The aim of this investigation was to assess deficits in prospective
remembering following chronic traumatic brain injuries (TBI), under
conditions of high and low distraction. We constructed a virtual shopping
precinct from photographs, sounds, and video segments linked together. The
street was divided into halves, a low distraction zone and a high
distraction zone (with increased visual and auditory noise). Twenty
persons with TBI (7 severe, 7 very severe, 6 extremely severe) and 20
matched controls completed ongoing and prospective memory tasks while
“walking” along the street. In the ongoing task, participants
were given ten errands to complete with a checklist accessible at any
time. The prospective component required responding to three targets that
appeared repeatedly. As predicted, the TBI group performed both the
ongoing and the prospective components of the street task poorly compared
with the controls and was more affected by distractions. The results
suggest that the real-life deficits in memory skills reported by persons
with TBI may become more apparent when remembering engages executive
processes and that computer simulations can be used to construct sensitive
measures of practical memory abilities. (JINS, 2006, 12,
8–16.)