Serbian-speaking Broca’s aphasics: Some problems for theories of aphasia

Abstract

Damage to the left frontal lobe of the brain (Broca's area) results in a pattern in which speech is non-fluent, with omission of both bound and free grammatical morphemes. The early profile of Broca's aphasics was one in which comprehension of speech was relatively unimpaired, in contrast to individuals with damage to other areas of the brain. However, literature since the 1980s has revealed deficits in comprehension, with a concomitant range of explanations. In this paper, we report two experiments that challenge hypotheses concerning the successes and failures Broca's patients experience.