'Non-semantic' aspects of language in semantic dementia: as normal as they're said to be?
This article describes a 52-month longitudinal study of a patient, ILJ, whose semantic profile fits the criteria for a classical case of semantic dementia (SD). As in all such cases, it was the semantic aspects of receptive and expressive language processing--essentially vocabulary--that were most dramatically affected. The novel observation from this study is ILJ's performance on a comprehensive language examination. Results from this assessment, even early in the course of his disease, are compatible with the hypothesis that phonological, morphological and/or syntactic aspects of language processing may be disrupted by their interaction with degraded information from the semantic system.
Benedet
Maria
M
Faculty of Psychology, University Complutense of Madrid, Spain. mbenedet@psi.ucm.es
Patterson
Karalyn
K
Gomez-Pastor
Inmaculada
I
Luisa Garcia de la Rocha
Maria
M
D001284:Atrophy; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary