Cognitive Neuropsychological Analysis and Neuroanatomic Correlates in a Case of Acute Anomia

• Published in: Brain and language Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 137 - 156
• Main Authors: Raymer, A.M., Foundas, A.L., Maher, L.M., Greenwald, M.L., Morris, M., Rothi, L.J.G., Heilman, K.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.06.1997; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Agraphia - diagnosis; Agraphia - physiopathology; Anomia - diagnosis; Anomia - physiopathology; Aphasia; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Damage; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Cerebral Infarction - diagnosis; Cerebral Infarction - physiopathology; Dyslexia, Acquired - diagnosis; Dyslexia, Acquired - physiopathology; Humans; Language and communication disorders; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Recall - physiology; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reference Values; Semantic Processing; Semantics; Verbal Behavior - physiology; Word Recognition; Writing; Case study; Human; Nervous system diseases; Cognitive disorder; Semantics; Central nervous system disease; Aphasia; Neurological disorder; Language disorder; Anomia; Cerebral disorder
• ISSN: 0093-934X; 1090-2155
• DOI: 10.1006/brln.1997.1786

We describe an analysis of lexical processing performed in a patient with the acute onset of an isolated anomia. Based on a model of lexical processing, we evaluated hypotheses as to the source of the naming deficit. We observed impairments in oral and written picture naming and oral naming to definition with relatively intact semantic processing across input modalities, suggesting that output from the semantic system was impaired. In contrast to previous reports, we propose that this pattern represents an impairment that arises late in semantic processing prior to accessing mode-specific verbal and graphemic output lexicons. These deficits were associated with a lesion in the posterior portion of the middle temporal gyrus or area 37, an area of supramodal association cortex that is uniquely suited as a substrate for the multimodal deficit in naming.