Aphasia is most commonly associated with damage to which hemisphere?

• A. Right Hemisphere
• B. Both Hemispheres
• C. Left Hemisphere
• D. Occipital

Answer: (C)

Language processing is predominantly localized in the left hemisphere for the vast majority of people. The main language centers—Broca's area, which governs speech production, and Wernicke's area, which handles language comprehension—are in the left hemisphere. When these left-hemisphere language regions are damaged, the ability to speak, understand, read, or write language is impaired, producing aphasia. Damage to the right hemisphere doesn’t usually cause classic aphasia because language is not primarily organized there; it may affect prosody or other cognitive functions, but not the core language deficits. Occipital damage affects vision, not language. While some individuals may have different patterns of brain organization, the typical link is left-hemisphere injury leading to aphasia.