In recent years there has been a growing awareness of
people who have experienced cerebrovascular accident
(CVA) and of their need for rehabilitation and post-treatment
care and management. How these needs are met depends,
in large part, on lesion site and subsequent identification
of associated cognitive, behavioral, and emotional
disturbances. Although a great deal of research with survivors
of traumatic brain injury and stroke as well as normal
subjects has elucidated many of the functions of the cerebral
hemispheres, gaps exist in research on the effects of
stroke. Specifically, little attention has been given to verbal
learning and memory deficits associated with right hemisphere
stroke. Reasons for this appear to be rooted in the
traditional verbal-nonverbal dichotomy applied to the left
and right hemispheres of the brain.
Typically, damage to the left or dominant hemisphere of
the brain disrupts language and verbal memory functioning
whereas damage to the brain’s right hemisphere is associated
with deficits in nonverbal, perceptual-motor, and
spatial abilities, especially in right-handed people, with language
abilities remaining largely intact.‘-’ For example, it
has been demonstrated that right hemisphere stroke (RHS)
patients performed normally on all subtests of the Western
Aphasia Battery, a test designed to assess language competence.
8 Assessment of verbal memory is not included in this
battery.
Though much of the brain and language research supports
the view that the left hemisphere is responsible for