Vigilance and fatigue following traumatic brain injury

Research findings have suggested that individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) show greater psychophysiological and subjective costs associated with performing vigilance tasks, but have not examined relationships with fatigue. The present study aimed to investigate vigilance and its relationshi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2006-01, Vol.12 (1), p.100-110
Main Authors: ZIINO, CARLO, PONSFORD, JENNIE
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Arousal - physiology
Attention
Attention - physiology
Blood Pressure - physiology
Brain damage
Brain Injuries - psychology
Brain injury
Depression
Fatigue
Fatigue - psychology
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Statistical methods
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Studies
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Summary:Research findings have suggested that individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) show greater psychophysiological and subjective costs associated with performing vigilance tasks, but have not examined relationships with fatigue. The present study aimed to investigate vigilance and its relationship with subjective and objective fatigue measures. Forty-six TBI participants and 46 controls completed a 45-minute vigilance task. They also completed a subjective fatigue scale (the VAS-F) and a selective attention task before and after the vigilance task, and had their blood pressure (BP) monitored. TBI participants performed at a lower level on the vigilance task, but performed at a similar level across the duration of the task. Higher subjective fatigue ratings on the VAS-F were associated with more misses on the vigilance task for TBI participants. TBI participants showed greater increases in diastolic BP, and these were associated with greater increases in subjective fatigue ratings on the VAS-F. A subgroup of TBI participants showed a decline in performance on the vigilance task and also showed disproportionate increases in subjective fatigue. Findings provide support for the coping hypothesis, suggesting that TBI individuals expend greater psychophysiological costs in order to maintain stable performance over time, and that these costs are also associated with subjective increases in fatigue. (JINS, 2006, 12, 100–110.)
ISSN:1355-6177
1469-7661
DOI:10.1017/S1355617706060139