TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Acute hypoxic gas breathing severely impairs cognition and task learning in humans
JO  - Physiology and behavior
A1  - Turner, Clare E.
A1  - Barker-Collo, Suzanne L.
A1  - Connell, Charlotte J. W.
A1  - Gant, Nicholas
SP  - 104
EP  - 110
VL  - 142
IS  - 
N2  - Impairments in neural function are common when oxygen supply to the brain is reduced. This study examined neurocognitive processes that are vulnerable to oxygen deprivation. We induced moderate-to-severe hypoxia in healthy adults, thereby inducing impairments caused by low brain oxygen availability. 22 healthy adults participated in this matched-pairs study with a single-blind, randomised design. Baseline neurocognitive function was examined during a familiarisation trial and participants were assigned to hypoxia (10% O2) or sham (21% O2) groups. Neurocognitive performance was assessed via computerised test battery after 50min of breathing a gas mixture that reduced arterial oxygen saturation by 20% (p<0.01). Hypoxia severely reduced performance across all neurocognitive domain scores; with significant drops in neurocognitive index (-20%), composite memory (-30%), verbal memory (-34%), visual memory (-23%), processing speed (-36%), executive function (-20%), psychomotor speed (-24%), reaction time (-10%), complex attention (-19%) and cognitive flexibility (-18%; all p<0.05). Practice effects were blocked by hypoxia but occurred in sham for information processing speed (+30%), executive function (+14%), psychomotor speed (+18%), reaction time (+5%), cognitive flexibility (+14%), and overall cognitive functioning (+9%; all p<0.05). Neuropsychological performance decrements caused by acute experimental hypoxia are comparable to cognitive domains impaired with high altitude exposure and mild traumatic brain injury.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0031-9384
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.02.006
ID  - ref1
ER  -