A 60 year old patient presents with intact verbal fluency and is able to construct whole, expressive sentences. However, this patient is unable to to follow commands or comprehend spoken dialog. He is diagnosed with a receptive aphasia.His brain MRI most likely shows a lesion in which of the following areas?
1.Amygdala
2.Broca’s Area
3.Frontal Lobe
4.Reticular Activating System
5.Wernicke’s Area
Correct answer
Wernicke’s Area
Explanation:
Wernicke’s area (located in the left hemisphere) supports comprehension of spoken language (E). Patients with damage in this region will exhibit receptive aphasia.
Productive aphasia, the inability to form fluent sentences, results from damage to Broca’s area (B).
The amygdala (A) is considered the seat of fear and emotional processing in the brain; damage here results in Kluver-Bucy syndrome. Damage to the Frontal Lobe © results in personality changes and deficits in concentration.
Damage to the Reticular Activating System (in the pons or midbrain) results in a comatose state.