The persistent influence of pediatric concussion on attention and cognitive control during flanker performance

• Children with a history of concussion and controls completed a flanker task.
• Concussed children committed more errors and decreased post-error accuracy.
• Concussed children exhibited a myriad of alterations in neuroelectric function.
• Deficits/alterations were greatest for the incompatible condition of the task.
• Pediatric concussion may lead to subtle, but persistent deficits in neurocognition.

This study investigated the influence of concussion history on children's neurocognitive processing. Thirty-two children ages 8–10 years (16 with a concussion history, 16 controls) completed compatible and incompatible conditions of a flanker task while behavioral and neuroelectric data were collected. Relative to controls, children with a concussion history exhibited alterations in the sequential congruency effect, committed more omission errors, and exhibited decreased post-error accuracy. Children with a concussion history exhibited longer N2 latency across task conditions, increased N2 amplitude during the incompatible condition of the task, and decreased P3b amplitude across task conditions. Children with a history of concussion also exhibited decreased ERN and Pe amplitudes, with group difference increasing for the incompatible condition of the task. The current results indicate that pediatric concussion may lead to subtle, but pervasive deficits in attention and cognitive control. These results serve to inform a poorly understood but significant public health concern.