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Attention and Executive Function in Veterans After TBI

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Soldiers complete the Warrior Administered Retrospective Casualty Assessment Tool, a computer-based, structured clinical interview which is the gold standard for determining if someone suffered a traumatic brain injury. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army. Photo Credit- Devin Fisher, Fort Carson Mountaineer.

A brief summary of current research.

Relationship Between Processing Speed and Executive Functioning Performance Among OEF/OIF Veterans: Implications for Postdeployment Rehabilitation

Nelson, LA, Yoash-Gantz, RE, Pickett, TC, Campbell, TA Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 32-40.

In this study, OEF/OIF veterans with mild TBI had difficulties on several neuropsychological tests of attention and executive function because of changes in processing speed. Those soldiers who also had a diagnosis of PTSD scored significantly lower than those with mild TBI alone.

Read the full abstract or to subscribe to the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, click here.

Comments [1]

If executive functions were impacted by slowed processing speed, then the headline is misleading. The issue was not executive functioning, but rather processing speed which will suppresss performance in a number of cognitive domains.

Mar 28th, 2012 1:25pm

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Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain. Each year there are a reported 1.7 million civilian brain injuries in the United States. In the military between 2000 and the fourth quarter of 2011, more than 230,000 service members sustained a TBI. Brain injury, caused largely by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), has become the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most brain injuries are mild, and most people recover in a matter of weeks. BrainLineMilitary.org provides military-specific information and resources on traumatic brain injury to veterans; service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, and Reserve; and their families.

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