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Coarse coding and discourse comprehension in adults with right hemisphere brain damage.
Connie A Tompkins1, Victoria L Scharp, Kimberly M Meigh
1University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Aphasiology
|September 28, 2011
Summary
Adults with right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) struggle with discourse comprehension due to impaired "coarse coding," affecting their ability to sustain word meaning activation. This impacts understanding implied information in narratives.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) is associated with discourse comprehension deficits.
- These deficits may stem from impaired "coarse coding," the right hemisphere's ability to activate and sustain a wide network of word meanings.
- Previous research has not directly linked coarse coding deficits to discourse comprehension in RHD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between coarse coding and narrative comprehension in adults with RHD.
- To determine if impaired coarse coding underlies specific discourse comprehension difficulties in RHD.
Main Methods:
- 32 adults with RHD and 38 controls completed coarse coding and narrative comprehension tasks.
- Coarse coding was assessed using a lexical decision task measuring activation and maintenance of peripheral word meanings.
- Narrative comprehension tasks evaluated understanding of implied main ideas, details, and high-level inferences.
Main Results:
- RHD participants performed worse than controls on all measures.
- Correlations between coarse coding and discourse measures were not significant.
- Poorer comprehenders of implied information showed deficits in sustaining activation of word features.
Conclusions:
- A specific link exists between impaired sustained coarse coding and difficulty comprehending implied information in RHD.
- Sustaining activation of peripheral semantic features is crucial for discourse integration in RHD.
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