Neural Correlates of Attention and Cognitive Performance Variability Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in a Military Sample
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been recognized as one of the signature wounds of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) (Tanielian and Jaycox, 2008; Vanderploeg, Belanger, and Curtiss, 2009) with prevalence rates in OEF/OIF combat veterans around 20 (Hoge et al., 2008; Tanielian and Jaycox, 2008). While the majority of these TBIs are considered to be mild, cognitive, emotional and physical symptoms may be reported following injury of any severity (Brown et al., 2010). Most patients who have suffered a mild TBI (mTBI) recover within days to weeks. For a small subset of patients symptoms persist and affect quality of life well beyond the acute recovery timeframe. For example, mTBI patients commonly report subjective complaints and subtle objective deficits in attention. Such deficits can impact personal and occupational functional abilities, which may be critical to job performance and military readiness. Attentional efficiency is a composite conceptual measure of how consistently the brain is able to engage finite resources for effective decision-making and behavioral responses. As a cognitive processing variable, this attentional efficiency construct is hypothesized to play a fundamental role in successful functional outcomes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 12, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1127811
Entities
People
- Lindsay E. Reinhardt
Organizations
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences