Concussions may accelerate normal cognitive deterioration.

So says Steven Broglio, assistant professor at University of Michigan's School of Kinesiology and director of the Neurotrauma Research Laboratory, who will discuss new research in concussions during a lecture provided by the UO Human Physiology department.

Broglio, who has extensively studied concussions in college students, is an author of a new review, published recently in Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, of possible links between sports-related concussions and premature brain aging, The New York Times reported.

In his work, he’s seen lingering if slight declines in college students’ ability to concentrate and attend to information, as well as in their balance and bodily control several years after a concussion, changes that somewhat mimic those in the bodies and brains of elderly people.

“It seems possible, according to our data and that from other labs,” that concussions “may accelerate some of the normal deterioration in cognitive and motor function that we’d expect with aging,” Broglio says.

He will speak from 11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, in 211 Lillis.

His interests include sports medicine, mild traumatic brain injury prevention, biomechanics, assessment and treatment, and postural control.