Abstract
Visual disturbances are often reported after Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). However, no studies have documented the presence of complex visuo-spatial information processing deficits in children after a mild TBI. It is important to assess children's visual perception after mild TBI to ensure a safer return to their activities and sports. The purpose of the present study was to compare the sensitivity to complex visual information processing of children who have sustained a mild TBI to that of non-injured children matched for age.
Sensitivity to static and dynamic forms of simple (first-order) and complex (second-order) stimuli were assessed at 1 week post-injury for 12 injured children and controls (8 to 16 years of age). Orientation (vertical vs horizontal) and motion-direction identification (left vs right) thresholds were measured for all participants. In addition, sensitivity to local (simple) and global (complex) optic flow stimuli was assessed (coherence thresholds).
Results indicate that at 1 week post-injury, the sensitivity to all complex stimuli (static and dynamic second-order and global motion) were significantly reduced for the mild TBI children whereas sensitivity to simple information remained within the normal range.
Results from this study indicate that children with mild TBI present selective processing deficits for complex information 1 week post-injury. Such measures can be potentially used to complement existing diagnostic measures to assess the cognitive status of children who have sustained TBI. The persistence in time of this effect on performance is being studied until 12 weeks post-injury.