A longitudinal study of error-related neural responses in adolescents following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)

Error processing, a neural process critical for adaptive learning, may be disrupted by mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also known as concussion. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of adults following mTBI indicate a variable impact on neural correlates of error processing, including the error related negativity (ERN) and post error positivity (Pe) scalp-recorded event-related potential (ERP) components. A similar study of adolescents indicated smaller ERN and Pe amplitudes in those with mTBI compared to healthy control participants. To date, no longitudinal studies measuring these components in adolescents with mTBI are available, limiting the understanding of the recovery of error processing over time following injury. Adolescents with mTBI and demographically-similar non-injured control participants (n = 36; n = 27) completed a flanker task while electroencephalogram (EEG) data were collected within three weeks of injury (subacute) and again approximately 10 months later (n = 29; n = 24). No significant differences were found between groups on response time at subacute (p = .52) or longitudinal (p = .31) stages or on accuracy at subacute (p = .81) or longitudinal (p = .96) stages. There was no significant effect of mTBI on ERN (p = .13) or Pe (p = .13) in the subacute stage. Although mTBI did have a significant influence on ERN (p = .049) and Pe (p = .029) amplitudes when collapsed across accuracy and time points, the group-by-accuracy interaction was not significant for either ERN or Pe (p = .21; p = .68). In this sample of adolescents with mTBI, ERN and Pe amplitudes did not differ from the control group either in the subacute stage or over time, suggesting that ERN and Pe amplitudes are not specifically vulnerable to mTBI.