Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury on Cognitive Performance: An Attentional Resource Hypothesis in Search of Data

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Abstract
Individuals who sustain severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) typically exhibit residual performance deficits across a wide range of cognitive tasks. It is therefore possible that the performance deficits of persons with TBI may be at least partially the result of deficiencies in some fundamental cognitive abilities that arc involved in the performance of many different activities. This article explores the possibility that attentional processes may be such a fundamental cognitive ability. According to the attentional resource hypothesis, some of the cognitive deficits that follow a TBI may occur because these people have less attentional resources available to allocate to task performances. To evaluate the merits of an attentional resource hypothesis, the TBI literature is reviewed In terms of three explicit predictions of this hypothesis. Several Important questions raised by the reviewed research are then addressed. Implications of the attentional resource hypothesis for treatment and intervention strategies are also discussed.

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