ABSTRACT
Research has shown that individuals who have sustained mild head injury demonstrate a slowed speed of processing that is exacerbated by fatigue/stress. We administered the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) at the beginning and at the end of a 4-h experimental protocol to determine whether fatigue or a stressor would result in poorer scores for individuals who had previously sustained mild head injury. A significant improvement was found between the first and second administration for both head-injured and control subjects, but difference scores revealed a significant between-groups difference for the first of the four trials, with the head-injured participants performing worse than controls. Apparently, head-injured participants were slower to develop, as well as slower to regain, a means of efficiently processing rapidly presented information.
Subject(s)
Craniocerebral Trauma/physiopathology , Mental Processes/physiology , Adolescent , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Female , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data , Practice, PsychologicalABSTRACT
Research has shown that subjects at risk for cerebral dysfunction endorse more complex partial seizure symptoms than low risk controls. It has been suggested that seizure activity be regarded as occurring on a continuum of neurobehavioral dysfunction, rather than as a discrete syndrome. The present study assessed seizure symptom endorsement in individuals reporting a positive history of head injury. There were three groups of college student participants: head injury with loss of consciousness (LOC; n=31); head injury followed by a dazed period or alteration of consciousness (AOC; n=36); non-injured controls (NHI; n=60). In general, the LOC group reported greater frequency of symptomatology and a greater number of clinically significant symptoms (above the 90th percentile) than the NHI group, and a greater number of clinically significant symptoms than the AOC group. The AOC group did not differ from the NHI group on either variable. These results lend credence to the concept of a continuum representing an epilepsy spectrum disorder.
Subject(s)
Craniocerebral Trauma/complications , Epilepsy, Complex Partial/etiology , Adolescent , Adult , Craniocerebral Trauma/epidemiology , Disability Evaluation , Epilepsy, Complex Partial/epidemiology , Female , Humans , Male , Risk , Surveys and Questionnaires , Trauma Severity Indices , Unconsciousness/complicationsABSTRACT
Research has demonstrated a relation between sensation seeking and risky behavior as well as an association between risky behavior and the occurrence of head injury. This study assessed sensation seeking in young adults with and without a history of head injury by administration of the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), the Driver Risk Index (DRI), and the MacAndrews Scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). There was a significant difference between the groups for the Thrill and Adventure Seeking Subscale of the SSS and the MacAndrews Scale of the MMPI, with head-injured participants scoring higher. Gender differences were seen in both groups for subscales of the SSS, with men scoring higher. Significant correlations were found for head-injured participants between the DRI and the Boredom Susceptiblity Subscale of the SSS, suggesting that as knowledge of risk increased for these participants, so did their preferences for risky behaviors. However, non-head-injured participants indicated a lower interest in risky behaviors as their knowledge of risk increased.
