The aim of our study was to evolve views on writing disorders in Wernicke's agraphia by comparing group data and analysis of a single patient. We showed how a single-case study can be useful in obtaining essential results that can be hidden by averaging group data. Analysis of a single patient proved to be important for resolving contradictions of the "holistic" and "elementaristic" paradigms of psychology and for the development of theoretical knowledge with the example of a writing disorder. The implementation of a holistic approach was undertaken by presenting the tasks differing in functions in which writing had been performed since its appearance in human culture (communicative, mnestic, and regulatory). In spite of the identical composition of involved psychological components, these differences were identified when certain types of errors were analyzed in the single subject. The results are discussed in terms of used writing strategy, resulting in a way of operation of involved components that lead to qualitative and quantitative changes of writing errors within the syndrome of Wernicke's agraphia.
Acquired disorders of writing in the Russian language have been reported for more than a century. The study of these disorders reflects the history of Russian neuropsychology and is dominated by the syndrome approach most notably by the writings of Luria. Indeed, our understanding of acquired dysgraphia in Russian speakers is conceptualized according to the classical approach in Modern Russia. In this review, we describe the classical approach and compare it to the cognitive neuropsychological models of writing disorders that are developed to explain dysgraphia in English and in other Western European languages. We argue that the basic theoretical assumptions of the two approaches – cognitive and classical or syndrome approach – share similarities. It is therefore proposed that identification of acquired cases of dysgraphia in Russian could potentially benefit from taking the cognitive neuropsychological perspective. We also conclude that adopting elements of the syndrome approach would substantially enrich the understanding of acquired dysgraphia since these offer an insight into processes not described in the cognitive neuropsychological approach.
Излагаются результаты исследования нарушений письменной речи у больных с сенсорной афазией. Теоретическим источником исследования явилась попытка интеграции основных положений целостного подхода психологии, физиологии активности и культурно-исторической концепции. Такой подход позволил анализировать нарушения письменной речи в контексте содержания выполняемых человеком культурно-исторически заданных задач. Было показано, что такого рода задачи закономерным образом изменяют симптоматику сенсорной аграфии. В качестве причин такого изменения рассматриваются: 1) компонентные перестройки письменной речи; 2) использование разных стратегий письма. Рассмотрение стратегий письма в качестве причин изменения симптоматики при аграфии позволяет подойти к обсуждению проблемы многозначности симптома.
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