--- abstract: "We are interested in the validation of a cognitive theory of human communication, grounded in a speech acts perspective. The theory we refer to is outlined, and a number of predictions are drawn from it. We report a series of protocols administered to 13 brain-injured subjects and to a comparable control group. The tasks included direct and indirect speech acts, irony, deceits, failures of communication, and theory of mind inferences. All the predicted trends of difficulty are consistently verified; in particular, difficulty increases from direct/indirect speech acts to irony, from irony to deceits, and from deceits to failure recovery. This trend symmetrically shows both in the successful situation and in the failure situation. Further, failure situations prove more difficult to handle than the relevant successful situation. In sharp contrast with previous literature, there is no difference between the subjects' comprehension of direct and indirect speech acts. The results are discussed in the light of our theoretical approach." altloc: [] chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: - ~ - maurizio.tirassa@unito.it - ~ creators_name: - family: Bara given: Bruno G. honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Tirassa given: Maurizio honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Zettin given: Marina honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 1997 date_type: published datestamp: 2010-04-01 11:37:11 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/68/10 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 6810 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/6810/1/1997%2DNeuroCom%2DBL.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: pub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: ~ lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:57:35 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: 59 pagerange: 7-49 pubdom: TRUE publication: Brain and Language publisher: Academic Press refereed: TRUE referencetext: "Airenti, G., Bara, B.G., & Colombetti, M. 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(1978) Aphasics' comprehension of contextually conveyed meaning. Brain and Language 6: 362-377.\r\nWimmer, H., Perner, J. (1983) Belief about beliefs. Representation and constraining functions of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception. Cognition 13: 103-128.\r\n" relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 28 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2010-04-01 11:37:11 subjects: - cog-psy - neuro-ling - neuro-psy - phil-lang - phil-mind - psy-ling succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: 'Neuropragmatics: Neuropsychological constraints on formal theories of dialogue' type: journalp userid: 3628 volume: ~