Neuropragmatics

Pragmatics refers to the way people use and interpret language while considering context, situation, and social and psychological variables. The way our brain represents and processes phenomena of pragmatics is the domain of neuropragmatics. Subfields of neuropragmatics are nonclinical pragmatics that aims to establish the brain mechanisms underlying pragmatic phenomena and clinical pragmatics that focuses on pragmatic disorders in illness. Clinical pragmatics deals with pragmatic abnormalities or impairments such as psychiatric and neurological conditions in clinical populations. Pragmatic disorders can be acquired after damage to the brain caused by stroke, trauma, or brain disease (e.g., dementia, encephalitis) and can also accompany developmental disorders (e.g., autistic spectrum disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). The field of neuropragmatics evolved from the study of patients with damage to the right ...