Reaction time to peripheral visual stimuli during exercise under hypoxia

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that decrease in cerebral oxygenation compromises an individual's ability to respond to peripheral visual stimuli during exercise. We measured the simple reaction time (RT) to peripheral visual stimuli at rest and during and after cycling at three different workloads [40%, 60%, and 80% peak oxygen uptake (VO2)] under either normoxia [inspired fraction of oxygen (FIO2)=0.21] or normobaric hypoxia (FIO2=0.16). Peripheral visual stimuli were presented at 10 degrees to either the right or the left of the midpoint of the eyes. Cerebral oxygenation was monitored during the RT measurement over the right frontal cortex with near-infrared spectroscopy. We used the premotor component of RT (premotor time) to assess effects of exercise on the central process. The premotor time was significantly longer during exercise at 80% peak VO2 (normoxia: 214.2+/-33.0 ms, hypoxia: 221.5+/-30.1 ms) relative to that at rest (normoxia: 201.0+/-27.2 ms, hypoxia: 202.9+/-29.7 ms) (P<0.01). Under normoxia, cerebral oxygenation gradually increased up to 60% peak VO2 and then decreased to the resting level at 80% peak VO2. Under hypoxia, cerebral oxygenation progressively decreased as exercise workload increased. We found a strong correlation between increase in premotor time and decrease in cerebral oxygenation (r2=0.89, P<0.01), suggesting that increase in premotor time during exercise is associated with decrease in cerebral oxygenation. Accordingly, exercise at high altitude may compromise visual perceptual performance.