1. The Long-term Effects of
Concussion on Balance &
Memory
Tyler Uber, Kieu Nguyen, Corey Sheard, Megan Dunlap, & Ben
Magliocca
Penn State Behrend
2. Concussion
• The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (2015) stated that a
type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a hit to the head, fall, or
another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull resulting in
damage.
3. Introduction
• There has been minimal research on the long-term effects of
concussion (McCauley,Wilde, Barnes, Hanten, Hunter, Levin, &
Smith, 2014).
• Most concussion test focus primarily on memory and reaction time
(McCrae, 2014).
• After 48 hours from the incident, most people show improvements
(McCrae, 2014)
• Balance disorders are a common impairment resultant of
concussion (Gil-Gomez,Gonzales,Alcaniz, Noe, & Colomer, 2011).
4. Introduction: Purpose
•The topic of concussion is increasing in the public eye.
•There is not enough research for this popular topic.
•Purpose- Determine whether the history of concussions,
is related to balance and/or memory.
5. Hypothesis
•1. Participants that have experienced a concussion will
show greater deficiency in balance and memory than
those who have not
•2. Participants with the most recent concussion will
show the highest deficiency in balance and memory.
6. Method: Participants
•Total Number of Participants – 138
• Males – 78 ; Females 60
•Number of Participants with concussion – 78
• Males - ; Females –
7. Method: Procedure
• Informed Consent and explanation of study
• Demographic Questionnaire- concussion history, sports participated in,
how/when injury occurred, & current symptoms
• Digit SpanTask (Wechsler, 1945)-Targeted working memory specifically
concentration with strings of numbers
• Operation SpanTask- Working memory using a math problems and letters;
measured 5 scores/errors
• Continuous PerformanceTask- Measured reaction time for target & non-
target
8. Method and Procedure Cont.
• Nintendo Wii Fit Plus- 3 BalanceTests usingWii Balance Board
• Ultimate BalanceTest- Participant attempts to maintain 50/50 weight
distribution
• Single LegTest- Participant stands for 30 seconds using one leg
• StillnessTest- Established center of pressure
10. Absolute Score t(138)= -.532, p = .596
Load Score t(138)= -.253, p = .800
Math Score t(138)= 1.336, p = .184
Speed Score t(138) = 1.23, p = .221
11. Target F(1, 138) = 169.1, p< .001
Group, F(1, 138) = .253, p = 0.616
Interaction of Group andTarget, F(1, 138)= .309, p= 0.579
12. Ultimate BalanceTest, t(138) = -.510, p = .61
Single LegTest, t(138) = -.055, p = .996
StillnessTest, t(138) = -.323, p = .747
13. Discussion
• Concussed participants showed trending deficiencies for working memory
supporting 1st hypothesis (Operational SpanTask –Absolute Score)
• Concussed participants demonstrated slower reaction times during
Processing SpeedTask
• Elapsed time from injury is trending but not significant
• Limitation- Subject Pool
• We encourage more research to be conducted in this field.
Editor's Notes
Recently, there has been a vast increase in public awareness of concussions. High schools, and colleges are now beginning to take baseline tests when athlete start, in order to track changes if a concussion incident does occur. There is even a film in theatre’s discussing the effect of concussion on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is a progressive degenerative disease in people who suffered a severe blow to the head. Unfortunately, there is currently not enough research in this topic coming to concrete conclusions. This led us to our study focused at determining whether a history of concussion has any relation to balance and memory deficits.
We hypothesized that participants with a history of concussion will show a greater deficiency in balance and memory than those who have not. It was also hypothesized that the most recent concussion will show the highest deficiency in balance and memory.
