The acute period of recovery from traumatic brain injury: posttraumatic amnesia or posttraumatic confusional state?

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Abstract
Object. The goal of this study was to characterize more fully the cognitive changes that occur during the period of acute recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods. The pattern of performance recovery on attention and memory tests was compared with the results of the Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test (GOAT). Tests of memory and attention were administered serially to a hospitalized group of patients with TBI of varying severity. The tests differed in their level of complexity and/or requirement for more effortful or strategic processing. The authors found a regular pattern to recovery. As expected, ability to perform on simpler tests was recovered before performance on more effortful ones. The ability to recall three words freely after a 24-hour delay (the operational definition in this study of return to continuous memory) was recovered last, later than normal performance on the GOAT. Ability to perform simple attentional tasks was recovered before the less demanding memory task (recognit...