Research on the brain's hemispheric asymmetry shows a hidden symmetry in perceiving and understanding speech. This study suggests that the previously popular notion of left versus right brain function may be flawed. Mr. L, a patient with word deafness, displayed severe difficulty in perceiving spoken words despite his ability to hear normally. Such cases provide insight into how the brain processes language and challenge traditional beliefs about brain asymmetry in language function.
Mr. L was the first reported case of word deafness, a severe inability to perceive and understand spoken words despite retaining the ability to hear, speak, read, and write.
The experience of word deafness is similar to listening to foreign speech: words sound jumbled, run together, or just as meaningless clangs.
Word deafness has figured prominently in the development of our understanding of how the brain converts clangs into words we can understand.
The key observation about the neuroanatomy of word deafness is that it is most often caused by damage involving the sam.
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