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Higher-Order Reasoning Training Years After Traumatic Brain Injury in Adults

Portrait of a relaxed young man wearing bluetooth headphones sitting on the sunny forest floor.

Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation

Asha K. Vas, Sandra Bond Chapman, Lori G. Cook, Alan Elliott and Molly Keebler

Read full research articleThe researchers conducting this study seek to shed light on the role of cognitive training protocols in recovery from adult traumatic brain injury.This feasibility study compared effects of top-down Strategic Memory and Reasoning Training (SMART™) with an information-based Brain Health Workshop (BHW). Researchers evaluated effects on gist-reasoning (i.e., abstracting novel meaning from complex information), memory, executive functions, and daily function in adults with traumatic brain injury. Half of the participants received SMART and the other half completed BHW. Both groups were assessed pre- and post-training, and most of them again after six months, with the SMART group significantly improving gist-reasoning, compared to the BHW group. Findings suggest short-term, intensive training in top-down modulation of information msy benefit gist-reasoning. The impact of SMART may generalize to measures of executive function and real life function at chronic stages of post-TBI. Exploratory analyses also suggest potential transfer effects of SMART on memory and executive functions.
Figure 1. CONSORT flow diagram showing the pathway of this study for 2 group: BHW and SMART. BHW indicates Brain Health Workshop; SMART, Strategic Memory and Reasoning Training.

Figure 1. CONSORT flow diagram showing the pathway of this study for 2 group: BHW and SMART. BHW indicates Brain Health Workshop; SMART, Strategic Memory and Reasoning Training.

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Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD

Chief Director Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences Co-Leader, The BrainHealth Project

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