The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker Tasks
The diagnosis of apathy, one of the most common behavioral changes after acquired brain injury (ABI), is important for improving clinical understanding and treatment of persons with ABI. The main aim of this study was to determine the possible role of apathy in conflict monitoring, by using choice r...
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/2/298 |
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| author | Mariagrazia D’Ippolito Giuseppe Spinelli Marco Iosa Salvatore Maria Aglioti Rita Formisano |
| author_facet | Mariagrazia D’Ippolito Giuseppe Spinelli Marco Iosa Salvatore Maria Aglioti Rita Formisano |
| author_sort | Mariagrazia D’Ippolito |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The diagnosis of apathy, one of the most common behavioral changes after acquired brain injury (ABI), is important for improving clinical understanding and treatment of persons with ABI. The main aim of this study was to determine the possible role of apathy in conflict monitoring, by using choice reaction time tasks. <b>Methods</b>: We examined behavioral responses of conflict monitoring during three different flanker tasks in 10 severe ABI patients with or without diagnosis of apathy (3 M, mean age = 56.60; 3 M, mean age ± SD = 58.60, respectively), and 15 healthy controls (9 M, mean age = 54.46) Reaction times (RTs), accuracy, and global index of performance (GIP) were analyzed for each task. <b>Results</b>: Only apathetic ABI patients showed a significant difference from healthy subjects (<i>p</i>-value ≤ 0.001), while the performance of patients without apathy was not significantly different from that of healthy controls (<i>p</i>-value = 0.351). Healthy participants had higher accuracy in comparison to both ABI patients with (<i>p</i> < 0.001) and without (<i>p</i>-value = 0.038) apathy, whilst slower RTs were shown by ABI patients without apathy in comparison to both healthy subjects (<i>p</i>-value = 0.045) and apathetic ABI patients (<i>p</i>-value = 0.022). Only patients with apathy exhibited a significantly higher number of missing trials (<i>p</i>-value = 0.001). <b>Conclusions</b>: Our results may suggest a potential link between apathy following severe ABI and conflict monitoring processes, even though further investigations with larger sample size are needed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:04:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a0a3c970ab3c4d7698fb00b45b8fa5a0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:04:18Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-a0a3c970ab3c4d7698fb00b45b8fa5a02023-11-16T19:29:03ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252023-02-0113229810.3390/brainsci13020298The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker TasksMariagrazia D’Ippolito0Giuseppe Spinelli1Marco Iosa2Salvatore Maria Aglioti3Rita Formisano4Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, ItalyPost-Coma Unit, IRCCS and Neuroreabilitation 2, Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, ItalyThe diagnosis of apathy, one of the most common behavioral changes after acquired brain injury (ABI), is important for improving clinical understanding and treatment of persons with ABI. The main aim of this study was to determine the possible role of apathy in conflict monitoring, by using choice reaction time tasks. <b>Methods</b>: We examined behavioral responses of conflict monitoring during three different flanker tasks in 10 severe ABI patients with or without diagnosis of apathy (3 M, mean age = 56.60; 3 M, mean age ± SD = 58.60, respectively), and 15 healthy controls (9 M, mean age = 54.46) Reaction times (RTs), accuracy, and global index of performance (GIP) were analyzed for each task. <b>Results</b>: Only apathetic ABI patients showed a significant difference from healthy subjects (<i>p</i>-value ≤ 0.001), while the performance of patients without apathy was not significantly different from that of healthy controls (<i>p</i>-value = 0.351). Healthy participants had higher accuracy in comparison to both ABI patients with (<i>p</i> < 0.001) and without (<i>p</i>-value = 0.038) apathy, whilst slower RTs were shown by ABI patients without apathy in comparison to both healthy subjects (<i>p</i>-value = 0.045) and apathetic ABI patients (<i>p</i>-value = 0.022). Only patients with apathy exhibited a significantly higher number of missing trials (<i>p</i>-value = 0.001). <b>Conclusions</b>: Our results may suggest a potential link between apathy following severe ABI and conflict monitoring processes, even though further investigations with larger sample size are needed.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/2/298apathyacquired brain injuryconflict monitoringflanker tasks |
| spellingShingle | Mariagrazia D’Ippolito Giuseppe Spinelli Marco Iosa Salvatore Maria Aglioti Rita Formisano The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker Tasks Brain Sciences apathy acquired brain injury conflict monitoring flanker tasks |
| title | The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker Tasks |
| title_full | The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker Tasks |
| title_fullStr | The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker Tasks |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker Tasks |
| title_short | The Possible Role of Apathy on Conflict Monitoring: Preliminary Findings of a Behavioral Study on Severe Acquired Brain Injury Patients Using Flanker Tasks |
| title_sort | possible role of apathy on conflict monitoring preliminary findings of a behavioral study on severe acquired brain injury patients using flanker tasks |
| topic | apathy acquired brain injury conflict monitoring flanker tasks |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/2/298 |
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