title: Sentence comprehension following moderate closed head injury in adults.
abstract: The current study explores sentence comprehension impairments among adults following moderate closed head injury. It was hypothesized that if the factor of syntactic complexity significantly affects sentence comprehension in these patients, it would testify to the existence of syntactic processing deficit along with working-memory problems. Thirty-six adults (18 closed head injury patients and 18 healthy controls matched in age, gender, and IQ) participated in the study. A picture-sentence matching task together with various tests for memory, language, and reading abilities were used to explore whether sentence comprehension impairments exist as a result of a deficit in syntactic processing or of working-memory dysfunction. Results indicate significant impairment in sentence comprehension among adults with closed head injury compared with their non-head-injured peers. Results also reveal that closed head injury patients demonstrate considerable decline in working memory, short-term memory, and semantic knowledge. Analysis of the results shows that memory impairment and syntactic complexity contribute significantly to sentence comprehension difficulties in closed head injury patients. At the same time, the presentation mode (spoken or written language) was found to have no effect on comprehension among adults with closed head injury, and their reading abilities appear to be relatively intact.
authors.affiliation: Learning Disabilities Department, University of Haifa, Haifa, 31905,  Israel.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leikin
authors.forename: Raphiq
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aharon-Peretz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D012660:Semantics; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D055815:Young Adult