@article{ref1,
title="Impaired visual working memory and reduced connectivity in undergraduates with a history of mild traumatic brain injury",
journal="Scientific reports",
year="2021",
author="Arciniega, Hector and Shires, Jorja and Furlong, Sarah and Kilgore-Gomez, Alexandrea and Cerreta, Adelle and Murray, Nicholas G. and Berryhill, Marian E.",
volume="11",
number="1",
pages="e2789-e2789",
abstract="Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion, accounts for 85% of all TBIs. Yet survivors anticipate full cognitive recovery within several months of injury, if not sooner, dependent upon the specific outcome/measure. Recovery is variable and deficits in executive function, e.g., working memory (WM) can persist years post-mTBI. We tested whether cognitive deficits persist in otherwise healthy undergraduates, as a conservative indicator for mTBI survivors at large. We collected WM performance (change detection, n-back tasks) using various stimuli (shapes, locations, letters; aurally presented numbers and letters), and wide-ranging cognitive assessments (e.g., RBANS). We replicated the observation of a general visual WM deficit, with preserved auditory WM. Surprisingly, visual WM deficits were equivalent in participants with a history of mTBI (mean 4.3 years post-injury) and in undergraduates with recent sports-related mTBI (mean 17 days post-injury). In seeking the underlying mechanism of these behavioral deficits, we collected resting state fMRI (rsfMRI) and EEG (rsEEG). RsfMRI revealed significantly reduced connectivity within WM-relevant networks (default mode, central executive, dorsal attention, salience), whereas rsEEG identified no differences (modularity, global efficiency, local efficiency). In summary, otherwise healthy current undergraduates with a history of mTBI present behavioral deficits with evidence of persistent disconnection long after full recovery is expected.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2045-2322",
doi="10.1038/s41598-021-80995-1",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-80995-1"
}