A history of sport-related concussion is associated with sustained deficits in conflict and error monitoring.

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated long-term deficits in neurocognitive function in individuals with a history of sport-related concussion. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between a history of concussion and behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) indices of pre- and post-response conflict and error monitoring. A secondary aim was to determine whether years of high risk sport participation were related to impairments in these cognitive control processes. Forty-seven former athletes (age = 20.8 ± 2.2 years) with (n = 25; 5 females) and without (n = 22; 9 females) a history of concussion completed a modified flanker task while behavioral performance, N2, error-related negativity (ERN), and error positivity (Pe) components were assessed. An increase in post-response error-related (ERN) brain activity and a nonsignificant trend of increased pre-response conflict (N2) was observed in individuals with a prior sport-related concussion relative to non-concussed controls; however, no behavioral performance differences were found between groups. No significant associations were found between ERP and behavioral measures and the number of years of high-risk sport participation; however, time since last head injury was associated with shorter N2 latency. Together, these findings suggest a persistent impairment in cognitive control and error-related processing in individuals with a history of concussion. These findings are interpreted within the framework of the compensatory error-monitoring hypothesis.