Turkstra L S, McDonald S, Kaufmann P M
Department of Psychology, University of New South Wales.
Brain Inj. 1996 May;10(5):329-45. doi: 10.1080/026990596124359.
Deficits in pragmatic communication ability have a significant impact on functional outcome from traumatic brain injury (TBI), particularly during adolescence, when sophisticated social communication skills are developing. There are few published tests designed to assess pragmatic skills in this age group. In the present study, four tasks designed to tap various aspects of pragmatic communication ability were administered to three brain-injured adolescents and 36 of their uninjured peers aged 15-18 years. The tasks evaluated the ability to negotiate, hint, describe a simple procedure, and understand sarcasm. The four tasks were found to tap distinct aspects of pragmatic ability in control subjects. Further, within the control group, task performance was related more to non-verbal reasoning ability than vocabulary skills. Scores for two of the three TBI subjects were poorer than those of their peers, while a third mildly injured subject performed within normal limits. Pragmatic task scores were consistent with the results of neuropsychological testing in the three TBI subjects. Implications for clinical management and recommendations for future research are discussed.
语用交流能力缺陷对创伤性脑损伤（TBI）的功能预后有重大影响，尤其是在青少年时期，此时复杂的社交沟通技能正在发展。针对该年龄组设计的用于评估语用技能的已发表测试很少。在本研究中，对三名脑损伤青少年及其36名年龄在15 - 18岁的未受伤同龄人进行了四项旨在挖掘语用交流能力各个方面的任务。这些任务评估了协商、暗示、描述简单程序以及理解讽刺的能力。结果发现，这四项任务在对照组中挖掘了语用能力的不同方面。此外，在对照组中，任务表现与非言语推理能力的相关性高于词汇技能。三名TBI受试者中有两名的分数低于同龄人，而第三名轻度受伤的受试者表现正常。三名TBI受试者的语用任务分数与神经心理学测试结果一致。文中讨论了对临床管理的启示以及对未来研究的建议。
