The purpose of the current study was to (1) determine whether verbal/linguistic deficits are indeed present in right brain damage (RBD) patients and (2) identify sex differential patterns in visuospatial and/or verbal/linguistic performance in this patient population. The subject sample consisted of 64 rehabilitation patients with RBD secondary to a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), and 50 neurologically-normal control subjects accessed from a variety of community organizations. All subjects were clinically rated for the presence of hemiparesis and hemianopia. In the visuospatial domain, the psychometric measures included: WAIS Block Design, WAIS Object Assembly, Raven\u27s Coloured Progressive Matrices, yielding both a measure of number of items correct as well as a measure of spatial bias; WMS Visual Reproduction; and Letter Cancellation Test. The verbal/linguistic tests were: WAIS Vocabulary; WAIS Similarities; Conceptual Level Analogies Test; WMS Logical Memory, yielding both a traditional score and a newly-created index of circumlocution; and Word Fluency--FAS and JU. The finding of an RBD-related visuospatial decrement was consistent with prevailing neuropsychological theories. However, in contrast to a number of studies in which RBD-related verbal defects have been only marginally confirmed, the data of this study showed a clearcut RBD verbal/linguistic defect on all measures except Logical Memory. These verbal defects were independent of visual scanning ability, suggesting the presence of an RBD-related verbal cognitive defect, separable from a visuospatial disturbance. The data marginally supported a sex differential pattern of greater male RBD decrements in visuospatial processing and greater female RBD decrements in verbal/linguistic processing only in the limited case of higher-order cognitive variables, as represented in this study by the WAIS subtests. However, a subanalysis by hemianopic ratings suggested that the presence of a visual field cut may mask an RBD-related sex differential pattern in visuospatial performance. Future sex difference studies of RBD patients with normal visual fields is recommended
