A comparative analysis of executive functions in Broca’s aphasia and healthy adults

Cognitive deficits can be present in people with aphasia and may affect their language abilities. Neuroimaging research suggests a correlation between the activation of brain regions responsible for executive functions and language recovery in aphasia. Considering the critical role of executive functions in language rehabilitation and the inconsistencies reported in previous findings, the present study aimed to characterize the executive function profiles of individuals with Broca’s aphasia. Thirty individuals with Broca’s aphasia and 30 healthy controls were examined using the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) and the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). D-KEFS subtests, including Trail Making, Design Fluency, Sorting, Tower, and Proverb, were used were used to assess problem-solving, creativity, inhibition, concept formation, cognitive shifting, spatial planning, rule learning, and cognitive set maintenance. Individuals with Broca’s aphasia performed significantly lower than healthy controls on all tests, demonstrating greater difficulty in specific executive function domains. These results indicate a strong correlation between Broca’s aphasia and executive functions.