Naming ability in people with aphasia

Abstract

Introduction: Most people with aphasia have difficulties in producing content words on nam- ing tests and during spontaneous speech. The aim of this paper was to examine naming deficits in patients with different types of aphasic syndromes. Methods: The sample consisted of 24 subjects, who were stratified into fluent and non-fluent aphasia groups according to the characteristics of spontaneous speech. The fluent aphasia group included subjects with Wernicke’s (N = 7) and conduction aphasia (N = 6), while the group with non-fluent aphasia comprised of subjects with Broca’s (N = 6) and transcortical motor aphasia (N = 5). In all patients, aphasia resulted from stroke. The Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination subtests for Visual confrontation naming and Responsive naming, as well as the Boston Naming Test (BNT) were used to assess naming ability. Descriptive (Mean, Min, Max, SD) and inferential statistical methods (Chi square test, t-test and Mann-Whitney U test) were used to process the data. The results showed that patients with non-fluent aphasias were significantly more successful on the Visual confrontation naming subtest (U = 33.50, p = 0.02), as well as on the Responsive naming (U = 39.00, p = 0.04) compared to patients with fluent types of aphasia. Additionally, subjects with non-fluent aphasias had significantly higher achievements on the BNT. The groups differed in terms of the representation of types of errors. Conclusion: Naming deficits occur in all types of aphasia, but are more pronounced in the group of subjects with fluent aphasia.