Service Member Fatigue and Lack of Motivation Following Concussion

Objective: The primary objective of this study is to determine the behavioral-anatomical relationships that underlie fatigue and amotivation following mild traumatic brain injury in deployed military service members. The specific aims are to 1) determine the neural correlates of fatigue, and 2) assess how fatigue and social cognition relate to social outcomes including employment, community integration and participation in social activities. The theory we will test is that fatigue in this population is the result of subtle changes in frontal cortical and subcortical structures. Study Design: Observational, natural history study. Populations: 1) Individuals who have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury as a service member deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn, and who continue to experience symptoms more than 6 months after injury, and 2) Companions of individuals from the first group. Outcome Measures: We will seek statistical associations between fatigue measures and brain morphometric and white matter diffusion measurements obtained by MRI as well as task and resting state fMRI.