Effects of Playing Positions on Memory and Auditory Comprehension in High School Football Players with a Mild Concussion

Abstract

According to a Gallup poll in 2017, football is the most popular sport in United States (Retrieved from http://news.gallup.com/poll/224864/football-americans-favoritesport-watch.aspx) [1] with 37% of US adults picking football as their favorite sport. The popularity of football spans the generations including high school teenagers. According to a report by the National Federation of State High School Associations [2], football is the number 1 participatory sport for boys at the high school level and is the leading cause of injuries in high school players. Purpose: This study examined whether different playing positions of high school football players are associated with impaired memory and auditory comprehension at a sentence level after a concussion. The specific research questions are 1) whether there are significant differences in memory on the Immediate Postconcussion Assessment Cognitive Test (ImPACT) between a speed-positions group and a non-speed positions group, and 2) whether there are significant differences in auditory comprehension on Subtest VIII of the Computerized-Revised Token Test (CRTT) between the speed-positions group and the non-speed positions group.