Prolonged eye‐hand decoupling deficits in young adults with a history of concussion from adolescence

Abstract

Previous studies reported that adolescents with a sport-related concussion history showed prolonged visuomotor deficits during an eye-hand decoupling task until around 1.5-2 years post-event. The present study expands this work, examining whether such deficits do or do not emerge when testing individuals in young adulthood, i.e. later post-event. Twenty-one nonathlete college students with sport-related concussion history from adolescence (CH; M = 21 yrs.; M = 46 months post-concussion, range 10-90 months) and twenty controls with no history of concussion (NoH; M = 21 yrs.) performed two touchscreen-based visuomotor tasks. It included a coupled task where eyes and hand moved in similar directions, and decoupled-task with eyes and hand going to different directions. Movement planning (e.g. reaction time, initial direction error) and execution (e.g. movement time, path length) related variables were analyzed in both groups and conditions. Movement execution measures were similar for both groups and conditions (all p > 0.05). However, movement planning was impaired in the CH participants in the eye-hand decoupling condition (p < 0.05). CH's initial direction error was larger (i.e. worse spatial movement planning) than in the NoH group. Although movement execution deficits shown in earlier work in youth were not present in young adults, the present results suggest that a sport-related concussion sustained in adolescence can lead to prolonged deficits with spatial movement planning processes while performing eye-hand decoupling tasks about four years post-injury. Further research should investigate whether these deficits continue into adulthood and expand control on time since concussion and number of concussion metrics. Highlights. Young adult college students with a history of a sport-related concussion from adolescence, tested about four years post-incident, showed spatial movement preparation deficits during an eye-hand decoupling visuomotor task. . Eye-hand reversal decoupling errors also correlated with time since concussion in those with concussion history. . These prolonged eye-hand decoupling deficits may emerge with ongoing time post-event, as comparable deficits were absent in previous work where youth were tested sooner post-injury. . Our current findings point towards long-lasting performance impairments in young adult nonathletes after a sport-related concussion from adolescence.