Long-term high altitude exposure influence the processing stage of conflict inhibition / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the neutral mechanism of influence of long-term exposure to high altitude hypoxia environment on the processing stage of conflict inhibition.Methods:Differences in the electroencephalogram during a 2-1 mapping Stroop task were compared between a high-altitude (HA) group ( n=20) who lived in a high-altitude area (3 650 m) for two years, and a low-altitude (LA) group ( n=20) who had never visited high-altitude areas. Results:The HA group had a higher pulse rate ((82.0±9.7)/min vs (74.0±11.3)/min) and lower oxygen saturation level ((90.7±2.8)% vs (97.4±1.1)%) compared with LA group.Behavior data showed that the reaction time (RT) in congruent (CO) condition was shorter than that in stimulus incogruent (SI) condition, and the RT in SI condition was shorter than that in RI condition ((707.91±70.33)ms vs (753.76±72.96)ms vs (803.88±73.21)ms); accuracy(ACC) rate in SI condition was higher than CO condition, and the ACC in CO condition was higher than RI condition((96.35±2.91)% vs (95.90±2.83)% vs (91.55±5.22)%). And the response conflict effect was larger than the stimulus conflict effect((49.76±33.90) vs (23.60±30.20)). The differences were all statistically significant (all P<0.01). In SI condition, the RT of HA group was longer than LA group((730.43±60.50)ms vs (777.09±78.23)ms) ( P<0.05). As for the EEG, the amplitude of P2((6.18±0.62)μV vs (3.21±0.62)μV) and N450((1.39±1.48)μV vs (5.91±1.48)μV) component of the HA group were higher those that of the LA group.The amplitude of N450 at P4 electrode site was larger than that at P3 electrode site in HA group((2.26±1.34)μV vs (0.62±1.43)μV). The differences were all statistically significant (all P<0.05). Conclusion:Long-term exposure to high altitude hypoxia environment affects the early stage of stimulus perception and task retrieval, as well as the conflict monitoring in later stage of stimulus and response conflict.The HA group need compensation of right parietal to complete the conflict monitoring of stimulus and response conflict.