Keywords

lifetime history of concussions; visuospatial; estimation; novel neuropsychological task

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between visuospatial estimation and a lifetime history of concussions. Current literature on concussions investigates visuospatial working memory and estimation ability separately, but not conjointly. In order to examine this relationship, a novel neuropsychological task was designed to measure visuospatial estimation ability in working memory, named the Perceptual Estimation Test (PET). This novel task was designed with three variations that would increase in complexity as they progressed, and each variation would include three trials. Participants were scored on their accuracy performance during the PET. Participants aged 18-25 were recruited from students attending the University of Central Florida and categorized into two groups: 1) those with a concussion history, and 2) those without a concussion history. Through several mixed ANOVAs, data analysis did not reveal a significant relationship between PET performance and concussion history. However, significant differences in touch accuracy during PET task performances for all participants demonstrate a linearly increasing task difficulty. Estimation accuracy worsened as the task progressed, showing an increase in cognitive load in visuospatial estimation working memory. With future refinement, the PET may be further developed into a valid and new neuropsychological measurement to assess visuospatial estimation ability in working memory.

Thesis Completion Year

2025

Thesis Completion Semester

Fall

Thesis Chair

Sims, Valerie

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Thesis Discipline

Psychology

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright