J Korean Med Sci.  2015 Mar;30(3):323-327. 10.3346/jkms.2015.30.3.323.

Language-specific Dysgraphia in Korean Patients with Right Brain Stroke: Influence of Unilateral Spatial Neglect

• Jang DH
• Kim MW
• Park KH
• Lee JW

• KMID: 2133312
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2015.30.3.323

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between Korean language-specific dysgraphia and unilateral spatial neglect in 31 right brain stroke patients. All patients were tested for writing errors in spontaneous writing, dictation, and copying tests. The dysgraphia was classified into visuospatial omission, visuospatial destruction, syllabic tilting, stroke omission, stroke addition, and stroke tilting. Twenty-three (77.4%) of the 31 patients made dysgraphia and 18 (58.1%) demonstrated unilateral spatial neglect. The visuospatial omission was the most common dysgraphia followed by stroke addition and omission errors. The highest number of errors was made in the copying and the least was in the spontaneous writing test. Patients with unilateral spatial neglect made a significantly higher number of dysgraphia in the copying test than those without. We identified specific dysgraphia features such as a right side space omission and a vertical stroke addition in Korean right brain stroke patients. In conclusion, unilateral spatial neglect influences copy writing system of Korean language in patients with right brain stroke.

Keyword

Perceptual Disorders; Agraphia; Stroke; Writing; Language

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Agraphia/*pathology
Brain/pathology
Brain Injuries/*pathology
Female
Humans
Language
Male
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Perceptual Disorders/*pathology
Republic of Korea
Spatial Processing/*physiology
Stroke/*pathology
Writing
Young Adult

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The classification of dysgraphia (constructive errors of writing) in the Korean language used in this study. Left side was a target letter and right side was examples of the response of the patients.

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  Fig. 2 Written examples of visuospatial left space omission (A) and right space omission (B).

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  Fig. 3 Written examples of stroke addition from top to bottom (A) and from left to right (B). Left side was a target letter and right side was examples of the response of the patients.

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