Misunderstandings Following A Brain Injury

By Andrew Lee

Language or use of words can be perceived differently by other people. When I am dealing with cognitive communication I need to step back and listen to the question carefully, then give my opinion using specific details, which should be relevant to the conversation. It can be hard to express my thoughts and understand what other people are trying to say. I ask more questions to obtain useful information to contribute to a balanced conversation. This can be achieved using memory compensatory aids. Although I also need to rely on my Verbal and Non-Verbal working memory, which don’t necessarily rely on using specific memory aids.

This is where misunderstandings can arise as my executive skills are often impaired. If I feel that the conversation is lacking, I will usually dig myself into a hole of doubt and stop talking entirely. This is emotional salience, “which is how we feel about a particular task. For example, when we do something well we have a positive feeling, and we want to re-experience that feeling so we are more likely to do that again”. When I experience a negative emotion from misunderstanding dialogue, I may feel embarrassed and change my behaviour, like stop talking, and not get my point across.

When these situations arise, I must concentrate on the topic and respond using appropriate language, which can be exhausting. Often people can perceive this as me being bored by their opinions. People “often mistake concentration problems as signs that the person is uninterested or lazy, when it is usually more related to difficulty attending to things for longer periods of time.” 

Tone of voice is also important. Speaking in a loud manner can be conceived as being either happy or angry, whereas speaking in a low tone - detached or too laid back.

​The environment you inhabit and your audience also has to be taken into consideration.

Reference: (O.T. Courtney Maher, 2019) https://www.flintrehab.com/attention-problems-afterbrain-injury