Aphasic performance on a battery of constructional, visuo-spatial, and quantitative tasks: factorial structure and CT...

This study examined the performance of aphasics on those functions associated with the parietal lobe of the left hemisphere. Data from the Parietal Lobe Battery (PLB) (Goodglass & Kaplan, 1972) were analyzed in 163 right-handed male aphasics with unilateral left-hemisphere lesions. Factor analysis on the 18 subtests of the PLB yielded a substantial general factor before rotation and four meaningful factors following rotation, involving construction, visual schemata, verbal components of the Gerstmann Syndrome, and visual finger recognition. Diverse aphasia subtypes were relatively homogeneous in their performance on the PLB. Upon examination of the influence of linguistic, demographic, and neurological factors, writing and auditory comprehension were found to make significant contributions to overall PLB performance. When considering lesion localization, as verified by CT scans in 36% of our sample, a lesion involving both parietal and frontal structures was the strongest predictor of impairment on the PLB.