Study Finds Cognitive Performance Can be Improved in Teens Years After TBI

New research published by the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, shows cognitive performance can be improved after an injury to significant degrees for months — and even years— given targeted brain training.  Twenty adolescents, ages 12-20, who experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) at least six months prior to participating in the research and were demonstrating gist reasoning deficits, or the inability to “get the essence” from dense information, were enrolled in the study. The participants were randomized into two different cognitive training groups — strategy-based gist reasoning training versus fact-based memory training—who completed eight, 45-minute sessions over a one-month period. After training, only the gist-reasoning group showed significant improvement in the ability to grasp abstract meanings. Additionally, the gist-reasoning-trained group showed significant generalized gains to untrained areas of the brain including executive functions of working memory. The findings from the study advances best practices by implicating changes to common treatment schedules for TBI and concussions. To read more about this study, click here.