Investigating the cognitive effects of having previously sustained a sports related concussion

Dougie Price; Neil W. Kirk

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
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	https://www.bps.org.uk/events/scottish-undergraduate-conference-2020

Keywords

Concussion
Cognition
Attention
Memory
Rugby

Access to Document

https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/www.bps.org.uk/files/Events%20-%20Files/BPS%20Scot%20UG%20QMU%202020%20Abstract%20Book.pdf

Cite this

@conference{a38016b423524d21955343966634664d,

title = "Investigating the cognitive effects of having previously sustained a sports related concussion",

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",

author = "Dougie Price and Kirk, {Neil W.}",

year = "2020",

month = apr,

language = "English",

note = "British Psychological Society Scottish Branch Undergraduate Conference 2020 : Psychology: towards a better world ; Conference date: 04-04-2020 Through 04-04-2020",

url = "https://www.bps.org.uk/events/scottish-undergraduate-conference-2020",

}

TY - CONF

T1 - Investigating the cognitive effects of having previously sustained a sports related concussion

AU - Price, Dougie

AU - Kirk, Neil W.

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - 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

AB - 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

M3 - Abstract

T2 - British Psychological Society Scottish Branch Undergraduate Conference 2020

Y2 - 4 April 2020 through 4 April 2020

ER -