Frequency and co-occurrence of suppression and coarse coding deficits in adults with RHD

Scharp, Victoria L. and Tompkins, Connie and Blake, Margaret Lehman (2014) Frequency and co-occurrence of suppression and coarse coding deficits in adults with RHD. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

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Abstract

This study examines two language processing functions that have the potential to create socially handicapping language comprehension difficulties in adults with right hemisphere brain damage (RHD). The first, coarse semantic coding, allows normal comprehenders to bring to mind distant meanings or features of words that are appropriate in highly specific contexts (e.g., the "rotten" feature of the word "apple" in the context of spoiled produce). The second, suppression, is a process that inhibits contextually-irrelevant meanings (e.g., the "card-playing" meaning of the word "spade" in "He dug with the spade."). In prior work, some adults with RHD were found to have impaired suppression1-4 or coarse coding processes5-6. These language processing impairments can make it difficult for individuals with RHD to participate in everyday social communication. For example, they can have trouble thinking beyond the most typical instance of an entity (e.g., an apple that's red, round, and crunchy) when another instance is being referred to (e.g., an apple that's rotten). Another possibility is they can be misled by ambiguities which are commonplace in conversation, and have difficulty getting back on track (e.g., keeping in mind the "card-playing" meaning of the word "spade" in a sentence like "He dug with the spade"). These problems predict comprehension performance on measures of narrative comprehension, as well7,8. To date, there is no information about how prevalent these deficits are, or how often they may co-occur in the same individual. This project identifies the proportions of a sizeable group of adults with RHD that have either a coarse coding deficit, a suppression deficit, co-occurring deficits, or neither deficit in reference to criteria developed from prior studies of healthy control subjects1-3,5,6.

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