Recent studies on communication have demonstrated that to be able to participate in effective high level communication, the usage of short-hand is commonly developed. Short-hand is based on this idea of “common ground” (Clark, 1992). Our study tests the hypothesis that subjects with right hemisphere damage (RHD) will be impaired in the acquisition and use of common ground in the social interactions with a familiar communication partner. Subjects with RHD have cognitive impairments and communicative disorders revealing the complexities of communication and learning in context through the barrier task. Three subjects with RHD (2 males, 1 female; mean age = 56; mean education = 13 yrs.) and three none lesion damaged comparison subjects participated, each with a familiar communication partner. Subjects sit at a table across from their partner with a barrier in between them so as to allow them to see each other, but not their partner’s boards or tangram cards. This task was designed for a director (subject) to communicate with a matcher (partner) instructing them where to place all 12 cards on the numbered board.