Sentence-level processing predicts narrative coherence following traumatic brain injury: evidence in support of a resource model of discourse processing

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that coherence processing of narratives produced by speakers with traumatic brain injury is dissociated from processing of inter-sentential cohesion and intra-sentential production. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationships between microlinguistic abilities and macrolinguistic operations in narratives produced by individuals with TBI. Narratives with variable story grammar were analysed for co-occurring instances of correct and erroneous cohesive ties, sentence pausing, and mazing to determine the relationships among global coherence, inter-sentential cohesion, and intra-sentential production. Story grammar was predicted by both increased inter-sentential cohesion and increased pausing within sentences. Logistic regression classified the completeness of the story episodes with 94% accuracy based on inter-sentential cohesion and sentence pausing. The results support a resource model of discourse processing where executive disturbances that impair the way individuals with TBI recruit and control cognitive resources result in deficits in multiple levels of discourse processing during narrative construction.

KEYWORDS:

• Traumatic brain injury
• cognition
• language disorders
• discourse
• executive function

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Paige Smiles for her assistance with the reliability analyses.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).