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.
Keywords: Assessment; Executive functions; Head injury; Learning and memory; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Traumatic brain injury.
Published by Oxford University Press 2022.