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Running head: PSYCHOLOGY 1

Cognitive Psychology

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PSYCHOLOGY 2

Cognitive Psychology

Repeated Sports-Related Concussions

The main objective of this paper is to examine and evaluate the latest research and

findings relating to continuous sports concussions as well as impacts on the working memory.

The article also submits a research topic proposed for future exploration that includes the people

who will handle the study and the research as well. Depending on the several studies done in the

recent years, continuous concussions primarily associated and related with sports and games

have been observed to have a meaningful relationship and connection with the memory working

as well as functioning in the human brain. Traumatic injuries on the brain is another term used to

refer to concussions. The most common traumatic brain injury usually abbreviated and termed as

MTBI, and it has primarily been associated with several cognitive signs and symptoms which

include the working and functioning memory, motor performance as well as the real response

inhibitions.

The pervasiveness act of the given cognitive symptoms and signs are usually considered

to be very controversial and are seen to have significant effects on the activation of the human

brain as well as the neuropsychological functioning. The situation occurs to the individuals and

participants who participate in several sports for an extended and enlarged period more so for

about eight years. The given games and sports associated with the concussions handled include

boxing as well as soccer. All this depend on the association existing between shock and sports.

Literature Review

According to Gosselin et al., 2010, concussion events, as well as incidents and situations,

have advanced and increased at a very high rate and hence they performed research to establish

the relationship between the shocks which is usually associated with the contact sport as well as

PSYCHOLOGY 3

their impacts on the functioning of the brain. The research study showed that twenty footballers

in the college had MTBIs. To have a better understanding on the operation of the mind after

going through several sports concussions, the study researchers utilized advanced methods of

MRI as well as event-related potentials to assess the functioning of the cerebral brain.

Techniques in psychological testing which `were applied in the assessment of verbal as well as

motor responses and the neural processes which are always related to the cognitive and

behavioral demands. The outcome was that the end-related potentials failed to provide a

temporal resolution, and on the other hand, the functional MRI mainly enhances structure

identification, which usually takes place when people perform a given task.

In the research study conducted by McKeever and Schatz, (2013), many people who

participated in sports were considered vulnerable to the above conditions more so those who

attended for long periods. Scientists argue that changing or stopping the ball direction using the

head in the process of playing soccer is equivalent and similar to hitting a vehicle traveling at a

speed of thirty miles per hour using your head. The ball runs an individual in his or

administrator, the neurons in the head get destroyed and damaged hence making the brain cells to

die in a manner which cannot be repaired or replaced.

Mendez, Hurley & Taber (2015) gained similar results with Martin et al. (2011) after

undertaking a study that was very extensive regarding the association and relationship between

the sport-related concussions and the working memory. The researchers concluded that physical

sports with high contact hurt the working memory of an individual because they cause damage in

given areas of the brain which lead to other diseases which may later lead to suicide or death.

As concluded by Keightley et al. (2014), the individual rate of displaying concussions has

led and impacted on the development of concerns by the researchers on how to have the cases

PSYCHOLOGY 4

mitigated. Most of the signs and symptoms have been associated and linked with concussions for

both adults and children. According to Keightley et al. (2014) to arrive at the findings, they

researched the effect of continuous shocks related to the memory functioning and operation of

the adolescents’ brains. The research findings showed that the participants' behavior with the

repeated sports linked to concussions is among the aspects utilized in the process of determining

the similarity and connection between the case and the working of the memory.

According to Theriault et al. (2011), the event-related potentials, including sports and

games, have been seen to be critical and vital in the process of pervasiveness detections as well

as alterations. The study was trying to investigate the storage and the working of the memory and

its impact on the history of sports. The findings showed that there were many outcomes

regarding the working memory in the players who had a long history in the sporting activities

because they were observed to have experienced concussions more than thrice compared to the

individuals who had played for an extended period. The researchers concluded that individuals

who engaged in sports for an extended period showed odd behaviors which indicated that the

performance of the memory had been affected. Several people remembered the time they joined

the sporting activities, but they could not remember the day.

