TY - JOUR
T1 - Suppression and inference revision in right brain-damaged and non-brain-damaged adults
AU - Tompkins, Connie A.
AU - Lehman, Margaret T.
AU - Baumgaertner, Annette
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supportedin part by Grant DC01820 from the National Instituteon Defeasns and Other CommuniacntDiisoorders. We are gratel tofPnunyeMyers and Wilutd Fasrsbinder for ther asitute observations and to Tepanta Fossett and JanicVencefaortheiasrsistancewthvariiousportionsofthisprojet.Wceremn ai indebted to our pantts foirether initerest and particpatioin and to Helatsouhth Harmarvile lReabhiitaltion HospiltH,atsoheuthaGrelteraPitburtghsRehabili-tation Hospit,athe lMercy Hospital of Ptsbtiurgh and University of Pittsburgh MediacCelnter for assisting with subjercefrteals. r
PY - 1999/9
Y1 - 1999/9
N2 - This study examined the extent to which participants were able to inhibit, or suppress, initial inferences that were rendered inappropriate by subsequent information and the relation between suppression ability and discourse comprehension in adults with right hemisphere brain damage (RBD). Two-sentence stimuli were presented auditorily to 32 adults with RBD and 17 control subjects. An ambiguous initial stimulus sentence elicited both dominant and less-preferred inferences and the second sentence resolved the ambiguity toward the initially less likely interpretation. Subjects judged whether a probe word fit with the meaning of the entire stimulus. To evaluate suppression function, probe words were chosen to represent the dominant, but eventually inappropriate inference for the first sentence. In a comparison condition, the same probes were paired with inferentially unambiguous stimuli. Accurate 'no' judgments of the probe words were slower in the ambiguous condition than in the unambiguous condition, reflecting interference from the dominant but eventually inappropriate interpretations of the ambiguous stimuli. This interference did not subside for either group over two probe intervals (850 and 1200 ms), indicating that neither group as a whole suppressed the unwanted inferences over time. However, on a within-group level, RBD subjects' effectiveness at suppressing these inappropriate inferences was related to their comprehension of discourse stimuli that required inference revisions.
AB - This study examined the extent to which participants were able to inhibit, or suppress, initial inferences that were rendered inappropriate by subsequent information and the relation between suppression ability and discourse comprehension in adults with right hemisphere brain damage (RBD). Two-sentence stimuli were presented auditorily to 32 adults with RBD and 17 control subjects. An ambiguous initial stimulus sentence elicited both dominant and less-preferred inferences and the second sentence resolved the ambiguity toward the initially less likely interpretation. Subjects judged whether a probe word fit with the meaning of the entire stimulus. To evaluate suppression function, probe words were chosen to represent the dominant, but eventually inappropriate inference for the first sentence. In a comparison condition, the same probes were paired with inferentially unambiguous stimuli. Accurate 'no' judgments of the probe words were slower in the ambiguous condition than in the unambiguous condition, reflecting interference from the dominant but eventually inappropriate interpretations of the ambiguous stimuli. This interference did not subside for either group over two probe intervals (850 and 1200 ms), indicating that neither group as a whole suppressed the unwanted inferences over time. However, on a within-group level, RBD subjects' effectiveness at suppressing these inappropriate inferences was related to their comprehension of discourse stimuli that required inference revisions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032865874&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/026870399401830
DO - 10.1080/026870399401830
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:0032865874
SN - 0268-7038
VL - 13
SP - 725
EP - 742
JO - Aphasiology
JF - Aphasiology
IS - 9-11
ER -