aphasia
(noun)
A loss of the ability to produce or understand language.
Examples of aphasia in the following topics:
-
Human Language and the Brain
- When these areas are damaged or injured, capabilities for speaking or understanding can be lost, a disorder known as aphasia.
- Damage to Broca's area can result in productive aphasia (also known as Broca's aphasia), or an inability to speak.
- Damage to this area results in receptive aphasia (also called Wernicke's aphasia).
- This type of aphasia manifests itself as a loss of comprehension, so sometimes while the patient can apparently still speak, their language is nonsensical and incomprehensible.
-
Cerebral Hemispheres and Lobes of the Brain
- These disorders are known as Wernicke's and Broca's aphasia respectively; an aphasia is an inability to speak.