Differential impact of acute hypoxia on event related potentials: impaired task-irrelevant, but preserved task-relevant processing and response inhibition

The current study investigated how experimentally induced acute normobaric hypoxia affects attentional control functions during easy, monotonous visual sustained attention and response inhibition (modified Continuous Performance Task) and executive control tasks (number-size Stroop task). Along with behavioral efficiency, task relevant and task-irrelevant information processing were investigated by measuring event related brain potentials (ERP) evoked by target stimuli (Target P3), task-relevant stimuli with no response needed (NoGo P3), and task-irrelevant novel stimuli (Novelty P3) during acute hypoxia exposure. Normobaric hypoxia was induced by adjusting the O-2 content of the breathing mixture to obtain 80% peripheral oxygen saturation, equivalent of 5500 m above sea level. Here we report decreased Novelty P3 during acute normobaric hypoxia exposure, while Target P3 and NoGo P3, as well as behavioral efficiency remained intact. Our paper is the first to provide evidence for impaired novelty processing along with intact task-relevant information processing and response inhibition during normobaric hypoxic exposure.