Prospective Memory Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Meta-Analysis

Individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) report frequent and significant prospective memory deficits (Shum et al., 2011). This study presents a review and meta-analyses on prospective memory and TBI; focusing on clarifying the true effect of prospective memory deficits, the influence of task demands on performance, and the relationship between prospective memory and other cognitive functions. The results revealed that the difference in prospective memory performance between TBI and control groups was large (d = 0.987, SE = 0.087), indicating that TBI patients have significantly lower prospective memory performance than matched controls. Subgroup analyses revealed that prospective memory was poorer when tasks were more demanding. In addition, prospective memory was significantly correlated with attention, retrospective memory and executive functions. Prospective memory should be regularly assessed in individual with TBI, and task-related demands should be considered when deciding appropriate assessment measures and compensatory strategies