Emotional gain after verbal loss

Brain-damaged people who have lost much of their ability to understand spoken sentences are better than healthy folks at picking up on emotions that others are trying to conceal, a new study suggests. Damage to brain areas underlying language comprehension may prompt neural growth in regions used to recognize facial expressions and other nonverbal cues, hold neuropsychologist Nancy L. Etcoff of Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown and her coworkers.