On the underlying causes of semantic paralexias in a patient with deep dyslexia.

The nature of the underlying causes of paralexias produced by a patient exhibiting the syndrome of deep dyslexia was explored by pairing an oral reading task with a picture matching task using the same words. The results suggested two causes of semantic paralexias: word retrieval difficulties and impaired concept arousal. Parallel deficits in language tasks not involving written words were found. It is suggested that the major component of the deep dyslexia syndrome may reflect a deficit which is not specific to the written modality.