Neural mechanisms underlying neurooptometric rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury

History of concussion impacts electrophysiological correlates of working memory

Sports-related concussions occur in approximately 21% of college athletes with implications for long-term cognitive impairments in working memory. Working memory involves the capacity to maintain short-term information and integrate with higher-order cognitive processing for planning and behavior execution, critical skills for optimal cognitive and athletic performance. This study quantified working memory impairments in 36 American football college athletes (18-23years old) using event-related potentials (ERPs). Despite performing similarly in a standard 2-back working memory task, athletes with history of concussion exhibited larger P1 and P3 amplitudes compared to Controls. Concussion History group latencies were slower for the P1 and faster for the N2. Source estimation analyses indicated that previously concussed athletes engaged different brain regions compared to athletes with no concussion history. These findings suggest that ERPs may be a sensitive and objective measure to detect long-term cognitive consequences of concussion.

Feasibility of using event-related potentials as a sideline measure of neurocognitive dysfunction during sporting events

This study recorded brain event-related potentials (ERPs) during an attention task under two conditions: (a) immediately after strenuous exercise and (b) immediately after an extended rest period. The goal was to examine the effect of different physiological states on the electrophysiological data. As expected, a larger P3b ERP component was observed in response to attended infrequent events. Strenuous exercise did not differentially alter the amplitude or latency of the brain response during an attention task. This study reports a novel application of ERPs as a potential additional measure of the neurocognitive state that can be assessed on the sideline of a sporting event.