The purpose of this project is to determine the long-term effects of mild traumatic brain injury on the neural correlates of executive function. Executive function (EF) refers to the mental processes that are necessary to take part in goal-oriented behaviors such as organizational skills, ability to focus, and memory recollection (Gosselin et al., 2011; Rabinowitz & Levin, 2014). EF capacities are primarily promoted in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain most vulnerable to concussive injury due to the coup contrecoup motion commonly associated with injuries. Current research has shown that individuals suffering from a concussion present persistent deficiency in EF, such as working memory, inhibitory control, and attentional capacities (Diamond, 2013). Much of the current literature focuses on present concussions and their impacts, instead of the long-term deficits individuals may experience after suffering from injury. This project aims to elucidate the extended effects mild traumatic brain injury may have in day-to-day life. We are collecting EEG/ERP while a participant is completing a standard Go/No-Go task, to determine the impacts of prior concussive injury on EF (Daneshvar et al., 2011). Based on previous literature, we expect to see differences in event-related component N2, a negative deflection between 200 and 300 ms after the presentation of a stimulus. Individuals with a history of one or more concussive injuries are predicted to perform more poorly behaviorally and neurally on EF tasks than control participants.
