People with Wernicke's aphasia may have a lesion on the Wernicke's area of the brain or on a nearby portion of the left temporal lobe. People with this type of aphasia sound fluent or may speak quickly but they tend to use words that are neologisms or jibberish as they struggle to find appropriate vocabulary.

Wernicke's Aphasia

People with Broca's aphasia typically have a lesion on the Broca's center of the brain or on the nearby inferior, posterior portion of the frontal lobe. People with Broca's aphasia typically struggle with syntax/ do not perform proper grammar. 

Broca's Aphasia

People with global aphasia typically have large lesions across a large portion of the brain, including the frontal, parietal, and temporal areas of the brain. People with global aphasia typically have trouble speaking at all and may only be able to produce a few words or nonsense words.


Global Aphasia

People with conduction aphasia typically have lesions on their arcuate fasciculus. This pahasia is associated with difficulty repeating complex words and a desire to repeat phrases or make multiple attempts to correct errors.

Conduction Aphasia

Transcortical motor aphasia usually causes lesions on the anterior watershed area of the left frontal lobe of the brain. The symptoms of this form of aphasia are similar to Broca's aphasia, although the ability to repeat phrases is more intact.


Transcortical Motor Aphasia

There is no single area of brain damage or lesions associated with mixed transcortical aphasia as lesions will typically be found over a large area. The symptoms of mixed transcortical aphasia are similar to that of global aphasia, except that the ability to repeat is intact.

Mixed Transcortical Aphasia

Anomic aphasia is a language disorder typically associated with lesions on the angular gyrus. Individuals with anomic aphasia experience significant difficulty finding appropriate words for a given situation. As a result, they often rely on general terms, such as "object," "that," or "thing," when attempting to refer to something specific, like a "kettle."

Anomic Aphasia

Those with PPA are unique in that their form of aphasia is a slow-developing and insidious aphasia, not caused by sudden stroke or injury. PPA symptoms increase over time, with a slow starting difficulty in finding words, followed by slower speech.

Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA)

Crossed aphasia is caused by lesion to the right hemisphere of the brain, rather than the left. An aphasia in language is still caused due to hemisphere crossing. This is very rare and only makes up about 3% of all stroke cases. 

Crossed Aphasia

Subcortical aphasia is any form or iteration of aphasia that is associated with a lesion below the cortex- despite the fact that language ability usually takes place in the cortex of the brain. Less is known about this form of aphasia. 



Subcortical Aphasia

Aphasia is grouped into different types depending on the area of the brain affected and the symptoms specific to said damage. While most may think there are two types of aphasia, Broca's and Wernicke's, as these are the most common, there are actually ten types of aphasia.

Claremont Graduate University

Aphasia is a type of speech disability typically caused by an injury, namely stroke, in the brain. Aphasia impairs executive function concerning language.

Aphasia

Hallowell, B. (2017). Aphasia and other acquired neurogenic language disorders : a guide for clinical excellence. Plural Publishing. 1-594. 

Aphasia and Other Acquired Neurogenic Language Disorders : A Guide for Clinical Excellence by Brooke Hallowell

According to research, those with aphasia can experience executive dysfunction in both the chronic and acute stages. In studies, individuals with post-stroke aphasia have been shown to perform significantly lower on tests to determine executive function than those individuals with brain damage who did not have aphasia.

Aphasia and Executive Function in the Acute and Chronic Stages

A common manifestation in behavior that occurs in post-stroke aphasia is the presence of what is called "switching cost". This refers to a slower reaction time when switching tasks and a difficulty adjusting to new behaviors. 

"Switching Cost" in Aphasia

Refractory effects aka refractory variables are complex elements of speech that may complicate a speaker's ability to produce words or sentences when aphasia may slow language processing. Refractory effects/ refractory variables include appropriate speed of speech, relatedness of words, similar sounding phonemes, etc.

Refractory Effects or Refractory Variables

Multiple studies have shown that impaired emotional state negatively impacts an individual's cognitive processing. This is also true in those with aphasia. Depression, anxiety, and symptoms found in such conditions may inhibit one's ability to regain speech production or relearn as quickly as others.

Aphasia and Emotional State/ Psychology

Many individuals with post-stroke aphasia suffer from some form of memory loss. 

Aphasia and Memory

Individuals with post-stroke aphasia often struggle with apraxia. Apraxia is a disruption of motor functions or a loss of physical control and accuracy that may inhibit or randomize movements. This is sometimes treated with physic al therapy and is a common source of loss of employment or capability associated with post-stroke aphasiacs entering disability programs.

The Role of Praxis/Apraxia in Aphasia

Types of Aphasia

An aphasiologist is an individual who studies aphasia. Although this term can be used in medical settings, it is primarily used in academic settings. 

Aphasiologist

A somewhat outdated term that some use in place of the word “aphasia”. In this case, the word “dissociation” refers to the fact that some language skills remain while others disappear. 

Dissociation Syndrome (Aphasia)

There are many non-linguistics symptoms an aphasiac/ Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor might have, including impaired memory, trouble making judgements, trouble with other executive functions, amnesia, social disinhibition, impaired visual processing skills, and more.

Learn Before

Related

Learn After