Persistent Word Fluency Deficit in Patients with Dominant Hemisphere Striato-Capsular Lesions: Further Evidence for a Subcortical Role in Language?

Abstract

The language abilities of a group of five patients with chronic dominant hemisphere striato-capsular lesions and/or deep white matter lesions and whose performance was within normal limits according to the criterion of a standard aphasia examination were described. When compared with an age and sex matched control group, the group of subjects with dominant hemisphere striato-capsular lesions had significantly lower aphasia quotients and word fluency scores on the Western Aphasia Battery and produced significantly more content units in a picture description task than the control group. The performance of the group with basal ganglia and internal capsule lesions was not significantly different from the control group in other tests of language function (e.g., Boston Naming Test, Neurosensory Center Comprehensive Examination for Aphasia). The results of the current study were discussed in relation to their implications for theories of the role of the subcortical structures in language or language related functions