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Updated: May 22, 2026
A Multi-Modal Approach to Assessing Recovery in Youth Athletes Following Concussion
Published on: September 25, 2014
The good-old-days bias and post-concussion syndrome symptom reporting in a non-clinical sample
Karen A Sullivan1, Shannon L Edmed
1Clinical Neuropsychology Research Group, School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia. karen.sullivan@qut.edu.au
Primary Objective:
To investigate the good-old-days bias, a psychosocial factor associated with post-concussion syndrome (PCS).
Study Design:
Repeated measures comparison of PCS symptoms reported 6 months prior (retrospectively) and currently. A non-clinical sample was used to determine if this bias is a general recall bias.
Methods And Procedures:
Fifty-seven university students with no history of brain injury or neurological disease completed the British Columbia Post-concussion Symptom Inventory. Symptoms were reported on two occasions, spaced 1 week apart, commencing with current symptoms.
Main Outcomes And Results:
Using PCS symptom frequency by severity product scores, there was no significant difference in the 13 PCS symptoms reported across occasions, nor the relevant summary score (p = 0.199). These data do not support the presence of a general recall bias. However, significant differences emerged when analysed using a simple count of the total number of endorsed symptoms (p = 0.002, d = 0.39, small-to-medium effect) or the sample percentage that endorsed each symptom (four symptoms were endorsed by fewer participants retrospectively than currently).
Conclusions:
There is only weak evidence of a general recall bias in this non-clinical sample. Further consideration of the methods used to study this bias and its role clinically is needed.
