Interaction between phonological and semantic factors in auditory comprehension

Abstract This study compared Wernicke's and Broca's aphasic patients as to the influence of phonological vs semantic factors in their ability to make phonemic discriminations. Eight subjects of each diagnostic type participated in three experiments in which semantic processing played an increasing role. Experiment I was an auditory-auditory same-different match, Experiment II was an auditory-visual same-different match and Experiment III was an auditory vs visual multiple choice, introducing the possibility of either semantically or phonologically based errors. Wernicke's aphasics were more impaired than Broca's at all levels, but their performance was disproportionately impaired as semantic mediation was introduced. Semantically based errors outnumbered phonologically based errors in Experiment III, which showed that just as semantic processing demand increases the risk of phonological error, so does phonological difficulty increase the risk of semantic error.

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