Self -awareness and memory deficits in sub -acute traumatic brain injury.

摘要

Anosognosia has been found to occur in approximately 45% of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and can lead to poor rehabilitation and vocational outcomes. Unfortunately, identifying deficits in self-awareness can be challenging. A more in depth understanding of the process of self-awareness would likely lead to more effective means of identifying these deficits. Research has supported the role of right-hemisphere functioning and working memory in self-awareness abilities, but few studies have examined the relationship between commonly administered neuropsychological measures and self-awareness following TBI. The present study examined several neuropsychological measures as possible predictors of scores on two measures of level of self-awareness. Results revealed that measures of memory were the best predictors of level of self-awareness, and that those with right-hemisphere damage demonstrated more impairment in self-awareness than those with left-hemisphere damage. It was concluded that self-awareness is related to right-hemisphere functioning, and that those who have difficulty learning new information are more likely to have limited self-awareness of deficits.