Predictions of episodic memory following moderate to severe traumatic brain injury during inpatient rehabilitation

Abstract

We examined memory self-awareness and memory self-monitoring abilities during inpatient rehabilitation in participants with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). A total of 29 participants with moderate to severe TBI and 29 controls matched on age, gender, and education completed a performance prediction paradigm. To assess memory self-awareness, participants predicted the amount of information they would remember before completing list-learning tasks and visual–spatial memory tasks. Memory self-monitoring was assessed by participants' ability to increase accuracy of their predictions after experience with the tests. Although the TBI participants performed more poorly than controls on both episodic memory tasks, no significant group differences emerged in memory self-awareness or memory self-monitoring. The TBI participants predicted that their memory performances would be poorer than that of controls, accurately adjusted their predictions in accordance with the demands of the tasks, and successfully modified their predictions following experience with the tasks. The results indicate that moderate to severe TBI individuals in the early stages of recovery can competently assess the demands of externally driven metamemorial situations and utilize experience with task to accurately update their knowledge of memory abilities.