MCAT Behavioral Sciences Question 195: Answer and Explanation
Home > MCAT Test > MCAT behavioral sciences practice tests
Test Information
- Use your browser's back button to return to your test results.
- Do more MCAT behavioral sciences practice tests.
Question: 195
7. A patient recently-admitted to the ER is reported to have had a stroke. At present, he is having some trouble communicating with hospital staff. When he addresses the doctor, he seems to have great difficulty forming sentences. His speech is rather monotone and lacks many function words. This patient is most likely experiencing:
- A. Somnambulism
- B. Wernicke's aphasia
- C. Broca's aphasia
- D. Receptive aphasia
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
Broca's aphasia is characterized by difficulty producing speech; moreover, inflection and function words (such as pronouns or prepositions) may disappear (choice C is correct). Somnambulism is sleepwalking, which is not typically a result of stroke and does not explain the patient's impairments described in the question stem (choice A is wrong). In cases of Wernicke's aphasia, speech is preserved; however, some words are substituted for others or used incorrectly. Utterances may seem confusing or nonsensical (choice B is wrong). Receptive aphasia is another term for Wernicke's aphasia (choice D is wrong; note also that there cannot be two correct answers).