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Selective proper name anomia in a patient with asymmetric cortical degeneration
Author(s) -
Fadda Lucia,
Turriziani Patrizia,
Carlesimo Giovanni A.,
Nocentini Ugo,
Caltagirone Carlo
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-1331.1998.540417.x
Subject(s) - medicine , comprehension , fluency , neuropsychology , right hemisphere , cognitive psychology , verbal fluency test , degeneration (medical) , neuroscience , psychology , audiology , pathology , linguistics , psychiatry , cognition , philosophy , mathematics education
All cases of selective anomic deficit for proper names described until now are a consequence of focal cerebral lesions. In the present paper, we report the case of a patient, AF, with a deficient access to proper names of persons and normal access to common names probably subsumed by a degenerative process of the left cerebral hemisphere. MRI evidenced an atrophy of the left temporal lobe and SPECT highlighted hypoperfusion of the left hemisphere. Neuropsychological examination documented a deficient production of proper names belonging to famous personalities both on visual presentation and verbal definition. Moreover, on verbal fluency tasks, AF was poor for the categories of famous peoples and some commercial articles. Finally, AF was errorless in a proper name comprehension task.