SPONTANEOUS GESTURES FOLLOWING RIGHT-HEMISPHERE INFARCT

Neurobehavioral studies of gesturing have been largely limited to left hemisphere damaged (LHD) patients. We compared spontaneous gesturing in seven right hemisphere damaged (RHD) patients, seven LHD patients, and seven normal controls (NHD) during videotaped interviews. Two judg es coded symbolic, expressive, grooming, and fidgeting gestures in 120 10-sec intervals of videotape per patient. We found that RHD patients made significantly more total gestures and grooming gestures with the hand ipsilateral to their lesion than did LHD patients. Furthermore, RHD patients made more total and grooming gestures with their right ha nd than NHD subjects did with either hand. There were no differences i n gesture production between the right and left hands of NHD patients. These results suggest that RHD produces enhanced gesturing, particula rly involving grooming behavior.