Question

Which of the following characterize(s) Wernicke’s aphasia?

• A. Inability to comprehend spoken words
• B. Inability to understand the meaning of words
• C. Inability to speak grammatically correct language
• D. Inability to write and understand the symbols that represent speech sounds

Hint:

Broca’s = nonfluent, effortful, relatively good comprehension; Wernicke’s = fluent but meaningless, poor comprehension, with parallel reading/writing deficits.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A, B, C, D

Step 1: Core deficit
- Wernicke’s aphasia (posterior superior temporal lesion) $\Rightarrow$ impaired comprehension. Thus (A) “cannot comprehend spoken words” is true; (B) “cannot understand meanings” is true.

Step 2: Speech output features
- Speech is fluent but {empty} with phonemic/semantic paraphasias and {paragrammatism} (syntactic/grammatical errors despite fluency). Hence many patients fail to produce grammatically appropriate speech $\Rightarrow$ (C) taken as true in exam contexts.

Step 3: Reading and writing
- Reading comprehension and writing typically mirror the spoken-language deficit (alexia/agraphia-like problems). Difficulty “to write and understand symbols representing speech sounds” $\Rightarrow$ (D) true.
Final Answer: All four statements apply: (A), (B), (C), (D).