The selective impairment of the phonological output buffer

A single case study is presented of a patient, LT, with a reproduction conduction aphasic pattern of performance on word reproduction tasks; thus he made substitutions, insertions, deletions, and transpositions in reading, writing, and repetition of words and nonwords, as well as in sentence production, and in spoken and written picture and action naming. Further analyses revealed that there was no effect of semantic or syntactic structure on performance, and that reading was slightly better than repetition and writing. Finally, the observed effects of lexicality, length, and word frequency were similar to those found in other phonological output buffer patients. Overall, the pattern observed fits the characteristics typical of phonological output buffer patients, as characterised by Caramazza, Miceli, and Villa (1986).