I thought this
course was great and really gave me more of an understanding of how our senses
and perception operate in the brain. It made me realize how complex the things
we do and see in everyday life really are in the brain. Our senses come from
different receptors on our body, which allow us to feel and see the world
around us. Without such a complex
system, our brains would be overloaded by our senses and we would not be able
to interpret the world around us. This course showed me how lucky I am to have
all of my senses and how one accident or stroke that can lead to brain damage
can drastically alter your life.
I
found speech perception in the brain most interesting. Paul Broca and Carl
Wenicke founded location of speech perception in the brain. They showed that
damage to specific areas in the brain causes language problems. These problems are called aphasias.
Broca’s Aphasia results from damage to Broca’s area in the frontal lobe.
Patients with Broca’s aphasia have lost the ability to produce language. Their speech becomes labored and not
fluent. Their words are very broken and can usually only speak in short
sentences. Similarly, Patients with damage to Wernicke’s area suffer from
Wernicke’s aphasia. These patients can speak fluently but they have much
difficulty understanding what others are saying. Their speech comes out fluent
but is not meaningful. Most of their speech is disorganized and they hard to
understand.
Since
I found this most interesting I decided to research aphasia further. I found an article in which researchers
assessed the rate of recovery from aphasia after a stroke. Assessment of
recovery is important in order to study and manage aphasia. Seventy-five
patients with aphasia were studied. They all suffered from damage to their left
hemisphere. Nine patients had total or global aphasia, which means almost all
speech production and perception is lost. Forty-six patients had Broca’s
aphasia, and twenty had Wernicke’s aphasia. Results showed that comprehension
usually improved more rapidly than expression but both did improve over time.
The greatest improvement is usually over the first three months and the rate of
recovery decreases with time. Improvement for Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia
are similar, but those with global aphasia do not show a promising recovery. (Demeurisse et al., 1980)
Demeurisse, G., Demol, O., Derouck ,
M., de Beuckelaer, R., Coekaerts, M. J., & Capon, A. (1980). Quantitative
study of the rate of recovery from aphasia due to ischemic stroke . Stroke, (11), 455-458. Retrieved from
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/11/5/455.full.pdf html
This video is of
a girl named Sarah Scott who suffered from a stroke in 2009. She has Broca’s
aphasia but has recovered greatly. This video was less than a year after her stroke -
There are several other videos of her throughout
her recovery, but this is the latest video
This video shows
a patient who is suffering from Wernicke’s aphasia-
I think the most important thing to gain from learning about aphasia is that suffering from a stroke can greatly alter the rest of your life. The effects of a stroke can be devastating and possibly deadly. These people are lucky enough to still have their lives, but they will suffer for the rest of their lives. Language is everything to us, it keeps us connected and allows us to form relationships. Without language we are unable to communicate and it is impossible to live an independent, successful life without the perception and production of language. The prevention of strokes is important and should be encouraged to everyone.
Strokes at such a young age is a terrible thing. My grandmother suffered a stroke not too long ago and had recovered greatly as well. She can no longer walk but her speech is much better. When the stroke happened you could not understand one word she said, and everything rambled on but now she is able to speak almost as if she has never had a stroke. Good post!
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