Altered Brain Activation in Youth following Concussion: Using a Dual-task Paradigm

ABSTRACT

A concussion is known as a functional injury affecting brain communication, integration, and processing. There is a need to objectively measure how concussions disrupt brain activation while completing ecologically relevant tasks.

The objective of this study was to compare brain activation patterns between concussion and comparison groups (non-concussed youth) during a cognitive-motor single and dual-task paradigm utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in regions of the frontal-parietal attention network and compared to task performance.

Youth with concussion generally exhibited hyperactivation and recruitment of additional brain regions in the dorsal lateral prefrontal (DLPFC), superior (SPC) and inferior parietal cortices (IPC), which are associated with processing, information integration, and response selection. Additionally, hyper- or hypo-activation patterns were associated with slower processing speed on the cognitive task. Our findings corroborate the growing literature suggesting that neural recovery may be delayed compared to the restoration of behavioral performance post-concussion.

Concussion, near-infrared spectroscopy, dual-task paradigm, cognitive, motor, brain activation

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the PRISM lab and Concussion Centre staff at the Bloorview Research Institute for all the support with data collection, analysis, and recruitment.

Disclosure Of Potential Conflicts Of Interest

Author Karolina J Urban declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Michelle Keightley declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Larissa Schudlo declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Sam Alain declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Nick Reed declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Tom Chau declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to adherence of ethical standards set by the Research Ethics Board at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in order to protect privacy of participants but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request and submission/acceptance from the Research Ethics Board.

Statement Of Human Rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee Research Ethics Board at Bloorview Research Institute at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the ONF-REPAR Grant and the E & G Odette Foundation for funding Karolina Urban’s Graduate Scholarship;E & G Odette Foundation;ONF-REPAR;