Affiliations: Neuropsychological Unit, Spedali Civili, Brescia,
Italy
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Flavia Mattioli, MD,
Neuropsychological Unit, Spedali Civili of Brescia, V. Nikolajewka 13, 25123,
Brescia, Italy. Tel.: +39 328 5969276; Fax: +39 030 2027205; E-mail:
flaviacaterina.mattioli@gmail.com
Abstract: The evolution in time of a number of language tasks in a
longitudinal study of a 61-year-old aphasic patient is described. The patient,
examined twice, in a 10 month follow-up, showed a dissociation between
preserved reading with respect to impaired other modalities as well as a
qualitative change in errors' type. A reduction of neologisms and
phonologically based errors, with a concurrent increase of semantic paraphasias
in naming and repetition, as well as an amelioration in reading, with a
reduction of stress assignment errors was exhibited at the follow-up. The
results are interpreted by postulating an improved performance of the
phonological output processes, allowing non-phonologically based errors to
emerge, thus revealing the underlying semantic damage. The Summation Hypothesis [14]
seems a general framework better interpreting
these findings, more than highly specialized production models, which could
explain separately only different modalities' impairments.
