Often thought to be restricted to literature, metaphor is in fact ubiquitous in everyday language. Neuro-linguistic studies of figurative language use suggest a critical for the right hemisphere (RH). Traditionally, studies have corroborated this linkage using lists of prevalent metaphors and asked RH patients to explicate the literal meanings. The current study takes a unique approach to the study of metaphor looking at its spontaneous production (instead of recognition) in five patients with RH trauma and four healthy comparison participants completing a collaborative referencing task. Patients, working with a familiar partner, were asked to play a matching game, where the patients acted as directors and instructed their partner, who acted as matcher, to place 12 abstract Chinese tangrams on a numbered board . Data were transcribed and coded for categories of metaphor use (e.g. metonymy, irony). Group results will be compared. The results promise to inform our understanding of the nature of potential deficits in RH patients (as cognitive and/or linguistic) and of the neurobiology of figurative language."