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McNair Scholar, 2025
Major: Neuropsychology
Mentor: Dr. Mark Scimone
Research Title: Examining the Effects of TBI and How it Affects Emotional Regulation and Processing, and Acknowledgment of Symptoms of Depression and PTSD
Abstract:
The effects of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) vary from patient to patient. It is categorized as an injury that results in structural and/or functional changes to the brain. TBIs tend to be the source of a wide range of symptoms due to the specificities of location, severity, and cause of the injury. The brain is a multifaceted organ, encompassing control over our senses, mobility, our decision making, etc., which causes the effects of its damage to range in ways that are not seen in any other part of the body. Traumatic brain injury is a leading contributor to early mortality and long-term disability across the globe (Wiegers et al., 2021), and one of the most vulnerable populations to this demise are veterans (Wiederhold, 2011).
Over the past two decades of continuous warfare (the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq war), concerns about the mental health of veterans and service members have been widely discussed by both the media and those with personal ties to the military. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression are among the most frequently reported mental health challenges in this population, with research estimating that 14-16% of U.S. service members deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq have experienced these conditions. While PTSD and depression receive significant attention, other serious issues like TBI can be equally impactful (Miles et al., 2017). Difficulties in recognizing emotions have been associated with various psychiatric and neurological disorders, as well as both acute and chronic TBI. Facial emotion recognition refers to the ability to interpret and process emotional expressions. Research indicates that deficits in emotion recognition are a common consequence of TBI, with prevalence estimates ranging from 13-51% (Babbage et al., 2011). Furthermore, these impairments often persist throughout an individual's lifetime following a TBI, highlighting their long-term impact on social functioning (Sanders et al., 2025). This may affect people with TBI history in recognizing and therefore acknowledging the symptoms of psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as PTSD and depression. In this research, we are to examine the effects of TBI on processing emotion, specifically depression, in veterans.
