Perceptual feature sorting of brain-injured patients: left versus right hemisphere preferences

A 20-item Piagetian-type sorting task was presented to 12 medically verified unilaterally brain-injured patients, whose performances were compared to 12 non-brain-injured controls. Cerebrovascular involvement accounted for the brain injuries. Speech and language status was determined by use of the short form of the Minnesota Test for Differential Diagnosis of Aphasia (Schuell, 1965). Five subjects had right hemisphere involvement. Of the seven subjects with left hemisphere involvement, four were fluent, two were nonfluent, and one had no appreciable speech or language difficulties. The left hemisphere brain-injured subjects and the controls showed preferences for the features of shape and texture. In contrast, the right hemisphere brain-injured subjects preferred the feature of size.