The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	Reading and writing disorders due to frontal lobe lesions
Language	J
AuthorList	Yuichi Higashiyama and Fumiaki Tanaka
Affiliation	Department of Neurology and Stroke Medicine, Yokohama City University
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 32 (4), 278-289, 2016
Received
Accepted
Abstract	Reading and writing is one of the most important invension in the history of mankind, and has played a central role in the dissemination of culture and the development of civilization. Therefore, an influence of aquired reading and writing disorders (i.e., alexia and agrapihia) has become more serious in the modern society. It is well known that the patient with the lesion that involves the posterior part of the left middle frontal gyrus, tradittionally known as the "Exner's area", sometimes develops pure agraphia, and this brain lesion has been described as a major "writing center". Although the role of this region is still unknown, recent clinical and neuroimaging studies suggested that this area should have a crucial roles in writing processes, e.g., the conversion of graphemic representations to motor commands, the orthographic working-memory, or the interface between orthographic represanetation and generation of motor commands. Here, we review the historical bakground and the recent findings of reading and writing disorders due to the left frontal lobe lesions. Especially, we focus on the relationship between agraphia and Exner's area.
Keywords	frontal lobe, agraphia, alexia, Exner's area