University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Department of Neurosciences, USA.
University of New Mexico, Department of Psychology, USA.
Cortex. 2019 Nov;120:240-248. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.06.011. Epub 2019 Jul 3.
Delayed memory deficits are common for patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), according to a recent systematic review of meta-analyses (Karr et al., 2014). However, there has been little work to identify different cognitive processes that may be underpinning these delayed memory deficits for mTBI. Frontal cortex is important for delayed memory, and is implicated in the pathophysiology of mTBI; moreover, frontal lobes are typically considered the locus of executive abilities. To further explore these relationships, we sought to partly explain delayed memory deficits after mTBI by examining behavioral indicators of executive function. Results showed that sub-acute as well as chronic mTBI patients performed worse than controls on the delayed memory trial of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (Brandt & Benedict, 2001), recalling approximately 18% and 15% fewer words, respectively. Furthermore, worse delayed memory performance was associated with less use of the cognitive strategy of semantic clustering, and with lower scores for the executive function composite from a standardized neuropsychological battery (NIH EXAMINER; Kramer et al., 2014). In contrast, serial clustering, a memory organizational strategy thought to be less dependent on executive function, did not show strong relationships to clinical status or delayed memory performance. This exploratory work suggests novel hypotheses to be tested in future, confirmatory studies, including that general executive functions and/or semantic clustering will mediate delayed memory deficits following mTBI.
根据最近的一项元分析系统综述（Karr 等人，2014 年），轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）患者常出现延迟记忆缺陷。然而，很少有工作能够确定可能导致 mTBI 延迟性记忆缺陷的不同认知过程。额叶对于延迟性记忆很重要，并且与 mTBI 的病理生理学有关；此外，额叶通常被认为是执行能力的所在地。为了进一步探索这些关系，我们试图通过检查执行功能的行为指标，部分解释 mTBI 后的延迟性记忆缺陷。结果表明，亚急性和慢性 mTBI 患者在霍普金斯言语学习测验修订版（Brandt 和 Benedict，2001 年）的延迟记忆试验中的表现均差于对照组，分别少记住大约 18%和 15%的单词。此外，延迟记忆表现越差，认知策略语义聚类的使用越少，以及来自标准化神经心理学测试包（NIH EXAMINER；Kramer 等人，2014 年）的执行功能综合评分越低。相比之下，序列聚类是一种被认为较少依赖执行功能的记忆组织策略，与临床状况或延迟性记忆表现没有很强的关系。这项探索性工作提出了新的假设，有待未来的验证性研究来检验，包括一般执行功能和/或语义聚类将在 mTBI 后介导延迟性记忆缺陷。
