Attention Network Changes of High-Altitude Migrants.

The present study aimed to explore whether there are changes in the alerting, orienting, and executive network efficiencies of attention function between high altitude immigrants and low altitude residents. Event-related potentials (ERP) were acquired during an attention network test (ANT). The high-altitude (HA) group comprised 22 college student immigrants who were born and raised at low altitudes and had lived at a HA (11,975 ft/3650 m) for 26 mo (tests were conducted when they returned to HA for 3 mo). The low-altitude (LA) group comprised 23 college students who had never visited HA areas before. Compared with the LA group, the HA group had a higher pulse rate, lower oxygen saturation level, and decreased alerting and orienting effects in the behavioral results. The ERP results of the HA group showed a smaller P1 in the occipital area, a larger N1 both in the parietal and occipital areas of the alerting network, and a smaller P1 and larger N1 in the orienting network than the LA group. In the executive control network, the N2 amplitude of the HA group was more negative and the P3 amplitude of the HA group decreased in incongruent conditions. Together, these findings suggest that high-altitude migrants are less effective at alerting and orienting than low-altitude residents. For executive control function, changes in the P3 amplitudes of incongruent conditions indicated a decrease in conflict inhibition underlying the executive-control network.