Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Mathematics

First Advisor

Dr. Katherine W. Hoke

Abstract

Saccadic eye-tracking tests have been advocated as a useful tool to distinguish mTBI patients from healthy people. However, intra-individual variances sometimes interfere with the interpretation of eye-tracking results, especially in experiments when group size is restricted. This study analyzes eye-tracking results of 14 mTBI patients taking the test twice with no medical administration in between. Using more accurate models to fit each individual's result, variables such as asymptote (of the fit func­tions) and hypothetical values for peak velocity, peak acceleration, and duration are derived for variability analysis. We conclude that the asymptotes for peak velocity and peak acceleration are the most reliable variables for future experiments to study, in that these variables have the highest intraclass correlation coefficient and confidence intervals. Moreover, predicted values require fewer participants in each group for the experiment to detect statistical differences between the experimental group and control group. Whichever variable future studies choose to examine, we recommend at least one replication of the same test to be conducted.

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