Behavioral and neurophysiological abnormalities during cued continuous performance test in patients with mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Objective To investigate the features and neural mechanisms of sustained attention and executive function in patients with acute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) by comparing and analyzing behavioral and event-related potentials of patients and healthy controls. Methods Seventeen patients with acute mTBI and seventeen healthy controls participated in a cued continuous performance test. Behavioral data and event-related potentials were collected and analyzed. Results 1. There were significant differences between the mTBI group and the control group in hitting number ((66.76±3.27), (69.12±1.41)), reaction time((533.66±144.20)ms, (413.03±94.57)ms) and the number of errors of omission ((3.24±3.27), ( 0.88±1.41)) (P 0.05). 2. The amplitude of Go-N2 and Nogo-N2 were significantly smaller in mTBI group than that in control group (P 0.05). Group and condition had no significant main effect and interaction effect on the latency of N2 (P>0.05). The amplitude of Go-P3 was significantly smaller in mTBI group than that in control group (P 0.05). The main effect of group and condition were significant on P3 amplitude (P 0.05). Group and condition had no significant main effect and interaction effect on the amplitude of P3(P>0.05). Conclusion Patients with mTBI show impairments in sustained attention and conflict monitoring, but not in response inhibition. Key words: Mild traumatic brain injury; Sustained attention; Conflict monitoring; Response inhibition