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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Long-term exposure to high altitude attenuates verbal and spatial working memory: Evidence from an event-related
Hailin Ma1,2, Delong Zhang2,3, Xuebing Li1
1Center on Aging Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.
Introduction:
This study aimed to determine the neurocognitive basis underlying the effects of long-term high-altitude (HA) exposure on working memory (WM).
Methods:
Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we compared the performance of an HA group (individuals who had lived at HA for 3 years but were born and raised at low altitude [LA]) to that of an LA group (individuals who had only lived at LA) on verbal and spatial n-back tasks (i.e., 1- and 2-back memory load).
Results:
Response accuracy of the HA group was significantly decreased in comparison to the LA group in both the verbal and spatial 2-back tasks. The P2 amplitude was larger in the HA than in the LA group in the spatial, but not the verbal 2-back task. A smaller late-positive potential (LPP) amplitude was found in the HA group in both the verbal and spatial 2-back tasks.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that HA impairs the matching (P2) process in spatial WM tasks and the maintenance (LPP) process in both verbal and spatial WM tasks, indicating that HA had a different effect on verbal and spatial 2-back task performance.
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