Collision avoidance behaviours of previously concussed athletes with another athlete

During obstacle avoidance tasks, the cyclic relationship between perception, cognition and action implies that changes to the environment affect a person’s behaviour; however, changes to the observer may also affect this behaviour. Individuals who have experienced a concussion (traumatic brain injury induced by biomechanical forces) display multifaceted deficits during their recovery. Researchers recently investigated the nature of these deficits and how they affect an individual’s abilities. The proposed project aims at studying the strategies used by previously concussed symptom-free athletes when avoiding a collision with another athlete walking along crossing trajectories. Contrarily to non-concussed adults, we expect that behaviours will not be performed collaboratively because recently concussed athletes possess delays in visual-motor processing resulting in poor and delayed path selections. These deficits persist beyond the recovery of concussion symptoms; however, it is unknown how long they persist. It is hoped that the proposed study will narrow the gap in knowledge.

Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Cinelli

Student:

Partner:

Université de Haute Bretagne Rennes 2

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

Wilfrid Laurier University

Program: