Abstract
Eighteen right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) and 15 control subjects listened to sentences that ended in lexical ambiguities. The sentence verbs biased ambiguity interpretation. Probe words, representing unbiased meanings of the ambiguities, were presented for rapid judgements of their fit with the sentences. In rejecting probe words, both groups showed interference from unbiased meanings of the ambiguities at a short (175 ms) probe interval. Only RHD adults demonstrated interference 1000 ms after sentence offset, indicating that they suppressed contextually inappropriate meanings less effectively than control subjects. Discourse comprehension performance in RHD adults was also correlated with suppression. Theoretical and clinical implications are considered.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Aphasiology |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 4-5 |
| Pages (from-to) | 505-519 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| ISSN | 0268-7038 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1997 |
Funding
This work was supported in part by Grant DCOl820 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. We are grateful to Morti Gernsbacher for providing her original stimulus lists, periodic consultation, and support for our ideas. We are also indebted to our patients for their interest and participation, and to Harmarville Rehabilitation Center, the Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh, and the Presbyterian-University Medical Center, for assisting with subject referrals.
Research Areas and Centers
- Health Sciences
DFG Research Classification Scheme
- 2.23-08 Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
- 2.23-07 Clinical Neurology, Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology
