‘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.

We would like to thank the UCM and the Centro PET Complutense for supporting partially this case study.

Notes

We would like to thank the UCM and the Centro PET Complutense for supporting partially this case study.

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