Discourse gist: A window into the brain's complex cognitive capacity

Sandra Bond Chapman, Raksha Anand Mudar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Discourse, in general, and gist reasoning specifically, are valuable tools to explore cognitive brain health across the life span. Gist reasoning is a higher-order cognitive function that entails a constructive/integrative process in which explicit content of the stimuli is combined with personal knowledge to generate meaning that is transformed and personally salient. In this article, we discuss gist reasoning ability as a marker of cognitive brain health and its potential in differentiating normal cognitive brain health from brain diseases. We highlight the benefits of gist reasoning training as an approach to strengthening cognitive health across the life span.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)519-533
Number of pages15
JournalDiscourse Studies
Volume15
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2013

Keywords

  • Cognitive brain health
  • gist
  • gist reasoning training

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Communication
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Anthropology
  • Linguistics and Language

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