Center on Aging Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.
Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University/South China Normal University, Guangzhou/Tibet, China.
Brain Behav. 2019 Apr;9(4):e01256. doi: 10.1002/brb3.1256. Epub 2019 Mar 20.
This study aimed to determine the neurocognitive basis underlying the effects of long-term high-altitude (HA) exposure on working memory (WM).
Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we compared the performance of an HA group (individuals who had lived at HA for 3 years but were born and raised at low altitude [LA]) to that of an LA group (individuals who had only lived at LA) on verbal and spatial n-back tasks (i.e., 1- and 2-back memory load).
Response accuracy of the HA group was significantly decreased in comparison to the LA group in both the verbal and spatial 2-back tasks. The P2 amplitude was larger in the HA than in the LA group in the spatial, but not the verbal 2-back task. A smaller late-positive potential (LPP) amplitude was found in the HA group in both the verbal and spatial 2-back tasks.
These results suggest that HA impairs the matching (P2) process in spatial WM tasks and the maintenance (LPP) process in both verbal and spatial WM tasks, indicating that HA had a different effect on verbal and spatial 2-back task performance.
本研究旨在确定长期高海拔（HA）暴露对工作记忆（WM）影响的神经认知基础。
使用事件相关电位（ERPs），我们比较了 HA 组（在 HA 居住 3 年但出生和成长于低海拔[LA]的个体）和 LA 组（仅居住在 LA 的个体）在言语和空间 n-back 任务（即 1 回和 2 回记忆负荷）上的表现。
与 LA 组相比，HA 组在言语和空间 2 回任务中的反应准确性显著降低。与 LA 组相比，HA 组在空间 2 回任务中 P2 振幅更大，但在言语 2 回任务中则不然。在言语和空间 2 回任务中，HA 组的晚期正电位（LPP）振幅较小。
这些结果表明，HA 损害了空间 WM 任务中的匹配（P2）过程和言语及空间 WM 任务中的维持（LPP）过程，表明 HA 对言语和空间 2 回任务表现有不同的影响。
