[Hypoxia-induced reaction of cardiorespiratory system in persons with different creativity]

The associations between creativity characteristics and tolerance of young healthy subjects to experimentally induced normobaric hypoxia were studied. Inhalation of a gas mix with the lowered content of oxygen (10% O2) proceeded during time necessary for arterial hemoglobin saturation (SaO2) decrease to 80%. In the restoration period subjects breathed usual air during time necessary for SaO2 restoration to reference values. Creativity indicators: originality and fluency of the images created with use of subtests of Torrens "Circles" and "Incomplete figures", and of the sentences--with use of nouns from the remote semantic categories, were defined before hypoxia testing. Positive relationships between figurative originality and hypoxia tolerance indicators, i.e. decrease of SaO2 time and of calculated factor intended for reflecting restoration speed of respiratory system functions, were found. In the analysis of cardiovascular system reactivity, negative correlations between figurative originality and verbal fluency and heart rate in situations of a hypoxia and of cardiorespiratory system function restoration were revealed. Increase of ability to original figurative thinking also corresponded with smaller difference of heart rate increase in restoration situation compared with rest. The obtained associations between characteristics of creative thinking and experimental hypoxia-induced reactivity of cardiovascular and pulmonary systems indicate general mechanism of the nervous regulation underlying adaptive behavior and homeostasis.