Patterns of impairment of narrative language in mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) represents a condition whose cognitive and behavioral sequelae are often underestimated, even when it exerts a profound impact on the patients' every-day life. The present study aimed to analyze the features of narrative discourse impairment in a group of adults with mTBI. 10 mTBI non-aphasic speakers (GCS > 13) and 13 neurologically intact participants were recruited for the experiment. Their cognitive, linguistic and narrative skills were thoroughly assessed. The group of mTBIs exhibited normal phonological, lexical and grammatical skills. However, their narratives were characterized by the presence of frequent interruptions of ongoing utterances, derailments and extraneous utterances that at times made their discourse vague and ambiguous. They produced more errors of global coherence [ F (1; 21) = 24.242; p  = .000; η p 2  = 0. 536] and fewer Lexical Information Units [ F (1; 21) = 7.068; p  = .015; η p 2  = .252]. The errors of global coherence correlated negatively with non-perseverative errors on the WCST ( r  = −.755; p