NARRATIVE COMPREHENSION IN ADULTS WITH RIGHT HEMISPHERE BRAIN DAMAGE: THE ROLE OF COHERENCE AND THEME ORGANIZATION

This study examined whether right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) adults’ deficits in comprehending narratives with a delayed theme could be attributed to decreased story coherence rather than the delayed theme itself. If so, RHD participants were expected to equally comprehend canonically structured narratives and delayed-theme narratives constructed to maintain coherence. As expected, there was no significant difference in comprehension of the two sets of narratives. Additionally, participants performed significantly better on coherence-controlled delayed theme narratives compared to those with less coherence, and there was a trend towards poorer comprehension of less coherent delayed-theme narratives compared to canonical narratives. Clinical applications are discussed