12. Reading and Writing

What is being tested?

Different kinds of language abnormalities are caused by lesions in the dominant (usually left) frontal lobe, including Broca's area; the left temporal and parietal lobes, including Wernicke's area (see Neuroanatomy Through Clinical Cases 3e, Figures 2.25, 19.2, and 19.3); subcortical white matter and gray matter structures, including thalamus and caudate nucleus; as well as the nondominant hemisphere. For further details regarding the neuroanatomy and testing of language function, see Neuroanatomy Through Clinical Cases 3e, Chapter 19.