A 60-year-old woman with a suspected neurological disorder earns 35/50 on a confrontation object-naming task, below norms for her age and educational level. Based on these results alone, which statement can most reliably be made about her condition?

• A. She has anomic aphasia, which might or might not be associated with other language deficits.
• B. She has aphasia, but the type of aphasia cannot be specified on the basis of this test score alone.
• C. She does not have aphasia but probably does have a memory disturbance.
• D. She has difficulty with naming, but the precise nature of the deficit cannot be determined on the basis of this test score alone.

Answer: (D)

A confrontation naming score below what’s expected for age and education shows a problem with retrieving the name of a pictured object. That points to a naming impairment, but a single test score doesn’t reveal the exact nature of the deficit or its cause. Naming problems can arise from various conditions, including aphasia or memory/semantic issues, and you can’t reliably classify the disorder or its subtype from this result alone. To determine whether aphasia is present and, if so, what type, you’d need a broader battery of language tests (comprehension, repetition, spontaneous speech) and assessments of other cognitive functions. So the most reliable takeaway is that there’s difficulty with naming, but the precise nature of the deficit cannot be determined from this test score alone.