Acute cold stress and mild hypothermia impact on short-term, working memory and attention

Abstract

The effect of single acute cold water exposure on the cognitive function (short-term, working memory and attention) was examined in 25 male subjects who were exposed to 14 °C cold water (air temperature ~22 °C, rh ~45%) in the semi-recumbent posture (up to the shoulders) until the rectal temperature (T<sub>re</sub>) dropped to 35.5 °C. 6 subjects were excluded from the study, because we do not reach a necessary condition to drop their (T<sub>re</sub>) to 35.5 °C in 170 minutes during a passive cooling procedure. During the cold exposure rectal (T<sub>re</sub>), skin (T<sub>sk</sub>) temperatures, heart rate (HR) were measured and cold strain (CSI) was calculated. A cognitive test battery (EFFECTON-COLD) was administrated two times (randomized): as a control measurement (CONTROL) and after the single acute cold water exposure (COLD). After COLD T<sub>re</sub> and T<sub>sk</sub> significantly decreased (p < 0.05). The average of HR and COLD time was 82.61 ± 4.09 and 93.68 ± 8.66, respectively. The COLD induced CSI resulted as high cold strain (7.02 ± 0.22). The present study manifested that mild hypothermia and high cold strain experienced in humans during acute cold stress, impair memory and attention tests performance in more complex tasks (tasks requiring working memory, attention concentration, sustention and speed of information processing) while simple tasks remain unaffected (tasks requiring short-term memory and attention concentration for fast response).

Global REACH 2018: The influence of acute and chronic hypoxia on cerebral haemodynamics and related functional outcomes during cold and heat stress

“…The heat-induced reduction in CBF is mediated primarily by arterial hypocapnia secondary to heat-induced hyperventilation; this observation is evidenced by a partial (Brothers et al 2009) or full (Nelson et al 2011;Bain et al 2013) restoration of CBF during heat stress when eucapnia is acutely restored or when hyperventilation is voluntarily supressed (Tsuji et al 2015(Tsuji et al , 2019. Functionally, each of these stressors in isolation -hypoxia, cold, and heat -have been shown to impair cognitive function (Simmons et al 2008;Muller et al 2012;Paulauskas et al 2015;Piil et al 2017). The link between CBF and CDO 2 to cognitive functioning is complex in these environments.…”

Acute Exposure to the Cold Pressor Stress Impairs Working Memory Functions: An Electrophysiological Study

“…We have shown that a stressful event can induce the release of many stress hormones and neuromodulators ( 2 ). In recent years, studies have shown that exposure of humans to acute stressors influences cognitive processing and performance [e.g., ( 3 – 5 )]. Acute stress used in these studies refers to participants' psychobiological response to a brief laboratory stress induction paradigm, such as cold water pressure [also called cold pressor stress (CPS); e.g., ( 6 )], the Trier Social Stress Test [TSST; ( 7 )], short film clips [e.g., ( 8 , 9 )], and so on.…”

“…Up until now, some researchers have focused specifically on the effects of acute stress on human WM and the available data are equivocal. Literature shows that human WM performance after acute stress can be impaired ( 5 , 9 – 14 ), as well as improved, not affected, or both improved and impaired ( 3 , 6 , 8 , 15 – 20 ).…”

“…Firstly, individual differences, such as the gender and the age of the participant, may moderate the findings because of relevant hormonal fluctuations ( 9 , 20 , 21 ). Secondly, the WM task employed may be attributed to the lack of consistency ( 5 , 14 , 22 ). Thirdly, duration, intensity of exposure, and method used to induce acute stress may mediate the effects on WM ( 5 , 14 ).…”

“…Secondly, the WM task employed may be attributed to the lack of consistency ( 5 , 14 , 22 ). Thirdly, duration, intensity of exposure, and method used to induce acute stress may mediate the effects on WM ( 5 , 14 ). Other reasons for these discrepancies may include the time course of stress induction or measurement of WM process ( 3 , 9 , 13 , 14 , 22 ).…”