Randomized Controlled Trial of Combined Cognitive Rehabilitation and Aerobic Exercise for New Learning and Memory in Persons with Moderate-to-Severe TBI.

New learning and memory impairment (NLMI) is a common and devastating manifestation of TBI associated with substantial life burdens. Persons with moderate-to-severe TBI have shown improvement in NLM for prose material (e.g. story) as well as beneficial changes in default-mode network (DMN) activation during list-learning following Kessler Foundation modified Story Memory Technique® (KF-mSMT®) treatment. Benefits, however, were moderate and did not yield downstream improvements in daily life. The current randomized clinical trial includes aerobic exercise training (AET) as a highly promising complement to the KF-mSMT® for robustly managing NLMI, examining impact on NLM, its neural correlates, and daily life in NLMI persons with moderate-to-severe TBI.