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Abstract:
Abstract: Background: Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is
estimated to affect over 700,000 people annually in the United
States alone. It is often difficult to assess, using
neuropsychological measures, both the extent of the damage after
the injury and, during recovery, when it is appropriate to return
to work. Presumably these tests fail because they are not
"real-world" tests but, instead, very contextual, non-integrative
tests. Methods: We describe the use of functional magnetic
resonance imaging and virtual reality technology to present a
virtual version of a route finding or trail making test; a test
known to require many aspects of executive function. Eight (three
male, five female) healthy, right-handed subjects have been
studied. The subjects were imaged, on a 1.5 T MRI using fMRI
techniques, in two conditions: an ACTIVE condition in which the
subject navigated a virtual building and a BASELINE condition in
which the subject selected the four corners of a centrally located
crosshair. Results: Consistently, activation was detected in the
superior dorsal parietal, parahippocampal, and lateral cerebellum.
Little to no activation was detected in the frontal lobes.
Discussion: The preliminary results suggest a lesser role of the
frontal lobe in executive function than previously
implicated.
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