What does receptive aphasia impair?

The correct choice highlights that receptive aphasia primarily affects the capacity to comprehend spoken language. Individuals with this condition may have significant difficulty understanding what others are saying, despite being able to produce speech that may sound fluent but is often nonsensical or lacks meaning. This impairment stems from damage to the areas of the brain responsible for processing auditory information, particularly the left temporal lobe, which is critical for language comprehension.

This distinction is essential because it clarifies that while individuals with receptive aphasia can articulate sounds or speech, they struggle to derive meaning from the language they hear. Thus, the ability to understand verbal communication is directly impacted, which is the hallmark of this type of aphasia.