EEG Changes in Traumatic Brain Injured Patients After Cognitive Rehabilitation

Abstract

Background. Little research has addressed cognitive rehabilitation and changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG) following training of traumatic brain-injured (TBI) patients suffering from attention deficits because of their injury. This study focuses on changes in relative and absolute power in frontal, central and posterior regions of the TBI patients’ brain following training on attention skills using a software program called Captain’s Log. Methods. The five participants–aged 20 to 45 years–received 22 sessions of training on their attention skills. Their attention skills were assessed at the beginning and end of the research study through a variety of psychometrics as well as through scaled self-reports. Their EEG was also recorded before and after training, during eyes-open resting baseline, eyes-closed resting baseline, eight cognitive tasks and a post-tasks eyes-open resting condition. Only the first two baselines were analyzed in the present study. (The rest of the conditions will be analyzed in another study.) The hypotheses that the participants’ delta, theta, and alpha relative and absolute power would decrease and that their beta power would increase following training were analyzed. Results. Although there were significant post-task changes in four out of the five case studies in relative and absolute power, both in eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions, the most systematic change was the decrease of alpha in the eyes-closed condition. Conclusion. These new findings link training in cognitive processes with EEG changes.