Presenter: Madison Murray
Mentor: Li-Shan Chou
Poster: 25
Major: Biology
Executive function has been defined as utilizing external stimuli to plan purposeful action and may be a sensitive way to detect concussion-related deficits. The adolescent brain has not reached full maturation and is undergoing rapid development of executive functions, so this age group may be affected by head trauma more than young adults. It was hypothesized that adolescents with concussion would perform worse on executive function tasks than young adults with concussion in relation to matched control groups. Two executive function tests, (Attentional Network Test and Task Switching Test) and one neuropsychological test (ImPACT), were each administered to 44 subjects who sustained a concussion (24 adolescents, 20 young adults) and 44 healthy control subjects matched by sex, height, and weight (24, adolescents, 20 young adults). Tests were administered within 72 hours of injury, and again at 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months post-injury. Results indicated that conflict resolution ability deficits persisted in the adolescent group compared to their controls throughout the two months of testing (p=0.043). Such differences were not detected between young adult concussion and control groups. Differences between adolescent concussion and control groups on ImPACT variables were detected up to one-month post injury (p<0.05), but not between young adult concussion and control groups. Based on the results, adolescents appear to display greater deficits throughout the two months post-injury than young adults in relation to a control group on measures of attentional and neuropsychological function.