trigger a “meaning” which evokes the word form and so the written word is recognized even though it cannot be read.