Deni Wilson

Ms. Walters

Sports Medicine

25 February 2019

Finding out how the brain functions

PURPOSE:

To understand how different parts of the brain function through performing neuropsychological

tests. Also to explore the relationship between sport participation and brain function

BACKGROUND:

We use baseline testing to determine the state of someone’s concussion. We want to see the

seriousness of someone’s concussion, to determine if they have one. A “concussion is a serious

injury to the brain resulting from the rapid acceleration or deceleration of brain tissue within the

skull.” This could cause serious damage and could have long term effects.

HYPOTHESIS:

I suspect that from this lab I will see how athletes are on top or bottom of the spectrum when

being more focused and alert, or completely unaware and bad at the test. While the non athletes

may be on the spectrum and varied. During this testing I expect to see many basic results as well.

I expect to see the effects of the brain if someone has a concussion. Or seeing how effects from

previous injuries that athletes may have had affected their brain today. I can also see the
differences between non athletes who may have had concussions and athletes who had

concussions. I may also see other effects the concussion or injury had on other parts of the body.

PROCEDURE:

1. SCAT 5 Exam: Follow instructions on the handout.

2. Wechsler Digit Span – WDT

a. Have the athlete repeat numbers given in a reverse order. Failure to complete first attempt,

athlete should try 2nd attempt. Test is complete when 2 attempts at the same amount of number

sequences is failed. Score is last correct, not number sequences. Ex: if they missed both attempts

at 5 numbers, the score is 4.

3. Trial Making A & B Test

a. Trail A: Place your pen and pencil on the Letter A. Without lifting your writing

utensil, CONNECT THE LETTERS FROM A to Z as quickly as possible. Record your time in

seconds.

b. Trail B: Place your pen or pencil on the Letter A. Without lifting your writing

utensil, ALTERNATE CONNECTING LETTERS AND NUMBERS. EX: A, 1, B, 2, C, 3

and

so on. Do this as quickly as possible. Record your time in seconds.

• In both tests, if the pen or pencil comes off the paper, the test MUST be redone.

4. Stroop Color/ Word Test – Time and Error recorded in seconds

a. Trial 1: Athlete reads the words STARTING with the LEFT column to right column.
 The examiner should make a MARK ON THE PAPER FOR EACH INCORRECT

ANSWER and record the finishing time in seconds.

b. Trial 2: Athlete says the COLOR OF THE WORDS ARE PRINTED IN. Athlete STARTS with

the column on the LEFT to RIGHT. The examiner should make a MARK ON THE PAPER FOR

EACH INCORRECT ANSWERS and record the finishing time.

DATA:

ANALYSIS QUESTIONS:

1. Match each neurological test with the part of the brain being tested.
Trials A and B test visual scanning, information processing speed, psychomotor speed and

attention. SCAT tests memory skills and uses cognitive reasoning. WDT also tests memory

because we had to recite numbers forwards and backwards. Stroop Color Test tested how fast we

can process words and our visual scanning. The Stroop Word test also tested these skills and

displayed how quickly we could read.

2. Write a history of your partner. Include gender, age, and sports played. Be sure to include any

incidences of head and/or spine injuries. If they did sustain one of those injuries, describe the

mechanism of injury, type of injury, and treatment received.

My partner is Carmela. She is a 16 year old female who is right handed. She runs in ND Track

has had 4 concussions in the past. Her most recent concussion was February 14, 2019. Her

recovery was 2 weeks long.

3. Compare the neurological responses of those athletes who participate in a NON-CONTACT

sport to those who participate in a CONTACT sport (example: soccer vs. water polo)

Comparing Football and volleyball. Football boys had slower response times in trial A, than

volleyball guys. The one volleyball boy had a time of 56 seconds, rather than the football guys,

who ranged from 59 to 134 seconds.

4. Compare the neurological responses gathered from FOOTBALL and SOCCER.

In trial A soccer had much faster response times than football. The fastest time out of the soccer

players was 16 seconds. The football team had slower times, the fastest being 59 seconds. Also

in the Stroop Color test. The football team made some errors (1-2) trying to complete it, while

the soccer team made no errors at all (0-0).

5. Compare the neurological responses of FEMALE TO MALE athletes.

 For most of the tests the female athletes received slower response times than men. When

comparing female and male athletes in soccer, the female athletes got 54 and 62 seconds, while

the male got 16 seconds. Also in trial be the females got 114 and 118 seconds, and the male got

57 seconds. Though when the Stroop word and color tests were happening, both male and female

athletes did not mess up.

6. AVERAGE THE SCORES FOR EACH SPORT FOR EACH TEST GIVEN. THEN MAKE A

GRAPH FOR EACH TEST. USE THE HORIZONTAL AXIS TO REPRESENT EACH SPORT

AND THE VERTICAL AXIS TO REPRESENT THE AVERAGE SCORES. YOU SHOULD

HAVE 6 GRAPHS.

Trial A
110
108

83 87 87
81

69 69
55
57

44
40
28

0
Football Basketball Volleyball Water polo Track Swimming Soccer Cheer Non - participants
 Trial B
180
174
161
157
135 141
131 133 135

107
90 96

45

0
Football Basketball Volleyball Water polo Track Swimming Soccer Cheer Non - participants

SCAT
180

165

135 143

90

69
57 57
45
44
37 35 38

0
Football Basketball Volleyball Water polo Track Swimming Soccer CheerNon - participants
 WDT
8

7
7 7 7 7 7

6
6

4
4

0
Football Basketball Volleyball Water polo Track Swimming Soccer Cheer Non - participants

Stroop Word Time

40

34
30
30 30
28
27

23
20

18

14
10 11

0
Football Basketball Volleyball Water polo Track Swimming Soccer Cheer Non - participants
 Stroop Color Time
90

84

68 70 71
68

56
45 49
42
38

23

19

0
Football Basketball Volleyball Water polo Track Swimming Soccer Cheer Non - participants

CONCLUSION:

Baseline testing is important because it determines if someone has a concussion, or other head

injuries. It determines the signs symptoms and history. After completing this lab I have realized

that this test is super important for the long term future of athletes as well. If this test is skipped

after an athlete has a blow to the head their future may have long term damages. It is important to

gather a diagnosis to determine a recovery plan if there is no concussion. The slowest time from

the SCAT came from the Track athletes, which is interesting considering they are probably the

least susceptible to getting a head injury. For the WDT the average time was 7 seconds. They had

to read forwards and backwards, which is important when observing for amnesia. For the Stroop

Color the average was 0. Every high school athlete should take this test because they could have
symptoms if they are in a contact sport or not. These tests set a baseline for the athlete so if he

later gets hit on the head they know the state they were at before.