The comprehension of figures of speech was examined in subjects (Ss) with right hemisphere infarcts (N = 19, aged 21-70) and controls (N = 17, aged 29-70). Test materials consisted of 15 expressions with a metaphorical meaning. Three drawings of each expression were rendered by a professional artist: one of the metaphorical meaning, one of the literal meaning, and one of a noun in the expression (foil). Ss were presented with an expression and asked to choose the picture that corresponded to the most common meaning. The target answer was the drawing of the metaphorical meaning. Task familiarization was conducted prior to testing. The hypothesis that Ss with right hemisphere damage prefer literal interpretations was not supported but qualitative differences between groups were found. (Copyright 1998, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (LLBA 1998, vol. 32, n. 2)