Which aphasia type is defined by preserved repetition?

• A. Transcortical motor aphasia
• B. Broca's aphasia
• C. Wernicke's aphasia
• D. Global aphasia

Answer: (A)

This item tests that some aphasia types spare the repetition ability even when spontaneous speech is impaired. In transcortical motor aphasia, individuals have nonfluent, fragmented speech, but their ability to repeat words or sentences remains intact. The disruption lies in initiating or planning fluent speech, typically due to a lesion in the frontal areas anterior to Broca’s region, while the neural pathway responsible for repetition (the core repetition circuit) stays intact.

This pattern helps distinguish it from other aphasias: Broca’s aphasia produces nonfluent speech with relatively preserved comprehension but impaired repetition; Wernicke’s aphasia yields fluent but nonsensical speech with poor comprehension and impaired repetition; global aphasia involves broad language collapse, including poor repetition.