In a clinical setting, a person may be asked to read an eye chart and communicate back to the clinician the letters that he or she sees in order to determine visual acuity; taking this a step farther, a person may be likewise asked to read off a given sentence or paragraph aloud in order to determine mental cognition, to test for dyslexia, or to identify a visual or speech impediment or impairment, such as aphasia or apraxia of speech (Ball & Bernhardt, 2008; Spreen & Risser, 2002).
The neurological structures that are engaged in the completion of these activities start with the visual pathway. First, the information is transmitted from retinal cells along the optic nerve. Once this information reaches the optic chiasm, the information received visually from the left visual field in both eyes then travels posteriorly along the optic tract in the right hemisphere of the brain to the primary visual cortex, located in the occipital lobe.
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"Neurology of a Communication Task".
The information from the right visual field of both eyes travels, simultaneously with the information being sent by the left visual field, the optic tract located in the left hemisphere of the brain to the primary visual cortex. The information then moves to the cortical association areas of the occipital lobe, allowing the individual to understand that he or she is looking at words. Additional connections are made in the cortical association areas of the inferior parietal lobe, including both the angular and supramarginal gyri to attach meaning to those words. Any difficulties with association, difficulties with the cortical association in the occipital lobe, or even speech concerns can cause the individuals to either state words or letters that are not present or state the incorrect words or letters.
Difficulties associated with repetition of those letters, if an eye chart is being used, or with the words or phrases being spoken can indicate difficulties within the occipital lobe and be a sign of additional underlying issues, some of which may be corrected with assistance from a speech-language pathologist.
- Ball, J. & Bernhardt, B.M. (2008). First Nations English dialects in Canada: Implications for speech-language pathology. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 22(8), 570-588
- Spreen, O. & Risser, A. (2002). Assessment of aphasia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
