{
  "abstract": "Background: Head acceleration events (HAEs) are common in contact sports, but season-long exposure and its relationship with cognitive performance in amateur British American football remain poorly characterised. Methods: Thirty male players were recruited from three British amateur American football teams. Selected Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 6 (SCAT6) components and computerised tasks were assessed across the season. Seasonal analyses included 20 participants, and exposure-linked analyses included 17. Helmet-sensor events were attributed to participants and restricted to participant-assignment and baseline-to-post-season calendar windows. Mixed-effects models assessed seasonal outcomes. Principal component analysis (PCA) summarised standardised baseline-to-post-season changes, and six exposure associations were evaluated. Results: Players recorded a mean of 768 (SD 482) events. Several individual tests improved across the season. The first principal component (PC1) explained 21.9% of change variance and had loadings with opposing signs. Prior seasons had a nominal association with PC1 (slope -0.153, 95% CI -0.305 to -0.00018; r2=0.233; p=0.0498), which did not survive six-test Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) adjustment (p=0.299). No in-season exposure association survived adjustment. Conclusion: Repeated-test performance improved, while exposure associations remained uncertain. The mixed PC1 pattern cannot be interpreted as a uniform measure of global cognitive worsening or improvement.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Exeter"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "P. G. Weightman Potter"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Rose"
    },
    {
      "name": "N. Tolliday"
    },
    {
      "name": "B. Bond"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5krbae0ad3524.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.30.755702",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755702v1.full",
  "id": "5krbae0ad3524",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755702v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2713|Traumatic Brain Injury Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220865591",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755702v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-30",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5krbae0ad3524.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:26:27Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.30.755702",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755702v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Season-long head acceleration exposure, prior contact-sport history, and cognitive performance in British amateur American football players",
  "title_text": "Season-long head acceleration exposure, prior contact-sport history, and cognitive performance in British amateur American football players",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T00:20:43Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5krbae0ad3524",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}