The aim of our study was to evolve views on writing disorders in Wernicke's agraphia by comparing group data and analysis of a single patient. We showed how a single-case study can be useful in obtaining essential results that can be hidden by averaging group data. Analysis of a single patient proved to be important for resolving contradictions of the "holistic" and "elementaristic" paradigms of psychology and for the development of theoretical knowledge with the example of a writing disorder. The implementation of a holistic approach was undertaken by presenting the tasks differing in functions in which writing had been performed since its appearance in human culture (communicative, mnestic, and regulatory). In spite of the identical composition of involved psychological components, these differences were identified when certain types of errors were analyzed in the single subject. The results are discussed in terms of used writing strategy, resulting in a way of operation of involved components that lead to qualitative and quantitative changes of writing errors within the syndrome of Wernicke's agraphia.
Keywords: agraphia; cultural functions of writing; holistic approach in psychology; single-case study; task effect.
© 2016 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.