The history of crossed aphasia: confluence of concepts

Abstract

In 1899, Byrom Bramwell introduced the concept of crossed aphasia (CA) as a deviation from the prevailing insight of an inherent association between cerebral dominance for language and hand preference. He defined as such the phenomenon of aphasia caused by brain damage ipsilateral to the dominant hand (i.e. aphasia resulting from a lesion to the left hemisphere in sinistrals and aphasia following a lesion to the right hemisphere in dextrals). Notable in the development of the concept of CA is the absence of any reference to the understanding of acquired childhood aphasia (ACA) in which aphasia following a right hemisphere lesion was considered a frequent phenomenon. Following an erosion of Bramwell's positions on CA and the decay of the feasibility of so-called Broca's doctrine, a confluence of concepts was established between CA and ACA seven decades later. This paper reviews the history of the collusion of concepts of acquired aphasia in these atypical populations.