Simulating the pattern of right-hemisphere-damaged patients for the processing of the alternative metaphorical meanings of words: evidence in favor of a cognitive resources hypothesis.

Lately, many studies have suggested that communication impairments in brain-damaged individuals might be explained--at least in part--in terms of cognitive resource allocation. Reproducing a clinical pattern in normal subjects by using a dual-task treatment might be a way of evaluating the role of cognitive resources in the right hemisphere's contribution to verbal communication. This study suggests that the RH's presumed specific contribution to the processing of the alternative metaphorical meanings of words is, at least to some extent, the expression of the RH's complementary, and necessary, contribution to the pool of attentional resources needed for the most effortful processing.