Time estimation and episodic memory following traumatic brain injury

Abstract

The ability to accurately estimate the passage of time plays an important role in helping to structure daily activities. In this study, we used a prospective verbal time estimation paradigm to investigate time perception in 27 moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) participants and 27 controls. Verbal time estimations were made for filled intervals both within (i.e., <30 s) and beyond the time frame of working memory. We found that the TBI participants exhibited normal or near-normal estimates of time passage for duration up to 25 s. In contrast, for durations that exceeded working memory, the TBI group perceived less time as having passed than actually had passed as the TBI group significantly underestimated time when compared to controls. This pattern of data was interpreted as being due to episodic memory dysfunction.

Temporal dysfunction in traumatic brain injury patients: primary or secondary impairment?

“…Indeed, in Meyers and Levin's (1992) study, performance at verbal estimation task was not analyzed due to the extreme variability noted in the TBI sample. Schmitter-Edgecombe and Rueda (2008), as well as Anderson and Schmitter-Edgecombe (2011), reported lower accuracy (absolute score), higher under-estimation (RATIO) and more variability (CV) in TBI patients than controls.…”

“…In the end, in spite of the importance of adequate temporal abilities in everyday activities, only seven studies investigating time perception following TBI were identified and included in the present work (Meyers and Levin, 1992; Perbal et al, 2003; Schmitter-Edgecombe and Rueda, 2008; Anderson and Schmitter-Edgecombe, 2011; Mioni et al, 2012, 2013a,b). Table 1 provides a summary of the findings reported in these articles.…”

“…Among the study selected, 4 included the performances on a time reproduction task (Meyers and Levin, 1992; Perbal et al, 2003; Mioni et al, 2012, 2013b), 3 on a verbal estimation task (Meyers and Levin, 1992; Schmitter-Edgecombe and Rueda, 2008; Anderson and Schmitter-Edgecombe, 2011), 2 on a time production task (Perbal et al, 2003; Mioni et al, 2013b), and 2 on time discrimination task (Mioni et al, 2013a,b). …”

“…Despite the fact that, different duration ranges are employed in different studies, and considering the fact that different studies consistently showed that different systems are involved in the processing of short (hundreds of milliseconds) and long (few seconds) temporal intervals, only three studies (Schmitter-Edgecombe and Rueda, 2008; Anderson and Schmitter-Edgecombe, 2011; Mioni et al, 2013a) reported correlation analyses between cognitive functions and different range of temporal intervals. In Mioni et al (2013a), results showed that attention, working memory and speed of processing functions were involved when the temporal interval was 1300 ms (long standard interval) in both TBI and controls; but only in TBI patients working memory and speed of processing were involved when the standard interval was 500 ms.…”

Assessment of memory self-awareness following traumatic brain injury

“…The data was gathered as part of a larger test battery that included standardized neuropsychological tests and other experimental measures (for further review of experimental tasks see [40]). All neuropsychological measures were administered in accordance with standardized instructions and were collected across 2 days of testing.…”