Testing

Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT™) assesses an individual’s brain function by measuring several components of brain activity, including memory, reaction time, attention span and processing speed.  The Atlantic Neuroscience Institute’s Concussion Center is a certified resting site and administers ImPACT™ testing in two instances:

• Preseason - Test results serve as an individual’s baseline. If an athlete gets injured during the season, his/her post-concussion test is compared to the baseline to evaluate the severity of the concussion. All parents of student-athletes should consider having their children take a baseline test in the event they suffer a concussion during the athletic season. 
  
  
• Post-concussion - A concussed individual’s test results are compared against those of a non-concussed person of the same age and sex to highlight cognitive deficiencies.

The test takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. 

Getting an accurate baseline

An accurate baseline can be critical to the proper management of a concussion. There are several steps an individual can follow to ensure the baseline measurement accurately indicates his or her cognitive abilities with a non-concussed brain:

• Understanding the modules - It is important that the individual be familiar with the types of exercises the ImPACT™ test will require before taking the test. Learn more about exercises presented on a standard ImPACT™ test. 
  
  
• Proper test-taking environment – While taking a baseline test, background noise should be eliminated – as it can interfere with the ability to think clearly. If a child is taking the test, adult supervision is unnecessary and can be a distraction.
  
  
• Not an IQ test - ImPACT™ is not a measure of intelligence. It is important that your child simply performs to the best of his/her ability so the results yield an accurate depiction of his/her cognitive abilities.
  
  
• Obtaining your baseline results - The results of ImPACT™ tests are kept on file at the Concussion Center.