The key difference between agnosia and aphasia is that agnosia is a medical condition where the brain cannot recognize something even though the senses can detect it, while aphasia is a medical condition that specifically disrupts language abilities.
Agnosia and aphasia are two medical conditions that involve damage to parts of the brain. But these damages affect the brain differently. Agnosia and aphasia have some similarities, but they are very different conditions. Both these conditions can be treated through specific therapies.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Agnosia
3. What is Aphasia
4. Similarities – Agnosia and Aphasia
5. Agnosia vs Aphasia in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Agnosia vs Aphasia
What is Agnosia?
Agnosia is a medical condition where the brain cannot recognize something even though the senses can detect it. This condition is not contagious, but some infections can cause agnosia. Agnosia is a rare condition affecting less than 1% of the population. The potential conditions and brain lesions that cause agnosia include Alzheimer’s disease, aneurysms, brain tumors, dementia, developmental disorders, head injuries like concussions or traumatic brain injury, cerebral hypoxia, infections like encephalitis, seizure, epilepsy, sleep apnea, stroke, and toxins such as carbon monoxide poisoning.
Figure 01: Agnosia
The signs and symptoms may include the inability to recognize objects but the ability to recognize them when they are moving; difficulty in reading; trouble recognizing body parts, identifying colours, recognizing locations, and seeing more than one object; seeing multiple objects but the inability to recognize them individually; face blindness; inability to recognize nonverbal cues like body language, sound, and music; cortical blindness, inability to identify shape and size of an object; inability to recognize medical conditions, and recognize smells and tastes.
Moreover, agnosia can be diagnosed through physical examination, sensory tests, cognitive and mental state tests, memory and familiarity tests, and diagnostic and imaging tests like CT scans and MRI (for brain lesions). Furthermore, agnosia can be treated through medications (antibiotics for infections and antidementia medications), surgery, therapy, and rehabilitation,
What is Aphasia?
Aphasia is a medical condition that specifically disrupts language abilities. This condition damages an area of the brain that normally controls language expression and comprehension, ultimately making people unable to communicate effectively with others. Aphasia is due to damage to the language-dominant side of the brain which may be brought on by stroke, head injury, brain tumor, infection, and dementia. The symptoms of aphasia include speaking in short and incomplete sentences, speeches that don’t make sense, substituting one word for another, speaking unrecognizable words, difficulty in finding words, not understanding other people’s conversation, not understanding what they read, and writing sentences that do not make sense.
Figure 02: Aphasia
Aphasia can be diagnosed through medical history, tests for speech, naming, repetition, reading and writing, and imaging tests like CT scan, MRI scan, and PET scan. Furthermore, treatment options for aphasia include speech-language therapy, nonverbal communication therapies (computers or pictures) and group therapy for patients and their families.
What are the Similarities Between Agnosia and Aphasia?
- Agnosia and aphasia are two medical conditions that involve damage to parts of the brain.
- Both medical conditions are rare conditions.
- They can be triggered by infections.
- Both medical conditions accompany language difficulties.
- These medical conditions can be diagnosed through physical examination and imaging tests.
What is the Difference Between Agnosia and Aphasia?
Agnosia is a medical condition where the brain cannot recognize something even though the senses can detect it, while aphasia is a medical condition that disrupts specifically language abilities. Thus, this is the key difference between agnosia and aphasia. Furthermore, the causes of agnosia include Alzheimer’s disease, aneurysms, brain tumors, dementia, developmental disorders, head injuries like concussions or traumatic brain injury, cerebral hypoxia, infections like encephalitis, seizure, epilepsy, sleep apnea, stroke and toxins such as carbon monoxide poisoning. On the other hand, the causes of aphasia include stroke, head injury, brain tumor, infection, and dementia.
The below infographic presents the differences between agnosia and aphasia in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Agnosia vs Aphasia
Agnosia and aphasia are two medical conditions that involve damage to parts of the brain. Both medical conditions are rare and involve language difficulties. However, agnosia is a medical condition where the brain cannot recognize something even though the senses can detect it, while aphasia is a medical condition that disrupts specifically language abilities. So, this summarizes the difference between agnosia and aphasia.
Reference:
1. “Agnosia: What It Is, Causes & Types.” Cleveland Clinic.
2. “Aphasia.” Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Common forms of associative agnosia” By Studentkittenhead – word table (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Broca’s aphasia” By Pereoptic – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia