Pathological slow-wave activity and impaired working memory binding in post-traumatic amnesia
File(s)Mallas_EEG-changes-in-PTA_ACCEPTED.pdf (2.85 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Associative binding is key to normal memory function and is transiently disrupted during periods of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Electrophysiological abnormalities including low-frequency activity are common following TBI. Here, we investigate associative memory binding during PTA and test the hypothesis that misbinding is caused by pathological slowing of brain activity disrupting cortical communication. Thirty acute moderate-severe TBI patients (25 males; 5 females) and 26 healthy controls (20 males; 6 females) were tested with a precision working memory paradigm requiring the association of object and location information. Electrophysiological effects of TBI were assessed using resting-state EEG in a subsample of 17 patients and 21 controls. PTA patients showed abnormalities in working memory function and made significantly more misbinding errors than patients who were not in PTA and controls. The distribution of localisation responses was abnormally biased by the locations of non-target items for patients in PTA suggesting a specific impairment of object and location binding. Slow wave activity was increased following TBI. Increases in the delta-alpha ratio indicative of an increase in low-frequency power specifically correlated with binding impairment in working memory. Connectivity changes in TBI did not correlate with binding impairment. Working memory and electrophysiological abnormalities normalised at six-month follow-up. These results show that patients in PTA show high rates of misbinding that are associated with a pathological shift towards lower frequency oscillations.
Date Issued
2022-12-07
Date Acceptance
2022-10-04
Citation
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2022, 42 (49), pp.9193-9210
ISSN
0270-6474
Publisher
Society for Neuroscience
Start Page
9193
End Page
9210
Journal / Book Title
The Journal of Neuroscience
Volume
42
Issue
49
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Author(s) under a SfN exclusive license (https://www.jneurosci.org/content/licenses).
Identifier
https://www.jneurosci.org/content/42/49/9193
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-10-31