Concussion, Cognition, and the Hippocampi in Collegiate Football Players

Accumulating evidence suggests that a history of concussion in young athletes may be associated with changes in cognitive and behavioral performance and with structural and functional changes in the brain as revealed through various neuroimaging techniques. In this cross-sectional investigation, 50 college football players (25 with concussion, 25 without concussion) self-reported their years of organized tackle football experience and the number of clinician-diagnosed concussions during that time period. Before starting Division I college football, players completed a battery of standardized cognitive and behavioral testing summarized as composite measures of verbal memory, visual memory, reaction time, and impulsivity. Investigators perfor…