# Relational Memory as a Model of Behavioral (Dys)Function in Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $604,171

## Abstract

Abstract
Adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have deficits in flexible and goal-directed behavior and these
impairments have been linked to negative outcomes and poor community reintegration and independence. The
frontal lobes, and their putative functions of executive control and working memory, have figured prominently,
and nearly exclusively, in mechanistic accounts of flexible and adaptive behavior and in understanding the
underlying nature of behavioral dysfunction in individuals with TBI. Yet, interventions designed to target the
frontal lobes have not yielded significant improvements in behavior or independence in the community. We
propose that the frontal lobes may be the wrong, or not the only, mechanism of impairment leading to inflexible
and maladaptive behavior in TBI. We aim to show that flexible and goal-directed behavior depends critically on
the operation of the hippocampal relational memory system and is a key mechanism in the observed
behavioral dysfunction and poor outcomes in individuals with TBI. The proposed program of research
represents a novel direction in the study of traumatic brain injury with substantial basic science and clinical
translational significance. The proposal is organized around four AIMS: (1) To characterize disruptions in the
integrity of the structure of the hippocampal system and their impact on relational memory in individuals with
traumatic brain injury. (2) To characterize the impact of relational memory impairments on flexible and goal-
directed behavior in individuals with traumatic brain injury. (3) To investigate the impact of disruption of the
hippocampal system and relational memory on the larger network of structures participating in flexible and
goal-directed behavior in individuals with traumatic brain injury. (4) To determine the relationship between
impairment in relational memory and community integration and independence in individuals with traumatic
brain injury. This proposal is unique in the field and uniquely promising for understanding the nature of
behavioral dysfunction in TBI and, ultimately, improving rehabilitation intervention outcomes. Indeed, the
proposed work lays the critical foundation for the identification of objective and diagnostic biomarkers for
behavioral dysfunction following TBI and for the development of new rehabilitative targets. Linking behavioral
dysfunction in TBI to the hippocampal relational memory system will also inform the characterization of a
number of other neurological (e.g., stroke, TBI, Alzheimer's disease), psychiatric (e.g., schizophrenia,
depression), and developmental (e.g., autism) conditions that affect hippocampal relational memory and where
deficits in flexible and goal-directed behavior are also hallmark.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10816420
- **Project number:** 5R01NS110661-05
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** NEAL J. COHEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $604,171
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-03-15 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10816420

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10816420, Relational Memory as a Model of Behavioral (Dys)Function in Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury (5R01NS110661-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10816420. Licensed CC0.

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