Performance monitoring in children following traumatic brain injury

Executive control deficits are common sequelae of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI). The goal of the current study was to assess a specific executive control function, performance monitoring, in children following TBI. Thirty-one children with mild-moderate TBI, 18 with severe TBI, and 37 control children without TBI, of comparable age and sex, performed the stop signal task, a speeded choice reaction time task. On occasion, they were presented with a signal to stop their responses. Performance monitoring was defined as the extent of slowing in go-task reaction time following failure to stop responses. The TBI group as a whole demonstrated less post-error slowing than did controls. This finding suggested impaired error monitoring performance. In addition, time since injury and socioeconomic status predicted less slowing after stopped responses. We suggest that alterations in performance monitoring expressed as the inability to notice, regulate and adjust behavior to changing situations are an effect of TBI in children.