Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS
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J Int Neuropsychol Soc · Nov 2011
Functional magnetic resonance imaging of working memory and response inhibition in children with mild traumatic brain injury.
The current pilot study examined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation in children with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) during tasks of working memory and inhibitory control, both of which are vulnerable to impairment following mTBI. Thirteen children with symptomatic mTBI and a group of controls completed a version of the Tasks of Executive Control (TEC) during fMRI scanning. Both groups showed greater prefrontal activation in response to increased working memory load. ⋯ Likewise, cognitive testing did not correlate significantly with imaging results, whereas increased report of post-concussive symptoms were correlated with increased cerebellar activation. Overall, results provide some evidence for the utility of symptom report as an indicator of recovery and the hypothesis that children with mTBI may experience disrupted neural circuitry during recovery. Limitations of the study included a small sample size, wide age range, and lack of in-scanner accuracy data.
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J Int Neuropsychol Soc · Nov 2011
Emotion labeling and socio-emotional outcomes 18 months after early childhood traumatic brain injury.
A growing body of literature has documented evidence for emotion labeling (EL) deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, long-term effects of TBI on EL abilities, particularly among young children, are unclear. We investigated EL abilities and socio-emotional outcomes in 32 children with moderate-severe TBI, 23 with complicated-mild TBI, and 82 children with orthopedic injuries (OI), shortly after injury and at 18 months post-injury. ⋯ Emotion labeling ability did not significantly contribute to the prediction of socio-emotional outcomes after controlling for pre-injury functioning. These results provide preliminary evidence of emerging EL deficits after early childhood TBI that are related to injury severity but that do not predict social and behavioral outcomes.