Impairments in the Comprehension of Indoor Object/Body Part Words and Family Relationships in a Patient with Aphasia due to Cerebral Infarction of the Left Parietal and Temporal Lobes

Abstract

The present report discusses the case of a 73-year-old right-handed man who exhibited signs of aphasia caused by cerebral infarction in the left temporoparietal region. Neuropsychological evaluation revealed that he had difficulty in comprehending words related to indoor objects, body parts, and family relationships, compared to his vocabulary comprehension in other semantic categories. Although several reports have described cases in whom category-specific impairments in word comprehension are observed, few have documented cases in whom these impairments are accompanied by impairments in the comprehension of words indicating family relationships. Words in each of these three categories derive their meanings and notation from spatial relationships. Therefore, it is likely that the patient’s impairments were caused by difficulty in comprehending spatial relationships due to left parietal lobe damage.