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Right frontal pole cortical thickness and executive functioning in children with traumatic brain injury: the impact on social problems

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Abstract

Cognitive and social outcomes may be negatively affected in children with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). We hypothesized that executive function would mediate the association between right frontal pole cortical thickness and problematic social behaviors. Child participants with a history of TBI were recruited from inpatient admissions for long-term follow-up (n = 23; average age = 12.8, average time post-injury =3.2 years). Three measures of executive function, the Trail Making Test, verbal fluency test, and the Conners' Continuous Performance Test-Second edition (CPT-II), were administered to each participant while caregivers completed the Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL). All participants underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging following cognitive testing. Regression analysis demonstrated right frontal pole cortical thickness significantly predicted social problems. Measures of executive functioning also significantly predicted social problems; however, the mediation model testing whether executive function mediated the relationship between cortical thickness and social problems was not statistically significant. Right frontal pole cortical thickness and omission errors on the CPT-II predicted Social Problems on the CBCL. Results did not indicate that the association between cortical thickness and social problems was mediated by executive function.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, 1060 SWKT, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Ashley Levan, Garrett Black, Jonathan Mietchen, C. Brock Kirwan & Shawn D. Gale

  2. The Neuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

    C. Brock Kirwan & Shawn D. Gale

  3. Department of Neuroimaging, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Leslie Baxter

Authors
  1. Ashley Levan
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  2. Garrett Black
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  3. Jonathan Mietchen
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  4. Leslie Baxter
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Correspondence to Shawn D. Gale.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in this study of human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all caregivers of the participants and the participants under age 18 also signed an assent form.

Funding

Funding was provided in-house by the Barrow Neurological Foundation. (grant #: N/A).

Conflict of interest:

Ashley Levan declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Garrett Black declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Jonathan Mietchen declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Leslie Baxter declares that she has no conflict of interest.

C. Brock Kirwan declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Shawn D. Gale declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Levan, A., Black, G., Mietchen, J. et al. Right frontal pole cortical thickness and executive functioning in children with traumatic brain injury: the impact on social problems. Brain Imaging and Behavior 10, 1090–1095 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-015-9472-7

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