Intra- and Cross-Modal Transfer in Relation to Brain Dysfunction and Language Disorder

Abstract

Brain damaged and normal subjects were tested on their ability to transfer information of varying complexity across sensory modalities. Subjects without neurological damage were compared to subjects with left and right hemisphere lesions. Tasks varied in complexity from simple matching of Morse code patterns within a sensory modality to cross-modal transfer across sensory modalities. The results confirmed that cross-modal matching ability is significantly impaired in subjects with posterior left hemisphere lesions, whereas subjects with lesions in other areas of the brain show minimal deficits in cross-modal abilities. The results are interpreted to support a multimodal basis for complex intellectual function. Language is hypothesized to be one response capability that depends on intact cross-modal functions, with the angular gyrus region of the dominant hemisphere forming an anatomical basis.