Narrative comprehension in adults with right and left hemisphere brain-damage: theme organization.
The effects of delayed presentation of a central theme on the comprehension and interpretation of narratives were investigated in adults with right and left hemisphere brain-damage and normal individuals. The performance of subgroups of the subjects with right and left hemisphere brain-damage also was examined. Right hemisphere brain-damaged groups with anterior and posterior lesions were significantly less accurate and identified significantly fewer central themes when central theme presentation was delayed until the end of a narrative than when the theme was presented at the beginning. Subjects with anterior right hemisphere brain-damage produced significantly more embellishments and confabulations than subjects with posterior damage and non-brain-damaged controls, regardless of theme condition. The performance of non-brain-damaged subjects and subjects with fluent and nonfluent aphasia was unaffected by the organization of the central theme in the narratives.
Hough
M S
MS
School of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Speech, Language, and Auditory Pathology, East Carolina University.
D000368:Aged; D001037:Aphasia / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000523:psychology*; D003210:Concept Formation; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D013067:Speech Perception