Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T15:00:33.949Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

That Can't Be Right! What Causes Pragmatic Language Impairment Following Right Hemisphere Damage?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Ingerith Martin  and
Skye McDonald
Ingerith Martin
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Australia.
Skye McDonald*
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Australia. [email protected]
*
*Address for correspondence: Professor Skye McDonald, School of Psychology, University of NSW, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia.
Get access

Abstract

Right hemisphere damage (RHD) following unilateral stroke is often associated with impairment of pragmatic language, specifically, the ability to comprehend inferences that arise from language used in context. Three kinds of cognitive deficits have been proposed to explain the pragmatic deficits in RHD individuals, impaired Theory of Mind (TOM), weak central coherence (CC), and impaired executive function (EF). This study aims to evaluate the explanatory ability of these theories in relation to the comprehension of nonliteral (ironic) jokes versus literal lies. Twenty-one RHD patients and 21 age-matched controls were assessed on tasks tapping TOM, CC processing and general inference ability (EF) and the comprehension of irony. Second-order TOM and EF were found to play a significant role. However, neither construct, either in isolation or combined, completely explained the poor performance of RHD patients on this task compared to control participants.

Type
Articles
Information
Brain Impairment , Volume 7 , Issue 3: Special Issue: Neurogenic Communication Disorders , 01 December 2006 , pp. 202 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)