Table 5.
Comparison of the fusiform-type and posterior occipital-type pure alexia.
| Symptoms | Fusiform type | Posterior occipital type |
|---|---|---|
| Alexia | Kanji > kanaa Words > letters |
Kana Letters |
| Impaired function | Whole-word reading | Letter identification |
| Kinesthetic reading | Kana words | Kana words |
| Lexical effects | Complexity, imageability (kanji) | Lexicality (kana) |
| Letter-by-letter reading | Kana nonwords | Kana nonwords |
| Word-length effect | Kana words | Kana words |
| Word-by-word readingb | Five-character kana words | None |
| Writing impairment | Kanji | Kanji |
| Visual discrimination | Normal | Mildly impaired |
a
Kanji reading is more impaired than kana reading.
b
Compound words or sentences are read word by word or phrase by phrase.
Revised with permission from Sakurai et al. (2006b).