Investigating the neurobiological basis of cognitive rehabilitation therapy with fMRI

The neurobiological changes occurring during cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) have yet to be systematically studied. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to demonstrate brain plasticity in response to CRT (n=5) following mild traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychological tests and two fMRI activation tasks, a visually guided saccades and a reading comprehension task, were employed pre- and post-CRT. CRT was used to systematically address the identified deficits in visual scanning and language processing. As hypothesized, changes in the pattern and extent of activation within expected neuroanatomical areas occurred post-CRT. Changes in fMRI activation are discussed for each subject and related to changes on neuropsychological measures. This study demonstrates how fMRI can illustrate the neurobiological mechanisms of recovery in individual subjects. The variability in subject responses to CRT supports the notion of tailoring rehabilitation strategies to each subject in order to optimize recovery following brain injury.