Abstract

This study examined the nature of memory deficits in traumatic brain injury(TBI) patients compared to normal controls, using the Korean Version of Memory Assessment Scale(K-MAS). Subjects were divided into three groups; (a) mild traumatic brain injury(MTBI) group(N=46), (b) moderate to severe traumatic brain injury(M-STBI) group(N=60), (c) normal control group(N=60). Three groups showed no difference in age, education level. Current findings are as follows: (a) MTBI and M-STBI groups performed most of K-MAS subtests worse significantly than control group. (b) M-STBI group showed less total recall and recognition score, less clustering and learning effect and more rapid forgetting rate than MTBI and control groups. (c) MTBI group showed more total recall and recognition score, higher clustering and learning effect than M-STBI group. (c) But MTBI and M-STBI groups didn't differ significantly in rate of intrusion and perseveration. This finding suggests that MTBI could show substantial memory deficits as well as M-STBI. Discrimination analysis between MTBI and M-STBI demonstrated 68.9% of diagnosis precision rate. And it was confirmed that Delayed List Recall Test has high discriminating power. Finally, the clinical implications and limitations of present study were discussed.