Verbal Comprehension in Aphasia: An English Version of Three Italian Tests

Abstract

An English version of three Italian tests of auditory verbal comprehension in aphasia, using picture-choice, was given to four groups of subjects: two groups had suffered cerebral vascular accidents, one with left hemisphere damage and aphasia (LHD)., the other with right hemisphere damage without aphasia (RHD); a third group had undergone bilateral frontal leucotomies (BFL ); the fourth group had no known brain damage (NDB). Six other tests were also given, including the English Picture Vocabulary Test 3 and Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. Like the Italian test, the English Syntax Test distinguished the aphasic from all the non-aphasic groups; so did the Phonological Test, but only at a confidence level of p < .05 in distinguishing between LHD and RHD. The English Semantic Test, however, did not discriminate between the LHD and the RHD groups. The RHD group performance was significantly different from that of the NBD on the vocabulary test, the Semantic Test and the Matrices. The BFL group showed no significant impairment at the p < .01 confidence level. A comparison of types of errors on the Syntax Test made by the LHD, the RHD and by 4 – 6 year old children suggested a qualitative difference in aphasic breakdown: some aphasics seemed to. have disproportionate difficulties with sentences in which the sequencing of the words was critical to their interpretation.