Affiliations: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center,
Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea | Neuroscience Research Institute, Gachon Medical
School, Incheon, Republic of Korea | Department of Neurology, Seoul National University
Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Note: [] Corresponding author: Kyoung-Min Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Department of
Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital, 28 Yeongeon-Dong, Jongno-Gu,
110–744, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Tel.: +82 2 2072 2985; Fax: +82 2 3672
7553; E-mail: kminlee@snu.ac.kr
Abstract: In order to assess the capacity of neurological patients to process
syntactic features unique to Korean, such as the heavy dependence of parsing on
syntactic morphemes rather than the word order in a sentence, the Korean
Syntactic Comprehension Test (KSCT) was newly developed. To examine the
correlation between lesion locations and the test performance, we did
voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) analysis in a group of 39 patients
with ischemic stroke. As a result, KSCT scores of the aphasic patients were
significantly lower than those of 18 normal subjects. Within the patient group,
VLSM analysis showed significant association between lower KSCT performance and
the lesions mainly located in left perisylvian area and anterior temporal lobe.
The KSCT results were also closely correlated with the results of two subtests
in the Korean version-the Western Aphasia Battery. We conclude therefore that
brain localization of syntactic comprehension in Korean native speakers is
similar to that in other language speakers, despite the unique features of the
Korean syntax, and that the KSCT will be of diagnostic value in assessing left
fronto-temporal functions in Korean patients.
Keywords: Language tests, comprehension, aphasia, brain mapping, stroke, linguistics
