Scripts

A script refers to the set of events that occur within a typical or routine activity. Scripts are acquired through experiences and are stored in long-term memory as temporally ordered schema or knowledge structures. Scripts dictate people’s everyday repertoire of behaviors, including the communications that they may use during a routine situation. For example, there may be a specific set of actions or events that are expected when one eats out at a restaurant or visits the doctor. A script guides the actions and events that occur at the restaurant or the doctor’s office, including the questions, responses, comments, and other verbal and nonverbal communications. Thus, a script serves as a link between cognition and language.

When a person has aphasia, the ability to communicate in ...