Right Hemisphere Brain Damage

Tompkins

This paper considers the nature and generality of right brain-damaged patients’ difficulties with interpreting intended meanings. Evidence is summarized from the authors’ research program, which highlights(1) cognitive processing influences on the comprehension of nonliteral forms and inferences, and(2) deficiencies in a specific comprehension process, the suppression mechanism (Gernsbacher, 1990). A suppression deficit hypothesis is proposed as one predictor of patients’ characteristic discourse comprehension difficulties. Other current accounts are reviewed briefly, and their intersection with the suppression deficit hypothesis is explored. The paper also discusses methodologic factors that help to explain why the authors’ findings at times diverge from the ”conventional wisdom” about patients’ deficits. Finally, clinical implications of the authors’ research are considered. Key words: comprehension, right brain damage, suppression