Title:

Cognitive Correlates of Storytelling in Severe TBI

Poster

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Abstract

Introduction: Difficulties with narrative discourse, executive functions, declarative memory, and pragmatic function are pervasive in adults with TBI. As narrative discourse (I.e., story-telling) plays a significant role in social contexts, these difficulties have broad reaching impacts on everyday interactions. Existing research in adults with TBI does not address cognitive correlates of story length, completeness, and elaboration within a story grammar framework, which is a structure for organizing the content of stories. A better understanding of these relationships will allow for more effective evaluation and treatment of this population. Methods: Transcripts from Cinderella stories of 48 participants with TBI were analyzed using a story grammar framework. Relationships between narrative measures (length, completeness, and elaboration) and the domains of executive function, declarative memory, and pragmatic function at 6- and 12-months post-injury were explored. Results: At 6- and 12-months, most narrative measures showed weak to very strong correlations with executive functions and weak to strong correlations with declarative memory. Narrative measures less consistently showed weak to moderate correlations with pragmatic function at 6-months, with no correlation with pragmatic function at 12-months. Discussion: Executive function measures are related to the ability to organize and elaborate stories, and declarative memory measures are related to the ability to tell elaborate stories and share more content. Measures of pragmatic function likely captured a broader picture of social communication than the narrative measures examined in the present study.

Authors

First Name Last Name
Serena Jaskolka

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Submission Details

Conference GRC
Event Graduate Research Conference
Department Communication Sciences and Disorders (GRC)
Group Poster Presentation
Added April 10, 2022, 4:17 p.m.
Updated April 10, 2022, 4:17 p.m.
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