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Social-Legal Discourse in Adults with and without Traumatic Brain Injury

Joseph Wszalek , Macayla Church, Lyn Turkstra

Abstract

Objective: To characterize social-legal discourse in adults with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: Participants, 19 adults with TBI and 21 uninjured comparison peers, completed a legal-knowledge interview to discuss knowledge of laws and legal systems. Dependent variables were microlinguistic and macrolinguistic features of participants’ spoken discourse. Results: Participants in the TBI group produced more microlinguistic errors, t(38) = -3.06, adjusted p < .05, η2p = .20, and a higher rate of errors, t(38) = -3.08, adjusted p < .05, η2p = .20, than participants in the comparison group. Participants in the TBI group also produced more macrolinguistic errors, t(38) = -2.86, adjusted p < .05, η2p = .18, and a higher rate of errors t(38) = -3.94, adjusted p < .05, η2p = .29, than participants in the comparison group. Two cognitive-communication mechanisms, working memory and processing speed, partially explained micro- and macrolinguistic discourse features. Conclusion: Adults with moderate-to-severe TBI produced social-legal discourse of poorer micro- and macrolinguistic quality than their uninjured peers. Discourse quality was explained in part by working memory and processing speed. Results identify risks of TBI-related communication deficits in legal contexts and support further study of effects of TBI on intersections with legal systems.

IB24121  Accepted 10 August 2025

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