Associations between Intra-Individual Neurocognitive Variability and Prospective Memory in Veterans with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury History and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

OBJECTIVE

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently co-occur and are associated with neurocognitive intra-individual variability (IIV) and difficulty with prospective memory (PM). The current study aimed to examine associations between IIV and PM in this comorbid group.

METHOD: Fifty veterans with a history of blast mTBI and current comorbid PTSD completed a standardized neurocognitive battery to measure IIV, and the Memory for Intentions Screening Test measuring PM.

RESULTS

Adjusting for age, education, and race, higher IIV was associated with poorer time-based PM (p < .001, f2 = .34), but not event-based PM. In a subset of the sample with self-report data, higher IIV was associated with poorer self-reported retrospective memory, but not PM.

CONCLUSIONS

Cognitive variability on a standardized neuropsychological battery was associated with strategically demanding PM, which is an ecologically relevant ability and highlights the possible connection between subtle cognitive difficulties in-clinic and those experienced in daily life.