Comparison was made in recovery processes between auditory language comprehension and visual language comprehension in 145 aphasic subjects. The two identical sub-tests of the Standard Language Test of Aphasia (SLTA) Oral Command [No. 3] and Written Command [No. 18] were used for comparison. All of the subjects underwent the first SLTA more than 3 months post onset and the second at a more-than-two-months interval.
    Results were as follows. (1) In a group of Wernicke aphasia, there were patients with better capacity of visual language comprehension than auditory one at each testing period. (2) Some Wernicke aphasics who had had poor capacity in both auditory and visual language comprehension in the first examination showed remarkable improvement in visual language comprehension, leaving auditory one minimally changed. (3) Such dissociation in improvement was scarecely found in the other types of aphasia.
    The following hypotheses are proposed as an explanation of dissociated improvement : Visual language comprehension was affected by the insult to the auditory language area because it had been learned with dependence upon auditory language, and it independently regained function because visual language area was relatively spared.

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