ABSTRACT
Impairments of word retrieval (anomia) are common among individuals with aphasia. The functional impact is devastating in that word-finding failures disrupt the ability to carry on a meaningful, effective, efficient conversation. While the impact of anomia is difficulty in maintaining verbal interactions, the clinical assessment and treatment of word retrieval impairments are most typically accomplished through the use of picture confrontation naming tasks. As reviewed by Doriana Chialant, Albert Costa, and Alfonso Caramazza (see chapter 7), the process of picture naming requires not only the retrieval of the lexical phonological forms for words, but also mechanisms for visual object and semantic processing (figure 9.1). Presumably, it is the semantic and phonological stages that are critical for the process of word retrieval in conversation, and impairments of these processes are associated with aphasia. Deficits affecting the mechanisms for visual object processing (the agnosias) may cooccur with aphasia, further complicating the picture in naming assessment and treatment.
