The Said and the Unsaid: Processing of Idioms by People with and Without Brain Damage

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Creed, Aisling^{a; b}

Affiliations: [a] Clinical Lecturer, SCSLS, Trinity College Dublin | [b] Adelaide and Meath Hospital Dublin, incorporating The National Children’s Hospital

Abstract: This paper examines the abilities of a group of individuals with and without brain damage to process idioms. The investigation consisted of a survey and a specially devised assessment. Ten idioms were selected from the survey, five of which could be interpreted in both a literal and a non-literal sense; the other five could only be interpreted in a non-literal sense. The assessment consisted of definition, multiple-choice, and collocation tasks. Both brain damaged and non-brain damaged groups experienced difficulties with some of the tasks. All subjects were most accurate on the collocation task, followed by the multiple-choice task, and then followed by the definition task. Both found it significantly easier to process the idioms that could only be interpreted in a non-literal sense. This suggests a possibility that these types of idioms carry a lighter cognitive load, because there is no question as to whether the intended meaning is literal or non-literal. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.

Keywords: idioms, literal, non-literal, salience, brain damage, left hemisphere, right hemisphere

DOI: 10.3233/ACS-2004-14103

Journal: Journal of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-34, 2004