Attention is a core function in cognition and also the most prevalent cognitive deficit in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Predictive timing is an essential element of attention functioning because sensory processing and execution of goal-oriented behavior are facilitated by temporally accurate prediction. It is hypothesized that impaired synchronization between prediction and external events accounts for the attention deficit in mTBI. Other cognitive and somatic or affective symptoms associated with mTBI may be explained as secondary consequences of impaired predictive timing. Eye-Tracking Rapid Attention Computation (EYE-TRAC) is the quantification of predictive timing with indices of dynamic visuo-motor synchronization (DVS) between the gaze and the target during continuous predictive visual tracking. Such quantification allows for cognitive performance monitoring in comparison to the overall population as well as within individuals over time. We report preliminary results of normative data and data collected from subjects with a history of mTBI within 2 weeks of injury and post-concussive symptoms at the time of recruitment. A substantial proportion of mTBI subjects demonstrated DVS scores worse than 95% of normal subjects. In addition, longitudinal monitoring of acute mTBI subjects showed that initially abnormal DVS scores were followed by improvement toward the normal range. In summary, EYE-TRAC provides fast and objective indices of DVS that allow comparison of attention performance to a normative standard and monitoring of within-individual changes.

Date Published: 4 May 2012
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 8371, Sensing Technologies for Global Health, Military Medicine, Disaster Response, and Environmental Monitoring II; and Biometric Technology for Human Identification IX, 83710L (4 May 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.927790

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8371:
Sensing Technologies for Global Health, Military Medicine, Disaster Response, and Environmental Monitoring II; and Biometric Technology for Human Identification IX
Sárka O. Southern; B. V. K. Vijaya Kumar; Salil Prabhakar; Arend H. J. Kolk; Kevin N. Montgomery; Arun A. Ross; Carl W. Taylor, Editor(s)