Category-specific deficits for grammatical classes of words: evidence for possible anatomical correlates.

Several neuropsychological studies have shown that brain-damaged patients may demonstrate category-specific deficits for grammatical classes of words, such as nouns and verbs. We describe 3 patients with selective impairments of these latter categories. The first patient, with marked atrophy of the left temporal lobe, was disproportionately impaired in naming and comprehension of nouns.