Increased inattentional blindness in severe traumatic brain injury: evidence for reduced distractibility?

To examine the role of selective attention and visual perception in medicating inattentional blindness in a severe traumatic brain injured sample.

Cross-sectional design with age and education matched control sample.

Twenty participants with severe traumatic brain injury (n = 10) and matched controls (n = 10) completed a series of tests of focused attention (Stroop test), divided attention (Trail Making Test), visual perception (Visual Object and Space Perception Battery) and two tasks of inattentional blindness.

The group with severe TBI were significantly slower on the Stroop test and TMT and displayed significantly elevated Stroop interference and TMT ratio scores. On the inattentional blindness tasks, fewer TBI participants identified a distracting stimulus.

The results indicate severe TBI is associated with deficits to focused and divided attention with the finding of a potentially more debilitating impairment arising from reduced distractibility following severe TBI.