Abstract
Objective: Concussion is common among rugby players, due to high volumes of hard, physical contact that occur throughout the sport. Official “return to play” protocols are in place after sustaining a concussion, but are these strict enough to minimise their medium-long term effects? In this pre-registered study, student rugby players who had previously sustained an on-pitch concussion were compared to student players without a history of concussion on a range of cognitive measures.Hypotheses: It was predicted that there would be an effect of concussion history on three cognitive measures relating to working memory,inhibitory control and attention.Design: Between subjects design: The IV was concussion history (no history of concussion; previous history of concussion).The DVs were Reading Span score, Digit Symbol Substitution Test score and Simon Task reaction times.Methods: 30 male members of local sports teams (n=15 per group) recruited through convenience sampling.Results: Results showed a significant effect of concussion history on reading span scores (p <.001) and DSST scores (p<.001).There were no significant differences between groups on the Simon Task.Conclusions: Despite following strict “return to play” protocols, previously concussed players showed poorer working memory and attention performance than those with no concussion history
| Original language | English |
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| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2020 |
| Event | British Psychological Society Scottish Branch Undergraduate Conference 2020: Psychology: towards a better world - Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom Duration: 4 Apr 2020 → 4 Apr 2020 https://www.bps.org.uk/events/scottish-undergraduate-conference-2020 |
Conference
| Conference | British Psychological Society Scottish Branch Undergraduate Conference 2020 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Edinburgh |
| Period | 4/04/20 → 4/04/20 |
| Internet address |