Comprehension and storage of four serially presented radio news stories bymild aphasic subjects

The present study investigated aphasic subjects' ability to comprehend and store serially presented discourse. Sixteen mild aphasic subjects, eight ag e-matched normals, and eight younger normals listened to four serially pres ented radio news stories and a single radio news story. Half of the aphasic subjects performed as well as age-matched normals in a single-news-story c omprehension task. However. they demonstrated a drastic deterioration in pe rformance when asked to listen to a series of four news stories. Age-matche d normals, and aphasic subjects, to a lesser extent, showed an impairment i n the comprehension and storage of the news story heard last in a series of four news stories. These results were discussed in terms of the comprehens ion and storage resources of working memory, (C) 2000 Academic Press.