INTERPRETING AMBIGUOUS ADVERTISEMENTS - THE EFFECT OF FRONTAL-LOBE DAMAGE

Despite intact primary language processes patients with frontal lobe d eficits often have impaired communication skills including impaired ca pacity to understand conversational inference. This study examined the ability of three patients with demonstrated frontal lobe pathology to interpret lexically ambiguous advertisements, When compared to a nonb rain-damaged control group it was found that the frontal lobe patients were poorer at comprehending the abstract or inferred meanings inhere nt in the advertisements. The pattern of performance across the patien ts did, nevertheless, differ despite a similar end result. These findi ngs are discussed in relation to theories concerning the contribution of the frontal Lobes to language function. (C) 1998 Academic Press.