The dynamic of language asymmetry in aphasics

In this study tables a question of the interhemispheric language reorganization in aphasics. The 27 left brain-damaged patients after stoke and trauma took part in this study. Two groups of fluent and non-fluent aphasics were studied. The acute aphasia group (n=11) 2—6 months post-onset. The acute group included 7 non-fluent and 4 fluent patients. The chronic aphasia group (n=16) at mean 24 months post-onset — 3 non-fluent and 13 fluent aphasics. All the patients were between 21—65 years old. The results of Luria’s neuropsychological diagnosis battery (special attention was paid to solving right hemisphere tasks as recognition of objects and letters in a highly distracted field, mental rotation, faces recollection etc.), the severity of aphasia and a dichotic listening task have been surveyed. The results: 1) The left ear effect occurred in both groups. 2) This effect was more typical for temporal brain damage patients. 3) All the patients had neurophyshological syndromes that included apart from left hemisphere symptoms some right hemisphere ones. 4) The degree of the left year effect did not changed significantly during the course of neurorehabilitation. Conclusion: the right hemisphere advantage in language perception was found at the early stage after post-onset. It is believed that this effect is the evidence of spontaneous evolution of aphasia.