Test-retest reliability of the neurotracker compared to the impact test for the management of mild traumatic brain injuries during two consecutive university sport seasons.

INTRODUCTION: Neurocognitive assessment tools such as the Neurotracker and ImPACT have been proposed to optimize sports-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) management. Baseline testing is recommended with such assessments to individualize monitoring of athletes' remission. While the ideal timeframe between baseline updates has been studied for the ImPACT, these data are missing for the Neurotracker. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to compare the test-retest reliability of the ImPACT and Neurotracker for two consecutive seasons in university athletes participating in sports at risk for mTBI. METHODS: At the start of two consecutive seasons, 30 athletes with no recent history of mTBI completed a baseline assessment including the Neurotracker and the ImPACT. The test-retest reliability of the results was analyzed by considering intra-class correlation (ICC), Becker's standardized mean difference (dB) and Bland-Altman' plot of each outcome. RESULTS: The Neurotracker and the Visual Motor Speed composite score of the ImPAC were the only outcomes with significative ICCs and acceptable dB between the two seasons. Neurotracker was the only outcome with a significative bias (+0.179). CONCLUSION: Our research suggests that the Neurotracker has an acceptable level of test-retest reliability after one year in comparison to the ImPACT.

Effect of Intermittent Exercise on Performance in 3D Multiple Objects Tracking in Children, Young and Older Adults-A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Although an extensive body of literature is trying to verify the acute effects of exercise, findings are highly contradictory due to many different study protocols. The number of studies using an intermittent exercise (IE) protocol is limited, especially with regard to comparison across the life span. We examined whether the effects of a HIIE protocol on performance in a perceptual-cognitive task (NeuroTracker® (NT)) differed between children, young adults, and older adults to address this gap. METHODS: A total of 36 participants participated in the present study: 12 children (CH, 6 females, 9.83 ± 1.19 years), 12 young adults (YA, 6 females, 23.5 ± 3.55 years), and 12 older adults (OA, 4 females, 66.92 ± 4.08 years). The IE treadmill protocol used in the present study consisted of eleven 30-second intervals at 90% VO2max, interspersed with 2-minute active recovery periods at 50% VO2max. Before and during this exercise protocol, three series of the NeuroTracker® task were performed after 5, 15, and 25 minutes. RESULTS: We observed a significant main effect time and a significant main effect group regarding absolute NT scores and progression during IE. YA had significantly higher absolute NT scores than CH and OA. The normalized perceptual-cognitive task progression was observed in OA and YA but not in CH. YA, in particular, showed progression in the NT performance during IE. CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirmed previous findings on age-related differences in NT performance. Based on these findings, the effects of different exercise protocols (e.g., continuous vs. intermittent) seem to be a worthwhile subject for future investigations. Normalized speed thresholds should best capture improvement differences between groups to compare results across studies better, as pre-test values are taken as the baseline.

Testing the Effects of 3D Multiple Object Tracking Training on Near, Mid and Far Transfer.

Cognitive training (CT) aims to develop domain general mental abilities to support functions like decision making, multitasking, and performance under pressure. Research to date has indicated that CT likely aids performance on lab-based cognitive tests, but there has been little demonstration of transfer to tasks representative of real-world high performance environments. This study aimed to assess transfer from a CT intervention to near and mid-level transfer tasks, plus a far transfer test representative of real-world multitasking in a military environment. 84 participants were randomized to four independent training groups, using NeuroTracker, a CT task based on 3D object tracking. There was no evidence for near transfer (to another object tracking task) or for far transfer to a route monitoring task designed to replicate real-world multitasking. There may, however, have been some improvement in working memory performance as a result of training. These findings raise further questions about whether domain general CT will transfer to real-world performance. Effective uses of CT may require more task specific training targeting mid-level transfer effects.

Could Neurotracker be used as a clinical marker of recovery following pediatric mild traumatic brain injury? An exploratory study.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the potential for the Neurotracker, a perceptual-cognitive, multiple-object tracking test, and train paradigm, as a marker of functional recovery after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). It is hypothesized that Neurotracker could serve as a proxy for assessing cerebral functioning. RESEARCH DESIGN: A comparative, 6 time points, longitudinal study design was used to compare Neurotracker performance between children and adolescents who were clinically recovered from mTBI and healthy controls. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Clinical measures were collected at the initial and final visits. Neurotracker trainings were performed at each of the 6 visits. Speed thresholds (Neurotracker performance) were recorded at each visit. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: A two-way repeated measures ANOVA suggested no differences between the groups but a significant time effect was apparent. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically recovered children and adolescents exhibit similar training abilities to control subjects on this task. These results support further investigations using Neurotracker as a marker of recovery following mTBI.

Evaluación de habilidades perceptivo-cognitivas en deportistas universitarios / Evaluation of cognitive-perceptive abilities in university athletes

El objetivo de este estudio ha sido evaluar la habilidad perceptiva cognitiva de los deportistas seleccio-nados de la Universidad de Playa Ancha a través de una herramienta tecnológica de seguimiento de objetos múltiples dentro de un campo visual (Neurotracker). Se utilizó una metodología de carácter cuantitativo enmarcado dentro del paradigma positivista de tipo descriptivo. La muestra fue de 101 deportistas de diversas disciplinas y ambos sexos, todos escogidos a través del método de muestreo por conveniencia o selección intencionada. Los datos obtenidos fueron analizados a través de estadística descriptiva inferencial. Los resultados muestran que la clasificación del deporte (estructura abierta y estructura cerrada) influencia el rendimiento perceptivo-cognitivo del deportista, existiendo una estricta relación con las horas de entrenamiento. Ambas variables son directamente proporcional a los resultados y, se presentan diferencias significativas según sexo.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the cognitive-perceptive ability of selected athletes from Universidad Playa Ancha by means of a technological tracking tool for multiple objects within a visual field (Neurotracker). The researchers applied quantitative methods based on the positivist paradigm of descriptive type. The sample size consisted of 101 female and male athletes from various majors, all of whom were selected through the convenience sampling method. The data was analyzed using infe-rential descriptive statistics. The study results demonstrate that the sports classification (open struc-ture and closed structure) influences the perception/cognitive performance of the athletes, showing a strong relationship to the number of hours of athletic training. Both variables were found to be directly proportional to the results and there were significant differences based on sex/gender

Cholinergic Potentiation Improves Perceptual-Cognitive Training of Healthy Young Adults in Three Dimensional Multiple Object Tracking.

A large body of literature supports cognitive enhancement as an effect of cholinergic potentiation. However, it remains elusive whether pharmacological manipulations of cholinergic neurotransmission enhance complex visual processing in healthy individuals. To test this hypothesis, we randomly administered either the cholinergic transmission enhancer donepezil (DPZ; 5 mg P.O.) or placebo (lactose) to young adults (n = 17) 3 h before each session of the three-dimensional (3D) multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) task. This multi-focal attention task evaluates perceptual-cognitive learning over five sessions conducted 7 days apart. A significant amount of learning was observed in the DPZ group but not the placebo group in the fourth session. In the fifth session, this learning effect was observed in both groups. Furthermore, preliminary results for a subgroup of participants (n = 9) 4-14 months later suggested the cholinergic enhancement effect was long lasting. On the other hand, DPZ had no effect on basic visual processing as measured by a motion and orientation discrimination task performed as an independent one-time, pre-post drug study without placebo control (n = 10). The results support the construct that cholinergic enhancement facilitates the encoding of a highly demanding perceptual-cognitive task although there were no significant drug effects on the performance levels compared to placebo.