To what extent are the cognitive performances of Wernicke's aphasics disturbed by their own vocalizations?
The influence of vocalization on performance in the Token Test and arithmetic and memory span tasks was studied in Wernicke's aphasics. Tasks had to be carried out under two conditions: performance with oral repetition of the task commands or oral description of the task stimuli; performance without oral repetition or description of task commands or stimuli. Performance was significantly better in all tasks when no vocalization was required. The results are taken as evidence that in Wernicke's aphasics any activation of impaired language functions leads to interference between the defective linguistic functions and those which are still available to the patients.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001037:Aphasia / Q000523:psychology*; D001041:Aphasia, Wernicke / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014831:Voice