Rewards Sensitivity in People with ABI in Acute Rehabilitation

Research Objectives: To examine feasibility and potential effectives of using monetary rewards on cognitive performance of inpatients with acquired brain injuries (ABI) in acute rehabilitation.

Design: Two-arm controlled trial

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation hospital

Participants: 15 inpatients with acquired brain injuries and 14 healthy controls, ages 18-87

Interventions: Participants have completed a novel computerized task in which they were asked to identify an odd shape as quickly and as accurately as possible. The task included 12 block and in each block, participants could earn either a dollar, a penny, or no-award for responding quickly and accurately.

Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcome measures were reaction time and percent of correct responses under each reward type. Secondary outcome measures were self-reported rewards-responsiveness and depression.

Results: In the inpatients group, reaction time for dollar blocks was faster in comparison to no reward blocks (t=2.20, P=0.045) and cent blocks (t=2.74, P=0.012). in addition, more errors were made on block with no rewards compared to blocks with a dollar reward (t=-3.57, P=0.005). no significant effects differences were found for the control group.

Conclusions: This study has demonstrated a feasibility of using monetary rewards to improve performance of patients with ABI in acute rehabilitation. Incentivizing survivors of ABI in acute rehabilitation settings should be further explored as a tool for improving cognitive abilities.

Author(s) Disclosures: No Conflict