Dissociation of Hangul and Hanja Reading After Left Parieto-occipital Infarction: Alexia with agraphia with Hangul, but preserved in Hanja

ABSTRACT

Korean vocabularies are composed of ideograms (Hanja) and phonograms (Hangle) just like Kanji (ideogram) and Kana (Phonogram) in Japanese. Double dissociation between the phonogram and ideogram has been reported in both languages. According to those studies, the ideograms are localized in more selective brain areas than the phonograms. We report on a case of alexia with agraphia for Hangle and intact reading for Hanja after a left parieto-occipital lobe infarction.