Which of the following is a common deficit observed after a right-hemisphere stroke?

• A. Aphasia
• B. Impulsive behavior
• C. Left-side neglect
• D. Speech difficulty

Answer: (B)

Right-hemisphere strokes often disrupt frontal and cingulate networks that regulate behavior and impulse control. When these areas are damaged, patients can become disinhibited and act without considering consequences, leading to impulsive behavior. This kind of behavioral change is a common observation because the non-dominant hemisphere plays a key role in monitoring actions, social judgment, and restraint, so damage there often shows up as impulsivity rather than pure language or motor speech problems. Language deficits (aphasia) are typically due to left-hemisphere injury, and left-side neglect, while a frequent consequence of right-hemisphere damage, is a spatial attention deficit rather than a regulatory/bahavioral impulse issue.