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Repeated exposure to moderate cold impairs matching-to-sample performance
J R Thomas1, S T Ahlers, J F House
1Environmental Medicine Department, Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, MD.
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine
|November 1, 1989
Summary
Even moderate cold exposure (5°C) impairs complex cognitive performance, specifically on conditional discrimination tasks. Repeated exposures did not reduce the negative impact on accuracy and response times.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Environmental Physiology
- Human Performance
Background:
- Understanding the impact of environmental stressors on cognitive function is crucial for safety and performance.
- Moderate cold exposure, even without inducing hypothermia, may affect complex cognitive tasks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of moderate cold (5°C) on complex cognitive performance.
- To determine if repeated cold exposures attenuate performance decrements.
Main Methods:
- Subjects performed a conditional discrimination task involving matching matrices under cold (5°C) and ambient conditions.
- Performance was assessed across three repeated weekly sessions comparing cold and ambient temperatures.
Main Results:
- Response accuracy was consistently impaired during cold exposure sessions.
- Choice response latencies increased, while sample response latencies decreased in the cold.
- The magnitude of performance impairment was not reduced by repeated cold exposures.
Conclusions:
- Moderate cold exposure significantly impairs complex cognitive performance on a conditional discrimination task.
- Even brief, repeated exposures to moderate cold do not lead to adaptation or reduced performance deficits.