Question

Aphasia which affects the arcuate fibres (arcuate fasciculus) is called:

• A. Global aphasia
• B. Anomic aphasia
• C. Conduction aphasia
• D. Broca's aphasia

Hint:

Cutting the cable between Broca and Wernicke wrecks repetition.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: The arcuate fasciculus is a bundle of white matter fibres that connects Broca's area (motor speech) to Wernicke's area (language comprehension).

Step 2: Damage to this connecting tract disconnects the two speech centres while leaving them individually intact. This produces conduction aphasia, so the answer is option c.

Step 3: The hallmark of conduction aphasia is markedly impaired repetition, with relatively preserved comprehension and fluent (though paraphasic) speech. The other options localize differently: Broca's aphasia is from frontal (Broca's area) damage with non-fluent speech, global aphasia involves widespread damage to both centres, and anomic aphasia is mainly a naming difficulty, none of which specifically reflects an isolated arcuate fasciculus lesion.

Step 4: Hence an arcuate fasciculus lesion causes conduction aphasia.