The background of aphasic misnamings. A factor analysis of visual naming errors

A factor analysis of 4612 errors recorded among the 12 200 responses made by 61 non-selected aphasiacs, during a visual naming task, was performed; the 14 variables were mostly errors described by the neurologic terminology. The existence of a phonemic and a semantic articulation level was confirmed. A feedback system opening the way to alternative responses ("escape mechanisms") was disclosed. Phonemic paraphasias were the most specific errors at the phonemic level, whereas perseverations turned out to be the purest representative at the semantic one. Verbal semantic paraphasias were apparently not a lesser degree of verbal paraphasias but errors of a different nature (Acta neurol. belg., 1985, 85, 110-122).