(Far left) The family of actor Bruce Willis announced earlier this year that he would be stepping away from acting following an aphasia diagnosis.
Aphasia is not a disease on its own, but rather, a disorder that results from damage to portions of your brain that are responsible for language.
It depends on whether you are right-handed or left-handed.
If you are right-handed, most of the time, these areas are on the left side of the brain.
If you are left handed, then most of the time, it is on the right side of your brain; but it can also be on the left side of your brain.
But some people use a mix of both sides!
Language is further divided into the reading of it, the understanding of it, the processing of it, and the speaking of it.
When you read something (such as this article), you first need to detect the words.
Then you need to interpret the individual words and the way they are strung in sentences by their context and meaning.
This already is quite complex and involves many brain regions.
Your eyes read the words, then sends the signals via the optic nerve to your visual cortex at the back of the brain.
If you are listening to someone else reading or saying these words, then you use your auditory cortex which is near to your ears.
Then different parts in the back and middle of your brain help you interpret the text.
- Angular gyrus – this is located in your brain’s parietal lobe, and helps you understand words and concepts.
- Wernicke’s area – this is located in the top rear portion of your brain’s temporal lobe. It works together with your angular gyrus and insular cortex to process words and sequences to determine their concepts and meaning.
- Insular cortex – this is buried deep underneath the outer lobes of your brain’s cortex. It does many things, including helping to process language.
- Broca’s area – this is essential for forming and expressing language, not just individual words.
All these brain regions work together as a network to process words and word sequences to determine their context and meaning, at lightning speed.
If they are all working correctly, you will then be able to understand language and perform expressive language, which is the ability to produce language.
Let’s take this sentence: “I will attempt to speak sensibly.”
In order to speak sensibly, you must first have thought of words to convey this idea or message, formulate them into a sentence according to the grammatical rules you were brought up with, and then use your lungs, vocal cords and mouth to create sounds.
To understand what the other person is saying requires all this, and other parts of the brain, too.
Well, some people do not have the advantage of conveying ideas well, knowing good grammar, or even articulating words well!
That is why it is so difficult to understand them!
It’s estimated that globally, about 90% of people are right-handed, which means the left side of their brain is responsible for language. — TNS
Any disorder affecting the parts of your brain that we mentioned can cause aphasia.
Aphasia usually happens suddenly, and these ones are because of a stroke or head injury, or even a brain infection.
Aphasia that develops slowly can be the result of a slowly growing brain tumour or a progressive neurological disease, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Because many of these diseases happen to people who are older, people who have aphasia tend to be middle-aged or older.
But children can also develop it if the brain is so affected.
There are more than a million people in the United States who have aphasia.
There are two main types of aphasia: fluent and non-fluent.
For people whose brain’s temporal lobe is damaged, the type of aphasia that results is Wernicke’s aphasia.
This is the commonest type of fluent aphasia.
Patients who have this may speak in long, complete sentences that have no meaning.
They may add unnecessary words or even create made-up words, like: “That guy is jambalaya snookered and I want him round like you want him round.”
It is often difficult to understand what the person is trying to say, especially since they are often unaware of their spoken mistakes.
They also have difficulty understanding speech.
The commonest type of non-fluent aphasia is Broca’s aphasia, resulting from damage to their brain’s frontal lobe.
Patients usually also have right-sided weakness or paralysis of their limbs (like in stroke).
People with Broca’s aphasia may understand speech and know exactly what they want to say.
But they have to frequently speak in short phrases because it takes so much effort to say those sentences.
As a result, they often delete small words like “is”, “and” and “the”.
So a sentence may be like: “Go work”, or “eat, eat” – which means “You eat and I eat.”
People with Broca’s aphasia can understand the speech of others fairly well.
Therefore, they are often aware of their own difficulties and can become easily frustrated.
Read the next Tell Me About on other types of aphasia and what can be done about it.
Dr YLM graduated as a medical doctor, and has been writing for many years on various subjects such as medicine, health, computers and entertainment. For further information, email starhealth@thestar.com.my. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only, and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.
