Recovery of verbal and visuospatial working memory after traumatic brain injury

Patients who survive moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently suffer working memory deficits. The aim of this study is to evaluate the recovery pattern of the verbal and visuospatial subsystems of Baddeley's working memory model. Seventeen patients with moderate to severe TBI, aged from 20 to 64 years, were tested on the phonological loop (Digit Span Forward, Digit Span Backward, and Digit Span Sequencing) and the visuospatial sketchpad (Spatial Addition and Symbol Span). All the tests were administered at three time points during the study. Patients were tested at 2, 3, and 4 months postinjury. Results highlight that the two slave systems show a different pattern of post-injury recovery in patients with moderate to severe TBI. The scores of the tests used to assess the phonological loop remained unchanged throughout the study. The participants improve their performance in Spatial Addittion through the different administrations. The performance in Symbol Span does not change.