Consolidation deficits in traumatic brain injury: the core and residual verbal memory defect

While memory deficits are consistently found to be a salient problem in individuals with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), the specific memory processes (i.e., encoding, consolidation, and retrieval) underlying the verbal memory deficit are disputed in the literature. The current study evaluated the recovery of these verbal memory processes over time. A TBI patient group evaluated acutely after the injury (baseline) and again at 6 months and 1 year post injury was compared to a demographically similar control group evaluated only once. The current results replicated previous findings in support of an impaired consolidation hypothesis as the primary deficit underlying memory impairment in TBI. These deficits are reflected in relatively more rapid forgetting through 1 year post injury and relatively less proactive interference up to 6 months post injury.