Moderate variations of mood/emotional states related to alterations in cochlear otoacoustic emissions and tinnitus onset in young normal hearing subjects exposed to gun impulse noise.

This study was designed to test whether under impulse noise exposure mood and emotional states could play a role in the onset of tinnitus and/or could modify cochlear sensitivity objectively measured with distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs). The experimental design consisted in a short follow-up study of 54 young military subjects (20+/-2 years old), psychologically normal, with normal hearing, during two consecutive days of target practice rounds. Data collection included an abbreviated version of the profile of mood states (POMSs) inventory [Profile of Mood States, Educational and Industrial Testing Service, San Diego, 1971], questionnaires on tinnitus perception (previous history and after shooting) and DPOAEs measurements before and after shooting.

Visual context and the control of movements through video display.

The aim of this experiment was to test the influence of target context on adaptation to scale perturbations introduced by a video display. Participants performed pointing movements without direct vision of their moving hand, although they could see their movements on a video display. Their perceived movements could be reduced, enlarged.

Positive expiratory pressure as a method for preventing the impairment of attentional processes by hypoxia.

This study investigated the effects of hypoxia on parallel/preattentional and serial/attentional processes in early vision, and the use of a positive-end-expiratory-pressure (PEEP) to prevent the impairment in performance. Twenty-one subjects were submitted to an 8-h hypoxia exposure in a hypobaric chamber (4500 m, 589 hPa, 22 degrees C), both with and without a 5-cm H2O PEEP. Subjects carried out a visual search task consisting of detecting a target among distractors in normoxia, in acute and in prolonged hypoxia.

Pointing movement visually controlled through a video display: adaptation to scale change.

This study concerns the adaptation of motor system when the production of movement was visually controlled through a video display. The subjects had to perform a pointing movement in two visual-feedback conditions: they could see the displacement of their hand or only the final location of the hand on the videoscreen. By changing the zoom of the camera, the amplitude of the movement perceived on the screen was increased, decreased or held equal to the actual movement.

Cognitive performance during short acclimation to severe hypoxia.

Background: Exposure to high altitudes requires acclimation or acclimatization, to prevent the negative effects of severe hypoxia. Among several methods, short acclimation with intermittent exposure to severe hypoxia in a hypobaric chamber triggers efficient physiological pre-adaptation mechanisms (11-13). However, we have little knowledge about the cognitive repercussions of such an acclimation protocol.