A longitudinal study on the impact of high-altitude hypoxia on perceptual processes

This study aimed to explore the neural mechanisms underlying high-altitude (HA) adaptation and deadaptation in perceptual processes in lowlanders. Eighteen healthy lowlanders were administered a facial S1-S2 matching task that included incomplete face (S1) and complete face (S2) photographs combined with ERP technology. Participants were tested at four time points: shortly before they departed the HA (Test 1), twenty-five days after entering the HA (Test 2), and one week (Test 3) and one month (Test 4) after returning to the lowlands. Compared with those at sea level (SL), shorter reaction times (RTs), shorter latencies of P1 and N170, and larger amplitudes of complete face N170 were found in HAs. After returning to SL, compared with that of HA, the amplitude of the incomplete face P1 was smaller after one week, and the complete face was smaller after one month. The right hemisphere N170 amplitude was greater after entering HA and one week after returning to SL than at baseline, but it returned to baseline after one month. Taken together, the current findings suggest that HA adaptation increases visual cortex excitation to accelerate perceptual processing. More mental resources are recruited during the configural encoding stage of complete faces after HA exposure. The perceptual processes affected by HA exposure are reversible after returning to SL, but the low-level processing stage differs between incomplete and complete faces due to neural compensation mechanisms. The configural encoding stage in the right hemisphere is affected by HA exposure and requires more than one week but less than one month to recover to baseline. We demonstrated that high-altitude adaptation accompanies increased occipital lobe excitation, and more neural resources are recruited during the configural encoding stage. Moreover, this change is reversible after returning to the lowlands, and the neural compensation mechanism exists. It provided new insights for understanding how hypoxia affects nonprefrontal lobe functions.