Narrative discourse in multiple sclerosis : An investigation of conceptual structure

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine whether multiple sclerosis (MS) affects a person's ability to formulate message content in narrative discourse. Discourse samples were elicited from 47 persons with MS and 47 matched controls in response to computer-generated, animated sequences. Within the conceptual level of discourse processing, data were analysed for story schema and informative content. The two groups, MS and control, could not be distinguished by measures of the quantity of information conveyed. However, results revealed a difference in the nature of the information produced by the two groups. The persons with MS produced less essential story information than control subjects, while a tendency for the persons with MS to produce more incorrect and ambiguous information than controls was also noted. A number of factors were considered in an attempt to explain the underlying source of these differences. It was postulated that both pragmatic and cognitive skills impact on performance in the narrative genre; hence, deficits in these areas may have contributed to the observed performance deficits. The nature of the deficits was considered consistent with subcortical plaque damage affecting fibre tracts between and within cerebral hemispheres. The findings of the present study suggest that further research into narrative production in MS is warranted.