Presenter : Madison Murray
Mentor : Li-Shan
Major : Biology
Poster 42
Executive function has been defined as the ability to utilize external stimuli in order to plan purposeful action. It is thought to be im- portant for tasks like problem solving and decision-making. As the adolescent brain has not yet reached full maturation and is under- going rapid development particularly in the frontal lobe, where executive function is considered to take place, it may be vulnerable to trauma during this time of life. Due to the continued development of the frontal lobe in the adolescent brain it was hypothesized that healthy adolescent individuals would have decreased executive function ability when compared to healthy young adults. The Attention- al Network Test and the Task Switching Test were administered to 14 healthy individuals (7 adolescents, 7 young adults) five times over a period of two months. Testing was carried out 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months after the initial testing. Testing was performed in a computer lab to free from noise or visual distractions. Young adults displayed faster overall reaction times, however contrary to our hypothesis; preliminary data has shown that adolescents have increased executive function ability compared to young adults. Further research will examine the effects of concussion of the adolescent brain compared with an adult brain. In order to make an accurate comparison between concussed individuals we must first compare healthy individuals.