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Long-term exposure to high altitude affects spatial working memory in migrants — evidence from time and frequency domain analysis

MA Hai-Lin^1,2, MO Ting², ZENG Tong-Ao², WANG Yan^1,*

¹Center on Aging Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy Sciences, Beijing 100101, China；²Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University/South China Normal University, Lhasa/Guangzhou 850000/510631, China

Abstract

Long-term exposure to high altitude affects spatial working memory. Previous studies have focused on the analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) components in time domain rather than in frequency domain. To explore the influence of long-term high altitude exposure on time dynamic characteristics and neural oscillation process of the spatial working memory, n-back task combined with the technology of event related potential recording was performed on 20 young migrants who grew at low altitude before the age of 18 and moved to high altitude more than three years ago, and 21 young people who had never been to the high altitude. EEG data were recorded, and the time domain and frequency domain analyses were performed. The results showed that the response time was longer and the accuracy rate was lower under the 2-back condition in the high altitude group compared with those in low altitude group. The late positive potential (LPP) amplitude was more negative, P2 amplitude was more positive in the 2-back condition, and the power value of early delta frequency band (1–4 Hz, 160–300 ms) was larger, while the power values of late delta frequency band (1–4 Hz, 450–650 ms) and theta frequency band (4–8 Hz, 450–650 ms) were smaller in the high altitude group compared with those in low altitude group. The results suggested that long-term exposure to high altitude affected the spatial working memory ability of the migrants, which was reflected in the lack of attention resources in the later matching stage, decreased response inhibition ability and information maintenance ability, and thus resulted in impaired spatial working memory.

Key words: spatial working memory; high altitude; P2; late positive potential; time-frequency analysis

Received: 2019-07-10　　Accepted: 2019-12-16

Corresponding author: 王妍　　E-mail: wangyan@psych.ac.cn

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2020.0012

Citing This Article：

MA Hai-Lin, MO Ting, ZENG Tong-Ao, WANG Yan. Long-term exposure to high altitude affects spatial working memory in migrants — evidence from time and frequency domain analysis. Acta Physiol Sin 2020; 72 (2): 181-189 (in Chinese with English abstract).