Cognitive-motor integration deficits in young adult athletes following concussion.

Jeffrey A Brown,Marc Dalecki,Lauren E Sergio,Alison K Macpherson,Cindy Hughes

doi:10.1186/s13102-015-0019-4

Jeffrey A Brown, Marc Dalecki + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-015-0019-4

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Abstract

BackgroundThe ability to perform visually-guided motor tasks requires the transformation of visual information into programmed motor outputs. When the guiding visual information does not align spatially with the motor output, the brain processes rules to integrate the information for an appropriate motor response. Here, we look at how performance on such tasks is affected in young adult athletes with concussion history.MethodsParticipants displaced a cursor from a central to peripheral targets on a vertical display by sliding their finger along a touch sensitive screen in one of two spatial planes. The addition of a memory component, along with variations in cursor feedback increased task complexity across conditions.ResultsSignificant main effects between participants with concussion history and healthy controls without concussion history were observed in timing and accuracy measures. Importantly, the deficits were distinctly more pronounced for participants with concussion history compared to healthy controls, especially when the brain had to control movements having two levels of decoupling between vision and action. A discriminant analysis correctly classified athletes with a history of concussion based on task performance with an accuracy of 94 %, despite the majority of these athletes being rated asymptomatic by current standards.ConclusionsThese findings correspond to our previous work with adults at risk of developing dementia, and support the use of cognitive motor integration as an enhanced assessment tool for those who may have mild brain dysfunction. Such a task may provide a more sensitive metric of performance relevant to daily function than what is currently in use, to assist in return to play/work/learn decisions.

Highlights

The ability to perform visually-guided motor tasks requires the transformation of visual information into programmed motor outputs
We have found that as soon as an element of dissociation is introduced into a reaching task, early Alzheimer’s disease (eAD) performance declines precipitously relative to healthy adults, whose performance declines but much less so [11, 16]
A more sensitive quantification of function post-concussion would in turn assist in return-to-play/work/learn decisions. We address this gap in knowledge by studying the performance of university varsity athletes both with a history of concussion and healthy age matched controls without concussion history on a movement coordination task requiring rule integration

Summary

Introduction

The ability to perform visually-guided motor tasks requires the transformation of visual information into programmed motor outputs. In daily life, and during many sport activities, there occur several situations where the brain needs to integrate both cognition and movement control concurrently. This rule-based motor performance can occur for example when the brain has to decouple vision from action (e.g., gaze and hand motion are in different directions and spatial locations) [10]. One might argue that if the brain is ‘pushed’ to think and act concurrently following a concussion, there may occur functionally relevant performance deficits, ones which currently used metrics testing cognitive and motor abilities separately do not find. More sensitive performance metrics testing cognitive and motor abilities concurrently could, arguably, reduce the potential for re-injury

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