The aphasia characterized by difficulty speaking and understanding words and an inability to read or write is called which type?

The aphasia characterized by difficulty speaking and understanding words and an inability to read or write is called which type?

• A. Broca's aphasia
• B. anomic aphasia
• C. Wernicke's aphasia
• D. global aphasia

Answer: (D)

When both production and comprehension are severely impaired, and reading and writing are also lost, the pattern points to a global disruption of language function. This typically results from a large left-hemisphere lesion affecting most of the language cortex, often due to a middle cerebral artery stroke. In this scenario, spontaneous speech is minimal or absent, understanding spoken language is poor, and reading and writing are severely affected as well. Other aphasia types leave some language abilities intact—for example, Broca’s aphasia has nonfluent speech with relatively preserved comprehension, Wernicke’s aphasia has fluent but meaningless speech with poor comprehension, and anomic aphasia primarily harms naming while comprehension and repetition are relatively preserved. Thus, the described presentation best fits global aphasia.

When both production and comprehension are severely impaired, and reading and writing are also lost, the pattern points to a global disruption of language function. This typically results from a large left-hemisphere lesion affecting most of the language cortex, often due to a middle cerebral artery stroke. In this scenario, spontaneous speech is minimal or absent, understanding spoken language is poor, and reading and writing are severely affected as well. Other aphasia types leave some language abilities intact—for example, Broca’s aphasia has nonfluent speech with relatively preserved comprehension, Wernicke’s aphasia has fluent but meaningless speech with poor comprehension, and anomic aphasia primarily harms naming while comprehension and repetition are relatively preserved. Thus, the described presentation best fits global aphasia.