Department of Psychology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2014 Feb;29(1):86-99. doi: 10.1093/arclin/act061. Epub 2013 Aug 4.
This article reports on three pre- versus post-season prospective studies in which male university and high school contact sport players predominantly of Rugby Union (hereafter rugby) were compared with age, education, and IQ equivalent non-contact sport controls on the ImPACT (Immediate Postconcussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) test. All analyses revealed a relative absence of practice effects on the Visual Motor Speed (VMS) composite for contact sport groups compared with controls. The VMS data for rugby players from each study were pooled and subjected to additional analysis (Rugby, n = 145; Controls, n = 106). Controls revealed significant improvement over the season (p < .001), whereas no learning effect was in evidence for rugby players whose performance remained the same (interaction effect, p = .028). It is apparent that practice effects have diagnostic potential in this context, implicating vulnerability on speeded visuomotor processing in association with participation in rugby. Pointers for further research and concussion management in the individual case are explored.
本文报告了三项赛前和赛后的前瞻性研究，其中男性大学生和高中生接触性运动运动员（主要是橄榄球运动员）与年龄、教育程度和智商相当的非接触性运动对照组在 ImPACT（即时脑震荡后评估和认知测试）测试上进行了比较。所有分析都表明，与对照组相比，接触性运动组的视觉运动速度（VMS）综合测试相对缺乏练习效应。对来自每项研究的橄榄球运动员的 VMS 数据进行了汇总，并进行了进一步的分析（橄榄球运动员，n = 145；对照组，n = 106）。对照组在整个赛季中表现出显著的提高（p <.001），而橄榄球运动员的表现没有学习效果（交互作用效应，p =.028）。显然，在这种情况下，练习效应具有诊断潜力，表明与参与橄榄球运动有关的速度视觉运动处理的脆弱性。进一步研究和个别病例中的脑震荡管理的要点也进行了探讨。
