INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 03 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 09:30 am - 10:40 am Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 03: Neurotrauma \| Neurovascular Final Abstract #39 Assessing the Role of Executive Function in Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors’ Clustering and Switching Performance Isabel Muñoz, CSU Northridge, Northridge, United States Walter Daniel Lopez Hernandez, UC San Diego Health, San Diego, United States Natalie Gevoglanian, Alliant International University, Los Angeles, United States Selina Mangassarian, The Lundquist Institute, Torrance, United States David Hardy, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, United States Paul Vespa, UCLA, Los Angeles, United States David Hovda, UCLA, Los Angeles, United States Ellen Woo, CSU Fresno, Fresno, United States Joaquin Fuster, UCLA, Los Angeles, United States Matthew Wright, The Lundquist Institute, Torrance, United States Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Adult) Keyword 1: traumatic brain injury Keyword 2: executive functions Keyword 3: verbal abilities Objective: Persons with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) demonstrate worse verbal fluency abilities compared to healthy adults. Verbal fluency comprises of two tasks: letter fluency and semantic fluency. On verbal fluency trials, participants often semantically cluster responses (e.g., generate responses from the same category/subcategory) and/or switch between clusters (a shift to a new category/subcategory when the previous one is exhausted). Clustering and switching reflect executive strategy and organizational skills. Persons with TBI demonstrate worse switching abilities compared to healthy adults. We evaluated the relationship between verbal fluency clustering and switching and their relationship with tests of executive function in participants with TBI and healthy comparison participants. Participants and Methods: Our sample included 115 participants with a mean age of 31.66 (SD = 12.76) and were divided into three executive functioning groups: intact executive functioning healthy comparison (IEF-HC), participants with TBI with intact executive functioning (IEF-TBI), and deficit participants with TBI and deficits in executive functioning (DEF-TBI). Participants with intact performances across all executive tests were assigned to the intact executive functioning groups and participants with any deficit executive test (T < 40) were assigned to the deficit executive functioning group. The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System letter fluency and animal naming were used to assess verbal fluency, and clustering and switching performance. Additionally, participants completed the Trail Making Test part B and Stroop Test – Color Word tasks to assess and create our executive functioning groups. TBI participants were tested 6 months or more post-injury. All participants passed performance validity testing. Results: We found the IEF-HC and IEF-TBI groups outperformed the DEF-TBI group on letter fluency, p < .001, η_p² = .12. The IEF-HC group outperformed both TBI groups on animal naming, p < .001, η_p² = .18. We did not find significant clustering differences between our groups. However, the IEF-HC group demonstrated better switching abilities on letter fluency compared to both TBI groups, p < .001, η_p² = .13. Lastly, we found the IEF-HC group demonstrated better switching abilities on animal naming compared to the DEF-TBI deficit group, p = .022, η_p² = .07. Conclusions: We found that persons with TBI that have executive deficits demonstrate worse verbal fluency and switching abilities compared to a heathy comparison participants. Future work with bigger sample sizes should examine if bilingualism influences verbal fluency and other executive abilities in persons with and without a TBI.

Poster

02/15/2024
09:30 am - 10:40 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 03: Neurotrauma | Neurovascular

Final Abstract #39

Assessing the Role of Executive Function in Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors’ Clustering and Switching Performance

Isabel Muñoz, CSU Northridge, Northridge, United States
Walter Daniel Lopez Hernandez, UC San Diego Health, San Diego, United States
Natalie Gevoglanian, Alliant International University, Los Angeles, United States
Selina Mangassarian, The Lundquist Institute, Torrance, United States
David Hardy, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, United States
Paul Vespa, UCLA, Los Angeles, United States
David Hovda, UCLA, Los Angeles, United States
Ellen Woo, CSU Fresno, Fresno, United States
Joaquin Fuster, UCLA, Los Angeles, United States
Matthew Wright, The Lundquist Institute, Torrance, United States

Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Adult)

Keyword 1: traumatic brain injury
Keyword 2: executive functions
Keyword 3: verbal abilities

Objective:

Persons with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) demonstrate worse verbal fluency abilities compared to healthy adults. Verbal fluency comprises of two tasks: letter fluency and semantic fluency. On verbal fluency trials, participants often semantically cluster responses (e.g., generate responses from the same category/subcategory) and/or switch between clusters (a shift to a new category/subcategory when the previous one is exhausted). Clustering and switching reflect executive strategy and organizational skills. Persons with TBI demonstrate worse switching abilities compared to healthy adults. We evaluated the relationship between verbal fluency clustering and switching and their relationship with tests of executive function in participants with TBI and healthy comparison participants.

Participants and Methods:

Our sample included 115 participants with a mean age of 31.66 (SD = 12.76) and were divided into three executive functioning groups: intact executive functioning healthy comparison (IEF-HC), participants with TBI with intact executive functioning (IEF-TBI), and deficit participants with TBI and deficits in executive functioning (DEF-TBI). Participants with intact performances across all executive tests were assigned to the intact executive functioning groups and participants with any deficit executive test (T < 40) were assigned to the deficit executive functioning group. The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System letter fluency and animal naming were used to assess verbal fluency, and clustering and switching performance. Additionally, participants completed the Trail Making Test part B and Stroop Test – Color Word tasks to assess and create our executive functioning groups. TBI participants were tested 6 months or more post-injury. All participants passed performance validity testing.

Results:

We found the IEF-HC and IEF-TBI groups outperformed the DEF-TBI group on letter fluency, p < .001, η_p² = .12. The IEF-HC group outperformed both TBI groups on animal naming, p < .001, η_p² = .18. We did not find significant clustering differences between our groups. However, the IEF-HC group demonstrated better switching abilities on letter fluency compared to both TBI groups, p < .001, η_p² = .13. Lastly, we found the IEF-HC group demonstrated better switching abilities on animal naming compared to the DEF-TBI deficit group, p = .022, η_p² = .07.

Conclusions:

We found that persons with TBI that have executive deficits demonstrate worse verbal fluency and switching abilities compared to a heathy comparison participants. Future work with bigger sample sizes should examine if bilingualism influences verbal fluency and other executive abilities in persons with and without a TBI.