Impaired L1 and executive control after left basal ganglia damage in a bilingual Basque–Spanish person with aphasia

Abstract

Bilinguals must focus their attention to control competing languages. In bilingual aphasia, damage to the fronto-subcortical loop may lead to pathological language switching and mixing and the attrition of the more automatic language (usually L1). We present the case of JZ, a bilingual Basque-Spanish 53-year-old man who, after haematoma in the left basal ganglia, presented with executive deficits and aphasia, characterised by more impaired language processing in Basque, his L1. Assessment with the Bilingual Aphasia Test revealed impaired spontaneous and automatic speech production and speech rate in L1, as well as impaired L2-to-L1 sentence translation. Later observation led to the assessment of verbal and non-verbal executive control, which allowed JZ's impaired performance on language tasks to be related to executive dysfunction. In line with previous research, we report the significant attrition of L1 following damage to the left basal ganglia, reported for the first time in a Basque-Spanish bilingual. Implications for models of declarative and procedural memory are discussed.

Cognate Effects and Executive Control in a Patient with Differential Bilingual Aphasia

“…This is called antagonistic recovery. Some bilingual patients with aphasia uncontrollably switch and mix their languages; in this case, we can speak of blended recovery (Adrover-Roig et al, 2011;Fabbro, Skrap, & Aglioti, 2000;Leemann, Laganaro, Schwitter, & Schnider, 2007;Marien, Abutalebi, Engelborghs, & De Deyn, 2005;Riccardi, Fabbro, & Obler, 2004).…”

“…For example, a patient with more serious impairments in one language compared with the other is diagnosed with differential aphasia (Adrover-Roig et al, 2011;Aglioti, Beltramello, Girardi, & Fabbro, 1996;Goral et al, 2006;Vajramani, Akrawi, McCarthy, & Gray, 2008), irrespective of the way both languages recover.…”

“…The fact that this interest developed only recently is surprising, given that it is estimated that more than half of the world population is now bilingual. In this literature, bilinguals are typically individuals who regularly use two languages (Adrover-Roig et al, 2011;Goral, Levy, Obler, & Cohen, 2006;Ibrahim, 2009;Kurland & Falcon, 2011) but are not necessarily equally proficient in both. An important discussion that has dominated this literature is whether bilinguals have an integrated lexicon (and hence, one neural structure representing both languages) or two separated lexicons, one for each language.…”

Afasiaren azterketa hizkuntza ezberdinetan neurozientzia kognitiboaren ikuspegitik

“…Test estandarizatuak ere egin behar dira populazio zabalago batekin datu-bilketa aberasteko eta gaixo-kopuru handiago baten azterketan oinarrituz, afasien euskarazko sintomatologia definitzeko [36]. Bukatzeko, burmuineko kaltea jasan ondoren elebidunen hizkuntzak hein berean berreskuratzen diren aztertzeak argi asko eman lezake burmuinaren plastizitateaz eta hizkuntzen berreskuratze-prozesuez eleaniztunengan [18,37]. Neurozientzia kognitiboaren ikuspegitik, datu baliotsuak ekartzeaz gain, halako ikerketek garrantzi handia izango dute, ikuspuntu terapeutikotik ere, gaixo afasiadun eleaniztunen ingurumen linguistikoari diagnosirako tresnak eta tratamenduak egokitzeko [36,38].…”

Afasia hizkuntzaren antolaketarako erakusleiho

“…Hizkuntza-nahasmenduaren sintomak ez dira hizkuntza guztietan modu berean azaleratzen, horregatik, patologiaren oinarrian dagoen ezintasuna mugatzeko eta zehazteko aukera paregabea eskaintzen dute ezaugarri tipologiko desberdinak dituzten hizkuntzen hiztun afasikoek [37][38][39]. Ildo horretan, ez dago zalantzarik euskal afasikoekin burututako ikerketa enpirikoek [40][41][42][43][44][45][46] ekarpen garrantzizkoa egiten diotela neuropsikolinguistikari.…”