I’m sure everyone now knows what a concussion is and why they are so dangerous to athletes that play sports with high risks of getting a concussion. Due to the recent concern about concussions and their true dangers, most high school athletes are required to take a test called the ImPACT test. This is a computerized test that is able to determine if an athlete is concussion symptom free and able to return to his or her sport. The baseline ImPACT test is given before the athletes season when the athlete is not concussed. Then during the season, if an athlete suffers a concussion, the ImPACT test is administered to determine if the athlete reached their baseline threshold. Once their baseline is obtained, they are able to return to their sport. The ImPACT test relies on many of the same memory concepts we learned about to determine whether or not an athlete is healthy.

I played ice hockey in high school and suffered three concussions as a result of playing. They are not fun. However, in order for me to return to play, I had to take and pass the ImPACT test. Many of the activities Dr. Wede demonstrated for us in class, such as memorizing words in a sequence or saying the color of the ink of the word and not the word itself, appear on the ImPACT test. Every time he would set up one of the demonstrations, I’d be brought back to taking the damn ImPACT test (I hated the thing, it was not something you’d want to take if you had a serious concussion). The ImPACT test uses the demonstrations, as well as other tests, to help determine the ability of your short term memory after a concussion. Some of these tests were memorizing three letters, then performing a set of tasks, then being asked to remember what the three original letters were. Other tests tested for your reaction times and there were still others that tested for memory.

Psychology and the principles of psychology are even used in sports and the treatment of athletes who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. I never realized the reach that psychology had. I always thought psychology was the man in the chair sitting next to you as you laid in a sofa and he asked you about your feelings. This class has shown me how much of an effect it has on everything in the world around us, not just in the stereotypical viewpoint of it.