ABSTRACT

In the context of return to play assessment following a sports concussion, athletes may have to complete a cognitive task several times within days. The current longitudinal study aimed to examine the practice effect associated with the serial administration of the switch task. We hypothesized that the practice effect would be the greatest between the first and second assessments and that a plateau would be obtained by the third assessment. Forty healthy university students completed the switch task four times at an interval of 48-hour, with half of them doing version A on all visits (AA group), while the others alternated between A and B every other assessment (AB group). For response accuracy, performance generally improved from V1 to V2, and from V2 to V3 (ps ≤.001), irrespective of group. For reaction time, a significant interaction of Visit × Group was observed. Specifically, AA group performance improved from V1 to V2, and from V2 to V3, while the AB group only improved from V2 to V3 (ps ≤.01). Performance improved over the first three assessments and stabilized with no statistically significant change between the third and fourth testing sessions. Although the use of an alternative version has helped reduce the practice effect, it did not help in eliminating it. The current results highlight the need for further examination of the practice effect and its implication in clinical decision-making. Clinicians working in the sports concussion field must take the practice effect into account when they use the switch task for serial testing.

摘要

在发生脑震荡后重新进行比赛评估时，运动员可能必须在几天内完成几次认知任务。当前的纵向研究旨在检查与切换任务的串行管理相关的实践效果。我们假设在第一次和第二次评估之间实践效果最大，而在第三次评估中将达到平稳状态。40名健康的大学生以48小时的间隔完成了四次转换任务，其中一半在所有访问中进行A版（AA组），而其他每隔一次评估在A和B之间进行交替（AB组）。对于响应精度，性能通常从V1提高到V2，从V2提高到V3（ps≤.001），与组无关。对于反应时间，观察到Visit×Group的显着相互作用。具体地，AA组的性能从V1提高到V2，并从V2至V3，而AB组只从V2至V3（改善PS ≤.01）。在前三次评估中，性能有所提高，并且在第三次和第四次测试之间没有统计学上的显着变化。尽管使用替代版本有助于降低实践效果，但并不能消除这种影响。目前的结果突出了需要进一步检查实践效果及其在临床决策中的意义。在运动脑震荡领域工作的临床医生在使用切换任务进行串行测试时必须考虑实践效果。