Date of Graduation

5-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Health, Human Performance and Recreation

Advisor/Mentor

Elbin, Robert J.

Committee Member

Gray, Michelle

Second Committee Member

Ganio, Matthew S.

Third Committee Member

Henry, Luke

Fourth Committee Member

Schatz, Philip

Keywords

Health and environmental sciences; Athletes; Concussion; Neurocognitive

Abstract

There are several factors that influence computerized neurocognitive testing performance however, one factor that has not been examined is the potential deleterious effects of cognitive fatigue from an academic school day combined with time of computerized neurocognitive testing (CNT) administration. The primary purpose of this study was to compare before-and after-school CNT performance and total symptoms in non-concussed high school student athletes. The secondary purpose of this study was to compare before-school and after-school CNT performance and total symptoms and chronotypes in non-concussed student athletes. A crossover design was used to compare before-and after-school CNT performance and total symptoms of 39 non-concussed high school student athletes with an average age of 15.74 (SD = 1.04). Based on previous literature a hypothesis was made that high school student athletes would report higher self-reported fatigue after-school than before-school. Differences in CNT performance and total symptoms were measured by comparing composite scores of verbal memory, visual memory, processing speed, reaction time and total symptoms. In addition, to main outcome measures, several measures were used to control for potential confounding factors that could influence CNT performance. Before-school self-reported fatigue (M = 3.83, SD = 1.64) was significantly higher than after-school (M = 3.06, SD = 1.91) self-reported fatigue. There were no significant differences in verbal memory t(38) = 0.80, p = .43, visual memory t(38) = -0.78, p = .44, processing speed t(38) = .07, p = .94, reaction time t(38) = 1.45, p = .16, or total symptoms t(38) = -0.64, p = .52, between before-school and after-school. Lastly, there were no significant differences in verbal memory F (1, 37) = 1.17, p = .21, η2 = .04, visual memory F (1, 37) = .05, p = .28, η2 = .00, processing speed F (1, 37) = 0.75, p = .39, η2 = .02, reaction time F (1, 37) = 1.65, p = .21, η2 = .04, or total symptoms F (1, 37) = 0.57, p = .46, η2 = .02 between morning and evening chronotypes. The results from this study suggest that sports medicine professionals can administer CNT before-or after-school depending on their schedule and the athlete’s academic and athletic schedule.

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