[Dissociation of conceptual and linguistic information based on a case study]

Grouping the stimuli that we perceive in abstract categories is basic to understand our surroundings. Research gathered in the last few years with neuroimage techniques and brain damaged patients shows the role of the left temporal area in the organization of the semantic categories.

A young aphasic patient study is reported who, after a cerebral haemorrhagia in the left temporo-parieto-occipital area, shows significant semantic difficulties. The results of this woman in several linguistic and semantic tasks indicate that her difficulties are conceptual rather than linguistics, since she makes well any task that does not demand access to the meaning of the words, but she fails in those tasks which require to understand the concepts.

The results of this patient show the key role that the left temporal area has in the organization of the semantic categories. As consequence of the injury in that zone, the patient shows an organization of the stimuli based more in associative criteria than taxonomic and guided by the experience and functional adaptation the daily routine.