Referential Cohesion and Logical Coherence of Narration after Right Hemisphere Stroke

Abstract

A group with right hemisphere dysfunction was compared to neurologically intact controls regarding the referential cohesion and logical coherence of narrative production. A somewhat varied sample of six stories was obtained with tasks of cartoon-elicited story-telling and auditory–oral retelling. We found deficits in the patient group with respect to referential cohesion, logical coherence, and accuracy of narration, but the occurrence of deficits depended on the condition in which narration was produced and, to some extent, on the particular story used in each condition. The primary implications of this study pertain to the attention given by researchers to the feature of discourse production being studied.