Temporal parameters as cues to phrasal boundaries: a comparison of processing by left- and right-hemisphere brain-damaged individuals

Two experiments were conducted to examine the ability of left- (LHD) and right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) patients and normal controls to use temporal cues in rendering phrase grouping decisions. The phrase "pink and black and green" was manipulated to signal a boundary after "pink" or after "black" by altering pre-boundary word durations and pause durations at the boundary in a stepwise fashion. Stimuli were presented to listeners auditorily along with a card with three alternative groupings of colored squares from which to select the presented alternative. Results revealed that normal controls were able to use both temporal cues to identify the intended grouping. In contrast, LHD patients required longer than normal pause durations to consistently identify the intended grouping, suggesting a higher than normal threshold for perception of temporal prosodic cues. Surprisingly, the RHD patients exhibited great difficulty with the task, perhaps due to the limited acoustic cues available in the stimuli.