Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: ABSTRACT Acute hypoxia impairs cognitive function, yet its effects on navigation and intrinsic brain activity remain poorly understood. This study investigated whether acute continuous hypoxia (ACH) and intermittent hypoxia (AIH) differentially influence navigation performance and resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) in healthy young adults. Seventy-two participants completed sham (FiO□ = .209) and hypoxia (FiO□ = .13) sessions during either a 1-hour ACH or AIH intervention. Navigation was assessed using the Spatial Performance Assessment for Cognitive Evaluation (SPACE), while resting-state EEG was recorded before and after the intervention in a subset. EEG spectra were parameterised into periodic (alpha and beta power and central frequency) and aperiodic (exponent and offset) components. Hypoxia impaired multiple components of navigation, increasing path integration distance error and egocentric pointing angle error irrespective of intervention group membership, while mapping accuracy was preferentially impaired following AIH and perspective taking performance following ACH. Hypoxia also reduced alpha and beta power, beta central frequency, and aperiodic exponent, while aperiodic offset and alpha central frequency remained stable. The reduction in aperiodic exponent was primarily evident following AIH, suggesting that the temporal pattern of oxygen delivery may influence specific neurophysiological responses. SpO□ reduction did not predict individual differences in navigation performance or EEG activity. These findings demonstrate that brief, moderate hypoxic exposure can disrupt allocentric and egocentric components of spatial navigation while selectively altering periodic and aperiodic features of intrinsic brain activity.
Institutions: Bond University, Singapore-ETH Centre
Language: English
Topic: High Altitude and Hypoxia
Subfield: Physiology (medical)
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214940318