title: Psychomotor skills learning under chronic hypoxia.
abstract: Psychomotor deficits are a prominent feature in subjects exposed to hypoxia. Eight subjects exposed to chronic hypoxia during a simulated climb to 8848 m (Everest-Comex 97) were investigated using both a simple psychomotor task (Purdue pegboard) and two complex psychomotor tasks including a recognition task of either a color stimulus (high semantic level) or an abstract sign (low semantic level). Exposure to hypoxic stress mainly produced psychomotor skills learning deficits compared to control study, with greater deficits in the complex psychomotor task. The pattern of results suggests disruptions of motor strategic process. Our data further suggest that the relative strength of implicit or automatic memory processes associated with semantic information processing may increase when disturbances occur in brain functions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy 1, Faculté des Sciences, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bouquet
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gardette
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gortan
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Abraini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000532:Altitude Sickness / Q000523:psychology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010108:Oxyhemoglobins