title: Material-specific difficulties in episodic memory tasks in mild traumatic brain injury.
abstract: The study examines acute, material-specific secondary memory performance in 26 patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and 26 healthy controls, matched on demographic variables and indexes of crystallized intelligence. Neuropsychological tests were used to evaluate primary and secondary memory, executive functions, and verbal fluency. Participants were also tested on episodic memory tasks involving words, pseudowords, pictures of common objects, and abstract kaleidoscopic images. Patients showed reduced performance on episodic memory measures, and on tasks associated with visuospatial processing and executive function (Trail Making Test part B, semantic fluency). Significant differences between groups were also noted for correct rejections and response bias on the kaleidoscope task. MTBI patients' reduced performance on memory tasks for complex, abstract stimuli can be attributed to a dysfunction in the strategic component of memory process.
authors.affiliation: Medical Division, University of Crete, Iraklion, Greece. tsirkav@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Vassiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tsirka
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Simos
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vakis
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vourkas
authors.forename: Vasileios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arzoglou
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Syrmos
authors.forename: Stavros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stavropoulos
authors.forename: Sifis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Micheloyannis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012057:Reinforcement, Verbal; D013028:Space Perception; D014706:Verbal Learning