Conduction aphasia and the arcuate fasciculus: A reexamination of the Wernicke-Geschwind model

Author(s): Gilmore, R., Roper, S., Crosson, B., Bauer, R. M., Nadeau, S., Beversdorf, D. Q., Cibula, J., Rogish, M., Kortencamp, S., Hughes, J. D., Rothi, L. J. G., Heilman, K. M.

Journal/Book: Brain Lang. 1999; 70: 525 B St, Ste 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495, USA. Academic Press Inc. 1-12.

Abstract: Wernicke, and later Geschwind, posited that the critical lesion in conduction aphasia is in the dominant hemisphere's arcuate fasciculus. This white matter pathway was thought to connect the anterior language production areas with the posterior language areas that contain auditory memories of words (a phonological lexicon). Alternatively, conduction aphasia might be induced by cortical dysfunction, which impairs the phonological output lexicon. We observed an epileptic patient who, during cortical stimulation of her posterior superior temporal gyrus, demonstrated frequent phonemic paraphasias, decreased repetition of words, and yet had intact semantic knowledge, a pattern consistent with conduction aphasia. These findings suggest that cortical dysfunction alone may induce conduction aphasia.

Note: Article Anderson JM, VA Med Ctr, Res Dept 151, 1601 SW Archer Rd, Gainesville,FL 32608 USA

Keyword(s): conduction aphasia; cortical stimulation; arcuate fasciculus; ELECTRICAL-STIMULATION; LANGUAGE; ORGANIZATION; LOCALIZATION; SPEECH; CORTEX; REPETITION; EPILEPSY; BRAIN

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