HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRIES IN CATEGORY-SPECIFIC WORD RETRIEVAL

WE examined whether 53 adult non-aphasic patients with either left (22 ) or right temporal lobe lesions (31) demonstrate dissociable patterns of hemispheric asymmetries in category-specific word fluency tasks. T he patients were asked to articulate as many appropriate words as poss ible within 60 or 90 s in response to six target categories. There was no effect of patient groups on the overall fluency. However, patients with a left-sided temporal lobe lesion were impaired retrieving words to 'initial letters' and to the category 'animals'. Right temporal lo be patients were impaired retrieving 'tools' and words referring to sp ecific visual attributes. There were no fluency differences for 'food- supermarket goods' and 'flat interior'. We conclude that temporal lobe damage can result in category-specific impairments in word retrieval depending on the affected hemisphere. NeuroReport 9: 2371-2373 (C) 199 8 Rapid Science Ltd.