Motor dysphasia

A motor dysphasia is is caused by a lesion of the inferior frontal gyrus of the dominant frontal lobe - specifically, Broca's area.

It is characterised by:

• the patient understands but cannot answer appropriately
• the patient has difficulty finding words
• there is a reduced rate of word production - non-fluent dysphasia

In testing for this form of dysphasia the patient should be asked to talk about something - the choice of subject will vary from patient to patient. The patient might use elaborate descriptions to get around their inability to find a particular word - circumlocution, and they may substitute words whose meaning is not quite correct.