COMMUNICATION DISORDERS AFTER TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

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Impairments in communication after traumatic brain injury are thought to reflect underlying cognitive dysfunction, rather than primary deficits in language- hence the label "cognitive-communication disorders." However, few empirical links have been established between cognitive impairment and specific aspects of communicative function. Systematic study of the complex relationship between cognition and communication will increase understanding of the consequences of brain injury, and will form the foundation for the development of appropriate intervention technique. In the proposed research, cognitive processes such as verbal working memory will be linked to specific types of communication tasks, in traumatically brain-injured adolescents and young adults. This will be attempted within the domain of pragmatic communication ability. To link aspects of cognition with pragmatic communication after traumatic brain injury, it first is necessary to devise measures of pragmatic communication ability in normally- developing adolescents and young adults. In the proposed study, a battery of pragmatic tasks will be developed and tested on uninjured adolescents and young adults, then applied prospectively to a cohort of traumatically brain-injured subjects and their peers.