Settle Jill R, Clawson Deborah M, Sebrechts Marc M, French Louis M, Massey Watts Adreanna T, Duncan Connie C
Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of America, O'Boyle Hall Room 314, Washington, DC 20064.
National Intrepid Center of Excellence, 4860 South Palmer Road, Bethesda, MD 20889.
Mil Med. 2019 Dec 1;184(11-12):723-730. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usz062.
Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember the intention to perform an action in the future. Following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), the brain structures supporting such PM may be compromised. PM is essential for remembering activities specific to TBI survivors that promote recovery, such as following doctors' orders, taking necessary medications, completing physical rehabilitation exercises, and maintaining supportive social relationships. Since the year 2000, more than 315,897 US Service Members are reported to have sustained an mTBI1, yet little has been done to address possible PM concerns. Therefore, identifying impaired PM and interventions that may ameliorate such deficits is important. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether task encoding using implementation intentions leads to better PM performance than encoding using rote rehearsal in Service Members with mTBI (n = 35) or with bodily injuries but no TBI (n = 8) at baseline and 6 months later.
Participants were randomized to one of the two encoding conditions. They were asked to remember to complete a series of four tasks over the course of a 2-hour event-related potential session and to contact a staff member during a specified 2-hour window later that day. PM performance was assessed based on completion of each task at the appropriate time. IRB approval was obtained from The Catholic University of America, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and Ft. Belvoir Community Hospital.
Service Members with mTBI using implementation intentions outperformed those using rote rehearsal. The effect of injury type and the interaction between encoding condition and injury type did not yield differences that were statistically significant.
The results suggest that implementation intentions may be a useful PM remediation strategy for those who have sustained mTBI. Future research should validate these findings in a larger sample.
前瞻性记忆（PM）是指记住未来执行某项行动意图的能力。轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）后，支持此类前瞻性记忆的脑结构可能会受到损害。前瞻性记忆对于记住脑损伤幸存者促进康复的特定活动至关重要，例如遵循医嘱、服用必要药物、完成身体康复锻炼以及维持支持性的社会关系。自2000年以来，据报道超过315,897名美国军人遭受了轻度创伤性脑损伤，但在解决可能的前瞻性记忆问题方面几乎没有采取什么措施。因此，识别受损的前瞻性记忆以及可能改善此类缺陷的干预措施很重要。本研究的主要目的是确定在基线和6个月后，对于患有轻度创伤性脑损伤的军人（n = 35）或有身体损伤但无创伤性脑损伤的军人（n = 8），使用执行意图进行任务编码是否比使用机械复述进行编码能带来更好的前瞻性记忆表现。
参与者被随机分配到两种编码条件之一。他们被要求在一个2小时的事件相关电位实验过程中记住完成一系列四项任务，并在当天晚些时候指定的2小时时间段内联系一名工作人员。前瞻性记忆表现根据每项任务在适当时间的完成情况进行评估。本研究获得了美国天主教大学、沃尔特里德国家军事医疗中心和贝尔沃堡社区医院的机构审查委员会（IRB）批准。
使用执行意图的患有轻度创伤性脑损伤的军人表现优于使用机械复述的军人。损伤类型的影响以及编码条件与损伤类型之间的相互作用没有产生具有统计学意义的差异。
结果表明，执行意图可能是一种对遭受轻度创伤性脑损伤者有用的前瞻性记忆补救策略。未来的研究应该在更大的样本中验证这些发现。
