Why don't Broca's aphasics cue themselves? an investigation of phonemic cueing and tip of the tongue information

Abstract

This study investigates whether Broca's aphasics have the information processing abilities necessary to generate and use their own phonemic cues. Twenty patients were studied; ten benefited from phonemic cues given by the therapist. Phonemic cues were most effective with the patients whose naming was most severely impaired. Six patients could indicate the initial letter of words which they could not produce; three of these patients had no knowledge of any relationship between orthography and phonology, so information about the initial letter must be orthographic and not phonological. Only two patients had any success in giving the sounds of written letters. None of the 20 patients had all three abilities needed to use their own cues: giving the first letter of the name, sounding the letter, and utilizing a phonemic cue. The possibility of relearning letter-to-sound correspondences is considered.