Traumatic Brain Surgery - Essay Example

? Critical Appraisal of Research – Traumatic Brain Surgery of of The research article Application of Spacing Effect to Improve Learning and Memory for Functional Tasks in Traumatic Brain Injury, generally talks about various methods through which the authors have tried to prove that spacing effect can be helpful in learning, as the title suggests. This research since it’s a pilot study, briefs the audience with probable suggestions and paves the way for further research, laying the foundation for a full-fledged thesis which would debate that whether spacing effect actually makes learning better for people who have suffered from traumatic injuries or does the mass method is equally applicable? About the Research Article This pilot research has been undertaken by Yael Goverover, Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla, Frank G. Hillary, Nancy Chiaravalloti and John DeLuca in order to prove that spacing effect; learning with intervals in between, is a much better way to learn things and recall them later if compared with cramming it by the mass method, which involves study trials consecutively. This very relatable, as students generally remember what they’ve been learning in their class room discussions rather than the last minute cramming session that they under take. Hence, a very common yet a psychologically appealing method has been enforced here in this research. This research comprises of two with groups: TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and HC (Healthy Control participants). And two within group conditions: Time and Space. The with group participants were taken to show the assessment that will derive their desirable results. Actually it would show the reactions between a test group: HC’s, and the experiment group: TBI’s. in this research, a total of 10 TBI were taken and 15 HC were incorporated. Before the research started the researches made sure that the TBI had suffered the brain injury more than a year ago. Moreover, all the participants came to take part in this research as a result of a pamphlet that was sent to various local places and they responded accordingly. This research included tests which verified that spacing method is way better than learning through the mass method and that the knowledge gained from the former one proves to be substantial as it can be used in functional tasks. Those tasks included; paragraph-learning, route learning, Digit Span subtest, Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT)–Oral Version, California Verbal Learning Test and three subtests of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System. The main question that concerns this research is the application of the spacing effect on TBI and whether it can help them in performing functional tasks. In this pilot study the researches have focused on memory learning, recalling and paying attention to what the tasks have been allocated to them. This research does not go on further as to include the various other daily tasks that might need more attention than reading and learning maps, such as driving. Concerns of this research This study also looks at the matter at hand by going through a series of tasks assigned to the participants both the Traumatic Brain Injury/TBI’s and the HC’s/ Healthy Controlled participants and then figuring out percentages and other empirical date through which they display the gap between learning’s from mass method and the spacing effect method. The result has been displayed through a table followed by a graph, whose curves are enough to show the degree of variation found between the two. The title of this pilot study and the concern of the researches was to show that spacing effect is more effective than the mass method, as it says, “Thus, both the HC and TBI participants showed a similar pattern of learning whereby they benefitted by the spaced conditions as compared with the massed condition when learning the paragraph.” This holds true for the Route Learning Task as well for both the participants. Though statistically the difference is minor but you also need to know that the sample taken was small too and that the TBI had gone through the injury at least a year before. This research also paves the way for new and more innovative outlook to deal with the problem of utilizing the manpower offered by physically fit people who are unfortunately been falling a prey to brain injuries. It is also mentioned in this research that TBI have a blind spot for low level learning because some how the brain injury causes a damage to the area which is responsible for paying attention to whatever is going on. Hence, such methods as the Spacing Effect can be employed to make these people learn and the knowledge be such that it helps in doing some functional tasks in their lives. Methods There were two methods that were taken into consideration to conduct this research: Mass method and Spacing Effect. As it holds true for all scientific researches that one of the two methods has to be held superior but not without articulation. As we see that the researches of this pilot study have favored Spacing Effect and have gone on to conduct a research between two with groups and within groups and they have also drafted a table and a graph to help in giving details regarding their preference to the Spacing Effect. As you might have seen that the Space Effect included learning knowledge incorporating a specific time interval and the tasks are handled accordingly, whereas in the Mass Method, the participants are supposed to be fulfilling their tasks consecutively. Results have it that both the TBI’s and the HC’s performed better when they were asked to complete their tasks with due breaks. Various other studies have shown that learning through Spacing Effect increases the tendency to know things for a longer period of time and that helps in strengthening the memory, as a researcher says, “Each learning trial is thought to initiate an intrinsic process of memory formation that leads to final memory by constructive (memory consolidation) and destructive (forgetting) processes. Studies of many species have shown that when training involves multiple trials, the time interval between trials is an important variable in the efficacy of accumulating training effects and the strength of retention.” (Carew TJ, Pinsker HM, Kandel ER, 1972) Results The results of this research favor the Spacing Effect over Mass method and the proof has been given through tables and graphs. As explained earlier, the researchers have paid great emphasis on the fact that since learning process initiates two other processes simultaneously, one of learning and the other of forgetting. Hence, by fusing knowledge in the minds of the participants