Cognitive processes in verbal-number production: inferences from the performance of brain-damaged subjects

This article presents a model of the cognitive processes involved in the spoken production of verbal numbers (e.g., thirteen thousand four hundred two). On the basis of single-case studies of two brain-damaged subjects with number production deficits, we argue that verbal-number production involves the generation of a syntactic frame that constitutes a plan for the production of the appropriate sequence of words. The syntactic frame specifies each to-be-retrieved word in terms of a number-lexical class (i.e., ones, teens, or tens) and a position within that class. These class/position-within-class specifications guide the retrieval of lexical representations from a production lexicon that is partitioned into functionally distinct ones, teens, and tens classes. We conclude with a brief discussion of the rationale for, and advantages of, using patterns of impaired performance as a basis for drawing inferences about normal cognition.