title: Alterations in autobiographical memory for a blast event in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans with mild traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although loss of consciousness associated with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is thought to interfere with encoding of the TBI event, little is known about the effects of mild TBI (mTBI), which typically involves only transient disruption in consciousness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blast-exposed Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans were asked to recall the blast event. Participants were stratified based on whether the blast was associated with probable mTBI (n = 50) or not (n = 25). Narratives were scored for organizational structure (i.e., coherence) using the Narrative Coherence Coding Scheme (Reese et al., 2011) and episodic recollection using the Autobiographical Interview Coding Procedures (Levine et al., 2002).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mTBI group produced narratives that were less coherent but contained more episodic details than those of the no-TBI group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that mTBI interferes with the organizational quality of memory in a manner that is independent of episodic detail generation.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Daniela J
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8082-3522
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Palombo
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Heather S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kapson
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Ginette
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lafleche
authors.affiliation: National Center for PTSD, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Jennifer J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Vasterling
authors.affiliation: National Center for PTSD, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Brian P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Marx
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5535-4584
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verfaellie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000150:complications; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D054542:Iraq War, 2003-2011; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology; D014474:Unconsciousness / Q000523:psychology; D014728:Veterans; D055815:Young Adult