Does an impaired lexicon produce legitimate alternative reading of components (LARC) errors in reading Japanese Kanji? Evidence from two-Kanji compound word reading in a Japanese-speaking patient with aphasia.

Several studies have reported a strong association between semantic system impairment and LARC error production. However, our patient with a left temporal lobe contusion, including the fusiform gyrus, showed LARC errors even in two-Kanji compound words, the meanings of which the patient understood. Also, the poor results of lexical decision and picture naming suggested problems in orthographic and phonological retrieval. From these results, we concluded that at least some LARC errors are independent of semantic impairment, and other explanations are needed for this type of error.