Visuomotor adaptation learning not affected by repeated sport-related concussion

Abstract

Sports-related concussions (SRC) have been associated with emotional, cognitive, and affective symptoms including a negative impact on motor-based learning. However, no study has assessed the impact of SRC on cerebellar-based motor learning. Cerebellar-based motor learning was assessed in three different groups of athletes with different SRC history: athletes with no history of SRC: athletes in the acute stage of SRC (within two weeks of injury), and athletes in the chronic stage of SRC (over one year after injury). We used a visuomotor adaptation task (VAT) to measure both explicit strategy-based learning and implicit error-based learning. We found that there was no difference in cerebellar dependent motor learning in SRC and non-SRC athletes. These findings suggest that the cerebellum may be more resilient to damage from SRCs than the motor cortex.