A real-word error that is not semantically related to the target word. A real-word error in which a word not semantically related to the target is substituted for the intended word (e.g. “car” for pencil).
In a study of 26 CHI patients without mass lesions who had been in coma: for at least 24 hr, Thomsen (1975) found that aphasic symptoms were present during the first 2 or 3 weeks after injury in 12 cases. Verbal paraphasia (i.e., substitution of inappropriate words) and anomia were the most common defects; receptive impairment and dysgraphia were also frequently observed, whereas paragrammatism and other symptoms suggestive of Broca’s aphasia were rarely seen. We have observed a patient who bears a close resemblance to the series of diffuse head injuries described by Thomsen.