Feasibility of using event-related potentials as a sideline measure of neurocognitive dysfunction during sporting events

Abstract

This study recorded brain event-related potentials (ERPs) during an attention task under two conditions: (a) immediately after strenuous exercise and (b) immediately after an extended rest period. The goal was to examine the effect of different physiological states on the electrophysiological data. As expected, a larger P3b ERP component was observed in response to attended infrequent events. Strenuous exercise did not differentially alter the amplitude or latency of the brain response during an attention task. This study reports a novel application of ERPs as a potential additional measure of the neurocognitive state that can be assessed on the sideline of a sporting event.

History of concussion impacts electrophysiological correlates of working memory

“…The Concussion History group did have fewer correct Match trials relative to the Control group (see Table I), which we acknowledge as a limitation. However, both groups contributed a minimum number of trials for behavioral and ERP analysis consistent with other work (e.g., > 30 trials for each condition per individual; Duncan, Kosmidis, & Mirsky, 2003; Ledwidge & Molfese, 2016), even within a single participant (Kota, Kelsey, Rigoni, & Molfese, 2013). Average reaction time (RT; from stimulus onset) and accuracy (percentage of correct trials) were computed for each participant for both the Match and Non-match conditions.…”

“…These strategies are highly specific and provide ongoing information about neurocognitive mechanisms and efficiency. Recent work by Kota and colleagues (2013) demonstrated the consistency between ERPs following periods of physical activity and rest, highlighting possible use of ERPs as an immediate sideline measure. In addition to identifying aberrant function, ERPs can indicate multimodal impairments that persist beyond neurocognitive processing (Folmer et al, 2011).…”

“…Equivalent numbers of trials per condition for each participant were included in the analyses. The averaged ERPs were clustered into prefrontal and central scalp regions (see Supplemental Table I) (Ledwidge & Molfese, 2016; Kota et al, 2013). This procedure increased statistical power by reducing electrode locations from 256 individual sites into a smaller set of scalp regions (Curran, 1999).…”

Long-Term Effects of Concussion on Electrophysiological Indices of Attention in Varsity College Athletes: An Event-Related Potential and Standardized Low-Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography Approach

“…To increase statistical power, 63 the averaged ERPs were clustered into nine bilateral scalp regions: inferior frontal, inferior occipital, inferior temporal, occipital, orbital, parietal, prefrontal, tempoparietal, and temporal. 64 Event-related potential brain source localization. Using all 256 electrode placements, we determined sources of brain localization that employed the sLORETA constraint 45 within the GeoSource software package (version 2.0; EGI).…”

“…In addition, regional averaging controls for the inflated degrees of freedom inherent in recordings from multiple single electrodes. 70 We recommend that future researchers consider using this regional averaging approach based on scalp topography 64 in order to reduce electrode recording errors and type 1 error inflation rates.…”