Event-based prospective memory performance during subacute recovery following moderate to severe traumatic brain injury in children: Effects of monetary incentives.
There are very few studies investigating remediation of event-based prospective memory (EB-PM) impairments following traumatic brain injury (TBI). To address this, we used 2 levels of motivational enhancement (dollars vs. pennies) to improve EB-PM in children with moderate to severe TBI in the subacute recovery phase. Children with orthopedic injuries (OI; n = 61), moderate (n = 28), or severe (n = 30) TBI were compared. Significant effects included Group x Motivation Condition (F(2, 115) = 3.73, p < .03). The OI (p < .002) and moderate TBI (p < .03) groups performed significantly better under the high- versus low-incentive condition; however, the severe TBI group failed to demonstrate improvement (p = .38). EB-PM performance was better in adolescents compared to younger children (p < .02). These results suggest that EB-PM can be significantly improved in the subacute phase with this level of monetary incentives in children with moderate, but not severe, TBI. Other strategies to improve EB-PM in these children at a similar point in recovery remain to be identified and evaluated.
McCauley
Stephen R
SR
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance of Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. mccauley@bcm.edu
Pedroza
Claudia
C
Chapman
Sandra B
SB
Cook
Lori G
LG
Hotz
Gillian
G
Vásquez
Ana C
AC
Levin
Harvey S
HS
D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D004467:Economics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009042:Motivation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012720:Severity of Illness Index