Affiliations: Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, OH, USA | Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders,
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA | Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA | College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, OH, USA | Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati
Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Megan E. Kramer, Ph.D., Department of
Neuropsychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, 1850 East Fairmount Ave, Baltimore,
MD, 21231. E-mail: kramerm2@gmail.com
Abstract: Children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often experience memory
deficits, although the nature, functional implication, and recovery trajectory
of such difficulties are poorly understood. The present fMRI study examined the
neural activation patterns in a group of young children who sustained moderate
TBI in early childhood (n=7), and a group of healthy
control children (n=13) during a verbal paired associate
learning (PAL) task that promoted the use of two mnemonic strategies differing
in efficacy. The children with TBI demonstrated intact memory performance and
were able to successfully utilize the mnemonic strategies. However, the TBI
group also demonstrated altered brain activation patterns during the task
compared to the control children. These findings suggest early childhood TBI
may alter activation within the network of brain regions supporting associative
memory even in children who show good behavioral performance.
