Department of Psychology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2008 Nov;30(8):870-84. doi: 10.1080/13803390701846914. Epub 2008 Apr 10.
University rugby players were compared with IQ-equivalent noncontact sports controls on memory and attentional tasks at the pre- and postseason intervals. Results revealed significant lowering for rugby players relative to controls at the postseason interval for attentional tasks with a speeded visuomotor component (ImPACT Visual Motor Speed; Trail Making Test, TMT, A and B). There was a practice effect for controls only between the pre- and postseason intervals for attentional tasks that commonly reveal improvements after a long retest interval (TMT A and B; Digits Backwards). Medium to large effect sizes implicate clinically relevant cognitive vulnerability for university-level rugby players in association with years of exposure to repetitive concussive injury.
对橄榄球运动员和智力相当的非接触性运动对照组进行了记忆和注意力任务的赛前和赛后比较。结果表明，在与速度有关的视觉运动成分（影响测试的视觉运动速度；连线测试 A 和 B）相关的注意力任务中，橄榄球运动员的得分相对于对照组在赛后间隔显著降低。只有对照组在赛前和赛后间隔之间存在注意力任务的练习效应，这通常在长时间的重测间隔后显示出改善（连线测试 A 和 B；倒背数字）。中到大的效应大小表明，与反复脑震荡损伤的多年暴露相关，大学橄榄球运动员存在与临床相关的认知脆弱性。
