Cognitive effects of long-term residence in the Antarctic environment

This study examined whether prolonged residence in the Antarctica had a significant impact on cognitive performance. Participants were members of the 24th and 25th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expeditions. Cognitive performance was measured with tests designed to evaluate short-term recogniti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gonggu, Yan, Songdi, Wu, Tiangle, Wang, Xuemin, Zhang, Saklofske, Donald H
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2012
Subjects:
Health
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Advances in Polar Science
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Science
Online Access:http://library.arcticportal.org/2462/
http://library.arcticportal.org/2462/1/A20120306.pdf
Description
Summary:This study examined whether prolonged residence in the Antarctica had a significant impact on cognitive performance. Participants were members of the 24th and 25th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expeditions. Cognitive performance was measured with tests designed to evaluate short-term recognition, memory search and spatial cognition, measured four times: January, March, April, and June 2010. Age was controlled as a covariate, and data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. The results revealed that subjects’ short-term memory and recognition ability remained stable, while 82% of team members exhibited improved scores on a spatial cognitive ability test. These findings have important implications for furthering our understanding of cognitive functioning in extreme environments.

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