Preliminary study of spatial cognition relating to nonimpact mTBI

Sweeney and Johnson found that individuals that sustained mild traumatic brain injury without impact to the head (Nonimpact) demonstrated significantly slower performance than participants that suffered mild traumatic brain injury with impact to the head and normal controls on the Tactile Form Recognition Test (TFR). The current study explored the spatial cognition of three groups of Nonimpact participants classified as Deficient, Perfectly Normal, and Normal on the basis of TFR response time. Dependent variables consisted of neuropsychological tests requiring tactile- and/or visual-spatial perception and memory. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVAs) were carried out, with false positive findings controlled by adjusting p-values using the False Detection Rate. Deficient TFR individuals performed at significantly inefficient levels relative to both Perfectly Normal and Normal TFR patients on tactile-spatial tests requiring the perception and recognition of multiple geometric configurations with the left hand, tactile-spatial memory for these shapes, and identification of numbers traced on the fingertips of the right hand. TFR Deficiency appeared to negatively affect performance on visual-spatial tests involving memory for abstract concepts and rapid association of numbers and geometric shapes, but only in relation to Perfectly Normal participants.