Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Psychology Department, The Alfred hospital, Commercial Rd, Melbourne, Victoria, 3181, Australia.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2021 Aug 31;36(6):918-920. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acaa123.
Impairments in processing speed under conditions of increasing cognitive load have been reported in individuals with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). In other conditions that are also associated with white matter disruption, both psychological distress and fatigue have been shown to underlie this impairment.
the current study aimed to investigate whether slowing of processing abilities under conditions of greater cognitive load is independent of fatigue and psychological status in premorbidly healthy individuals with subacute mTBI.
using a prospective observational design, we examined 84 individuals with mTBI approximately 8 weeks after injury and 47 healthy control (HC) participants. They were assessed with the Symbol Digit Modality Test, an n-back task and a rate of gain of information choice reaction time task that conforms to Hick's law. Participants were also assessed with measures of fatigue and psychological status.
as expected, findings revealed no group differences on simple reaction time tasks, but as task complexity increased, the mTBI group performed more slowly than the HC group. This group difference occurred independently of fatigue and psychological distress levels and was associated with a moderate effect size.
during the subacute period after mTBI, premorbidly healthy individuals demonstrate impairment in their ability to rapidly process information as the cognitive load of the task increases beyond simple reaction time requirements. Examination of whether these changes affect resumption of premorbid roles is warranted.
据报道，轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）患者在认知负荷增加的情况下，处理速度会受损。在其他也与白质破坏有关的情况下，心理困扰和疲劳已被证明是这种损伤的基础。
本研究旨在调查亚急性 mTBI 患者在认知负荷增加的情况下，处理能力的减慢是否与疲劳和心理状态无关。
使用前瞻性观察设计，我们检查了 84 名 mTBI 患者和 47 名健康对照组（HC）参与者，大约在受伤后 8 周。他们接受了符号数字模态测试、n 回任务和符合希克定律的信息增益率选择反应时任务的评估。参与者还接受了疲劳和心理状态的评估。
正如预期的那样，在简单反应时间任务上，两组之间没有差异，但随着任务复杂性的增加，mTBI 组的反应速度比 HC 组慢。这种组间差异独立于疲劳和心理困扰水平，并且与中等效应量相关。
在 mTBI 后的亚急性期，原本健康的个体在认知负荷超过简单反应时间要求时，快速处理信息的能力受损。有必要检查这些变化是否会影响恢复到发病前的角色。
