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Introduction Repeated sports-related concussion has been associated with cognitive deficits, like other forms of traumatic brain injury. Football speed players (FSP; e.g. quarterbacks) are at greater risk of cognitive impairment compared to football non-speed players (FNP). Verbal fluency is typically comprised of two tasks: letter fluency (LF) and semantic fluency (SF). Verbal clustering (production of continuous words belonging to the same category or subcategory) and switching (abandoning an exhausted semantic cluster to a new one in order to produce more words) reflect executive control and strategy use. We examined LF, SF, as well as LF and SF switching and clustering performance in retired FSP, FNP, and healthy comparison (HC) participants. Methods The sample consisted of 28 HC, 17 retired FSP, and 53 retired FNP. ANOVAs were conducted to determine group differences on LF, SF, switching, and clustering. FSP and FNP did not differ in concussion frequency. Results We found the HC group outperformed the FSP group in LF, p = 0.042, ηp2 = 0.07. For SF, the HC and FNP groups outperformed the FSP group, p = 0.013, ηp2 = 0.09. Furthermore, we found the HC group outperformed both football groups in SF switching, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.17. Conclusion As expected, the HC group outperformed the FSP group on LF and SF. Also, the FNP group outperformed the FSP group on SF. Interestingly, FSP displayed generally worse performances, supporting the notion that their experience of sub-concussive blows puts them at greater risk for cognitive impairment. Further investigation is needed with larger sample sizes to evaluate SF and other cognitive deficits in the FSP participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction We examined the impact of perceived workload and depressive symptoms on Rey-15 plus recognition (RMT) in ethnic minority participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods The sample consisted of 63 healthy comparison [HC: 38 with ethnic minority status (EM) & 25 non-ethnic minority Caucasian (NEM)] participants and 40 persons with TBI (18 EM; 22 NEM). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to measure depressive symptoms (HADS-D) and the NASA-Task Load Index (NASA TLX) to measure perceived workload. Results ANCOVAs revealed that NEM outperformed EM on the RMT, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.37. TBI survivors reported higher levels of HADS-D compared to HC participants, p = 0.018, ηp2 = 0.06. Additionally, the EM group reported higher levels of frustration on the RMT compared to NEMs, p = 0.033, ηp2 = 0.05. Interactions emerged for physical demand where NEM participant's with TBI had higher ratings than EM participants with TBI. For HCs, the EM participants provided higher physical demand ratings than their NEM counterparts, p = 0.029, ηp2 = 0.05. Additionally, a significant relationship between HADS-D and RMT was observed in the healthy NEM participants (r = −0.558, p = 0.004) and NEM participants with TBI (r = −0.288, p = 0.080). Finally, significant relationships between HADS-D and mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, frustration, and overall subjective workload were observed in healthy EM participants, r = 0.342–0.431, p < 0.05. Conclusion Consistent with previous research, TBI survivors reported higher levels of depressive symptoms, which were associated with RMT performances. Overall, our data suggest the relationship between perceived workload, depression, and performance is complex and that investigators should interpret performance validity scores in person with TBI, depression, and/or EM status with great care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We examined two established Spanish-English bilingual norms to assess if traumatic brain injury (TBI) deficits were still found if language was no longer a variable influencing Boston Naming Test (BNT) performance. Method The sample consisted of 47 healthy comparison (HC; 24 English-Monolinguals; 23 Spanish-English Bilinguals), 33 acute TBI (ATBI; 20 English-Monolinguals; 13 Spanish-English Bilinguals), and 25 Chronic TBI (CTBI: 13 English-Monolinguals; 12 Spanish-English Bilinguals) participants. Raw scores and adjusted demographic T-scores (Roberts et al. 2002; Rosselli et al. 1997) were used to evaluate BNT performance. Results An ANCOVA controlling for age, revealed the HC group outperformed the TBI group on the BNT (raw score), p = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.11. We also found monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on the BNT, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.24. Using the Roberts et al. (2002) norms, we found the HC group outperformed the TBI group, p = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.11, but no language differences were found. Next, using Rosselli et al. (1997) norms, we found the HC group outperformed the TBI group on the BNT, p = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.11, and monolingual speakers outperformed bilingual speakers, p = 0.014, ηp2 = 0.06. No interactions were found. Conclusions As expected, the TBI group demonstrated worse BNT performance compared to HC group on both language norms. However, when using Roberts et al. (2002) Spanish-English bilingual norms, no language group differences were found. Our data indicates that when examining BNT performance in a Spanish-English bilingual and English-monolingual TBI sample, Roberts et al. (2002) normative data may be better suited to evaluate BNT deficits in a TBI while taking language into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]