Proposed Research

The main objective of the research study was to find out if endless sporting activities

have a relationship with concussions and whether they predispose a person to impairments that

have long term cognitive effects. The participants that had targeted in the research included the

athletes who had retired and who had repeated cases of concussions and participated in sports of

high contact such as the American football and soccer which got evaluated in comparison with

the individuals participating in non-contact sports which include swimming, tennis, and non-

PSYCHOLOGY 5

athletes. The different participants got categorized into several groups, whereby group one was

made up of the athletes who had experiences in concussions. The second group was made up of

the athletes who had never experienced shock, and the third group was composed of the

individuals who were non-athletes.

During the study, the participants' conditions were assessed depending on the period they

are entirely participating in sporting activities, and the severity in their cognitive state get

evaluated. The obtained results determined whether concussions relating to games lead to long

term cognitive impairment. The applied hypothesis during the research is that concussions are

usually associated with sports and can lead to cases of cognitive impairments to the individual.

Methods and Techniques

Participants

During the research that was to get performed, 230 people will be chosen to participate.

The selection will get made by carrying out advertisements in the community gyms and

recreational centers. Notifications will also get sent on the websites related to health. Telephone

calls, as well as emails, will be sent to the likable candidates. The successful candidates should

include students who participate and take a role in leisure sports and who study at Florida

International University. High school coaches will also get considered for the exercise as well as

the players who have shown signs of concussions.

The selected participants must range between eighteen years and fifty years. No

participants should be a disadvantage when it comes to age issues. The other topics that will be

considered apart from age include the consistency of participation in games and sporting events

and the presence of sporting-related concussions. From the two hundred and that people selected

PSYCHOLOGY 6

three groups will get made. This shows that each group will have participates evenly distributed.

Demographic questionnaires will get filled by the participants in different levels of the activities.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of the research obtained in the reviewed studies, continuous sport-

related concussions were discovered to have negative impacts on the memory functioning of the

athlete. It got found that the outcome was worse on the operation of the memory of the

individuals who had continued participation in sporting activities. The people who had

participated in sporting activities for long were discovered to experience several concussions

when compared to those who had competed for long. According to the findings by Keightley et

al. (2014), individuals who were players and experienced continuous concussions underwent

alterations in their brain functioning more so in the working and functioning of the memory in

both adults and children.

Moreover, in Gosselin's study (2010), the researchers discovered that athletes who had

experiences of concussions originating were disadvantaged in terms of memory functioning, and

they tend to forget easily. The articles utilized in the research have explained and shown a good

indication that cases of concussion originate from sports and usually hurt the functioning of the

memory. The impacts also predispose a person to long term cognitive impairments in the future.

PSYCHOLOGY 7

References

Gosselin, N., Saluja, R. S., Chen, J. K., Bottari, C., Johnston, K., & Ptito, A. (2010). Brain

functions after sports-related concussion: insights from event-related potentials and

functional MRI. The Physician and sports medicine, 38(3), 27-37.

Keightley, M. L., Singh Saluja, R., Chen, J. K., Gagnon, I., Leonard, G., Petrides, M., & Ptito, A.

(2014). A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of working memory in youth

after sports-related concussion: is it still working?. Journal of Neurotrauma, 31(5), 437-

451.

McKeever, C. K., & Schatz, P. (2013). Current issues in the identification, assessment, and

management of concussions in sports-related injuries. Applied Neuropsychology, 10(1),

4-11.

Mendez, C. V., Hurley, R. A., Lassonde, M., Zhang, L., & Taber, K. H. (2015). Mild traumatic

brain injury: neuroimaging of sports-related concussion. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry

and clinical neurosciences, 17(3), 297-303.

Pearce, A. J. & Fitzgerald, P. B. (2014). The long-term effects of sports concussion on retired

Australian football players: a study using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Journal of

Neurotrauma, 31(13), 1139-1145.

Thériault, M., De Beaumont, L., Tremblay, S., Lassonde, M., & Jolicoeur, P. (2011). Cumulative

effects of concussions in athletes revealed by electrophysiological abnormalities on visual

working memory. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33(1), 30-41.

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