title: Subject ordered pointing task performance following severe traumatic brain injury in adults.
abstract: The utility of a non-verbal, untimed subject ordered pointing task for identifying memory deficit in adult patients with TBI was tested. Using a cross-sectional design, the working memory performance of 70 adults with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 45 uninjured adults was investigated on a computerized, self-paced, non-verbal subject ordered pointing task. Persons with severe TBI were impaired on measures of working memory relative to the control subjects. In addition, the task appeared to be sensitive to severity of injury as measured by the Glasgow Coma Scale, even within a truncated range of severity (GCS scores 3-8). It was concluded that the subject ordered pointing task is useful in identifying memory deficits in persons with brain injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ghanten@bcm.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Gerri
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hanten
authors.forename: Garland
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stallings-Roberson
authors.forename: James X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Major
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.forename: Harvey S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Levin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index