without giving them time to assess that knowledge on thir own with their cognitive abilities, it becomes hard if not impossible, for the participants to remember each and everything the instant they look at it. Considering that the participants belonged to two different groups which can be scientifically divided into test groups and the experiments groups, where the test group stands as a standard and according to them are the results measured with those of the experiment group. Special measures have been taken to prevent any superiority of the test group to the experiment group as it has been mentioned in this pilot study that the age groups and the IQ level of both the test and experiment groups was almost alike. Hence to remove any sort of disparity between them which could lead to the upper hand of HC’s. also, both the participants were randomly chosen before the research, so the probability of perchance that HC’s knew the tasks or were aware of the fact that they will be considered as the test group has also been taken care of. It has been found out that TBI group performed slower and learned at a slower pace than the HC group in the Neurological Tests that have been mentioned above in the Abstract. It says that when TBI’s were asked to repeat the paragraph that they had just read and were instructed to recall some of the words too, they were not able to produce results that favored them. On the other hand, HC’s performed better than them. In other tests like D–KEFS Trail Making Test number–letter switching task, CVLT and SDMT, the HC’s performed better than the TBI’s. however the research also shows that though the overall results of the TBI was lesser than that of the HC’s but it has been noted that both of them performed better than in all the tasks that were given to them through the Spacing Effect. Notice the technique through which the tests were assembled. The same methods, (Space Effect and Mass Method) with groups, (HC and TBI) and the same within conditions (Space and Time) were used to collect data through the administration of the tasks that have been mentioned above. Through this we come to know that the biases against any have been reduced to the maximum. Limitations The limitations of this pilot study have been mentioned later in the research. It says that since this is a pilot study so the tasks that check the cognitive abilities of the people suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury have been kept very simple and basic. As the tasks only included paragraph reading and remembering the text of it and later, route learning. The researches confess that this study needs to be extended to facets of life above and greater than these, such as driving. I personally think that this was not only where it was lacking. The data collection, though has been thorough various tasks and methods but the sample taken was very small. To add, if you look at Table 1, you’ll notice that the sample (denoted by n) is 10 for TBI and 15 for HC. Hence, the sample is not only small but it is unequal too. And this might lead to the little variations that we have seen above in Results in the people belonging from TBI and HC. This study also acknowledges the fact that the brain injury of people belonging from TBI has not been considered to the extent that they could know how much the person has gone through the trauma and hence this pilot study can also lead to researches where people from equally damaged brains could be brought together and then they could be experimented with. The fourth limitation that the researches themselves have identified is the period of time that they have set for Spacing Effect. For this pilot study, the time interval has been set on 30 minutes, however, it has not been demonstrated that whether this period of time can be treated as a standard and can be used for further measuring such tasks as to assess the cognitive abilities of TBI? And also that whether a shorter or a longer time period would ensure that the learning has ensured that the learner will always remember it and will be able to recall it has not been touched upon. As a Case Study This research can be incorporated with a case study where the patient Donald, has suffered brain damages due to an accident while he was racing on a track during a match. Though he was immediately hospitalized but the damage done was before anyone could reach him. He was found in a comatose shape and now his condition is described as, “He is at the Ranchos Los Amigos Level II at the time of the OT evaluation…. Passive head movement elicits changes in tone and abnormal reflexes including the ATNR, STNR, TLR and extensor thrust.” (Donald: Brain Traumatic Inury, Ranchos level II) In the light of this case study we can see that the brain damage done to this person is great and since this person can’t speak as yet so it will be difficult to conduct the major tests and tasks that have been employed in this pilot study. The tasks included paragraph reading and repeating the route that was displayed to the participants through both the Space Effect and the Mass Method. However, Donald can just growl and grind his teeth in response to certain stimuli namely, high sounds or pinpricks, so under such circumstances a completely different set of tasks should be endorsed. Though the researches did mention at the beginning that this application is being tested for those people who have undergone this trauma for above an year. And it seems that Donald’s accident is not very old. Occupational Therapy As mentioned above, this pilot study cannot be applied to the people who have just been damaged with the Traumatic Brain Injury but the injury has to subside and must be a bit recovered as to respond verbally in order to be able to firstly, comprehend the task and then secondly, to respond accordingly. As this is a pilot study so much research needs to be done and special care should be taken to avoid disparity in the level of trauma that has been experienced by the group of people that they are considering. To add, some other tasks like speech synthesis and other exercises should be endorsed in the list of tasks so to help people who are at the initial stage of going through a trauma. Since trauma is relative so just by fixing a time period that is 1 year, as is done in this pilot research, is not enough. Researchers should go at least one step ahead in order to know that at what stage are the patients are in their trauma, qualitatively and not quantitatively. Work Cited Carew TJ, Pinsker HM, Kandel ER. Long-term habituation of a defensive withdrawal reflex in Aplysia. Science. 1972;175:451–454. Donald: Traumatic Brain Injury, Ranchos level II. Retrieved from: http://www.academia-research.com/filecache/instr/d/o/910375_donald.pdf Read More