Conversational turn-taking in adults with acquired brain injury

Background: Social communication problems are a major contributor to negative life outcomes for adults with brain injury, yet the basic skill deficits underlying these problems are poorly understood.

Aim: To examine one aspect of social communication that may have a negative impact on social interactions: the ability to successfully take turns in a conversation.

Methods & Procedures: Seventeen adults with traumatic brain injury and two with bilateral strokes, and their typical peers matched for age and sex, viewed video-recorded conversations and indicated when they could join in the conversation. Turn timing was compared between groups using a novel statistical method designed for this study.

Outcomes & Results: There was a significant between-groups difference in timing of turn-taking but no significant difference in number of turns. The novel analysis method revealed between-groups differences in responding to specific conversational cues.

Conclusions: Adults with brain injury may miss or misinterpret verbal and non-verbal cues to turn-taking, which could contribute to conversation partners’ perceptions of impaired conversation skills in adults in this population.