The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	Anterior temporal lobe and semantic memory: insights from semantic dementia and anterior temporal lobectomy
Language	J
AuthorList	Daiki Taomoto¹⁾, Yoshiyuki Nishio²⁾
Affiliation	¹⁾Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine ²⁾Department of Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 40 (2), 126-131, 2024
Received
Accepted
Abstract	Two-way anomia, which is the core symptom of semantic dementia (SD), is a condition in which naming and word comprehension are simultaneously impaired. Naming is a most vulnerable language function and is impaired after lesions in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) or in basal temporal regions of the dominant cerebral hemisphere. Compared to naming, word comprehension is more robust to brain damage and is only impaired after extensive damage to basal temporal and posterior temporal lobes and occipital lobes. In SD, ATL is damaged from the early stages of the disease, while the basal and posterior temporal lobes are affected in the later stages. Naming impairment is a predominant, often an isolated symptoms in the early stages of the disease, while two-way anomia develops with additional word comprehension impairment as the disease progresses. Two-way anomia may reflect extensive damage to the anterior half of the ventral visual pathway, which consists of the ATL, basal and posterior temporal cortex.
Keywords	basal temporal language area, hub-and-spoke hypothesis, primary progressive aphasia, two-way anomia, ventral visual pathway