Abstract
We observed a patient with Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). The patient was a 54-year-old right-handed female who had suffered a left putamen-corona radiata stroke. She exhibited mild dysarthria and prosodic impairments, and the combination of these symptoms was thought to create the impression of a foreign accent. To clarify whether FAS arises during the process of recovery from dysarthria, aphasia or apraxia of speech, or rather constitutes an independent symptom, we had the patient carry out nonverbal repetitive tasks. No parapraxia was observed in the patient, as is the case also with dysarthric patients. In complex nonverbal repetitive tasks, the number of movements declined in comparison with dysarthria. Also, the change in number of movements was drastic in some items. These findings suggested that one factor of FAS may be nonverbal movement impairment. In this patient, it was thought that FAS was present because of a similar paralysis of movement which leans heavily toward the organization pattern of nonverbal movement.
