BEHAVIORAL AND NEURONAL CHANGES DURING TREATMENT OF MIXED TRANSCORTICAL APHASIA - A CASE-STUDY

The development of language mechanisms outside the traditional languag e regions is evidenced by the case of K.S., a patient with chronic mix ed transcortical aphasia, that is, good repetition performance compare d to all other language abilities. The aphasia was caused by an infarc tion of the left a. carotis interna that completely destroyed the left perisylvian language region and adjacent structures. Five years post onset the patient underwent intensive aphasia therapy. In the treatmen t setting chosen, both speech production and comprehension abilities i mproved as demonstrated by adequacy and reaction time scores. It is ar gued that the behavioral changes observed are likely to be due to (a) newly acquired communicative strategies and (b) neuronal changes withi n K.S.'s brain. The behavioral changes are explained in terms of stren gthening of synaptic connections and formation of Hebbian cell assembl ies corresponding to words.