Monetary incentive effects on event-based prospective memory three months after traumatic brain injury in children

Stephen R. McCauleyabcd*, Claudia Pedrozae, Sandra B. Chapmanf, Lori G. Cookf, Ana C. Vásqueza & Harvey S. Levinabcd a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance of Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical School at Houston , Houston, TX, USA b Department of Pediatrics , Baylor College of Medicine , Houston, TX, USA c Department of Neurology , Baylor College of Medicine , Houston, TX, USA d Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center , Houston, TX, USA e Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston , Houston, TX, USA f Center for Brain Health , University of Texas at Dallas , Dallas, TX, USA * Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Baylor College of Medicine, 1709 Dryden Rd., Ste. 1200, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA E-mail: mccauley@bcm.edu Information regarding the remediation of event-based prospective memory (EB-PM) impairments following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is scarce. Addressing this, two levels of monetary incentives were used to improve EB-PM in children ages 7 to 16 years with orthopedic injuries (OI, n = 51), or moderate (n = 25) and severe (n = 39) TBI at approximately 3 months postinjury. The EB-PM task consisted of the child giving a specific verbal response to a verbal cue from the examiner while performing a battery of neuropsychological measures (ongoing task). Significant effects were found for age-at-test, motivation condition, period, and group. Within-group analyses indicated that OI and moderate TBI groups performed significantly better under the high- than under the low-incentive condition, but the severe TBI group demonstrated no significant improvement. These results indicate that EB-PM can be significantly improved at 3 months postinjury in children with moderate, but not severe, TBI.