OBJECTIVE: In this review, we detail the impact of environmental stress on cognitive and military task performance and highlight any individual characteristics or interventions which may mitigate any negative effect. BACKGROUND: Military personnel are often deployed in regions markedly different from their own, experiencing hot days, cold nights, and trips both above and below sea level. In spite of these stressors, high-level cognitive and operational performance must be maintained. METHOD: A systematic review of the electronic databases Medline (PubMed), EMBASE (Scopus), PsycINFO, and Web of Science was conducted from inception up to September 2018. Eligibility criteria included a healthy human cohort, an outcome of cognition or military task performance and assessment of an environmental condition. RESULTS: The search returned 113,850 records, of which 124 were included in the systematic review. Thirty-one studies examined the impact of heat stress on cognition; 20 of cold stress; 59 of altitude exposure; and 18 of being below sea level. CONCLUSION: The severity and duration of exposure to the environmental stressor affects the degree to which cognitive performance can be impaired, as does the complexity of the cognitive task and the skill or familiarity of the individual performing the task. APPLICATION: Strategies to improve cognitive performance in extreme environmental conditions should focus on reducing the magnitude of the physiological and perceptual disturbance caused by the stressor. Strategies may include acclimatization and habituation, being well skilled on the task, and reducing sensations of thermal stress with approaches such as head and neck cooling.
OBJECTIVE: In this review, we detail the impact of environmental stress on cognitive and military task performance and highlight any individual characteristics or interventions which may mitigate any negative effect. BACKGROUND: Military personnel are often deployed in regions markedly different from their own, experiencing hot days, cold nights, and trips both above and below sea level. In spite of these stressors, high-level cognitive and operational performance must be maintained. METHOD: A systematic review of the electronic databases Medline (PubMed), EMBASE (Scopus), PsycINFO, and Web of Science was conducted from inception up to September 2018. Eligibility criteria included a healthy human cohort, an outcome of cognition or military task performance and assessment of an environmental condition. RESULTS: The search returned 113,850 records, of which 124 were included in the systematic review. Thirty-one studies examined the impact of heat stress on cognition; 20 of cold stress; 59 of altitude exposure; and 18 of being below sea level. CONCLUSION: The severity and duration of exposure to the environmental stressor affects the degree to which cognitive performance can be impaired, as does the complexity of the cognitive task and the skill or familiarity of the individual performing the task. APPLICATION: Strategies to improve cognitive performance in extreme environmental conditions should focus on reducing the magnitude of the physiological and perceptual disturbance caused by the stressor. Strategies may include acclimatization and habituation, being well skilled on the task, and reducing sensations of thermal stress with approaches such as head and neck cooling.
Authors: Michela Bonafede; Miriam Levi; Emma Pietrafesa; Alessandra Binazzi; Alessandro Marinaccio; Marco Morabito; Iole Pinto; Francesca De' Donato; Valentina Grasso; Tiziano Costantini; Alessandro Messeri Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-07-04 Impact factor: 4.614
Authors: David F Tate; Emily L Dennis; John T Adams; Maheen M Adamson; Heather G Belanger; Erin D Bigler; Heather C Bouchard; Alexandra L Clark; Lisa M Delano-Wood; Seth G Disner; Blessen C Eapen; Carol E Franz; Elbert Geuze; Naomi J Goodrich-Hunsaker; Kihwan Han; Jasmeet P Hayes; Sidney R Hinds; Cooper B Hodges; Elizabeth S Hovenden; Andrei Irimia; Kimbra Kenney; Inga K Koerte; William S Kremen; Harvey S Levin; Hannah M Lindsey; Rajendra A Morey; Mary R Newsome; John Ollinger; Mary Jo Pugh; Randall S Scheibel; Martha E Shenton; Danielle R Sullivan; Brian A Taylor; Maya Troyanskaya; Carmen Velez; Benjamin Sc Wade; Xin Wang; Ashley L Ware; Ross Zafonte; Paul M Thompson; Elisabeth A Wilde Journal: Brain Imaging Behav Date: 2021-01-07 Impact factor: 3.978
Authors: Boris R M Kingma; Linsey M M Roijendijk; Leendert Van Maanen; Hedderik Van Rijn; Maurice H P H Van Beurden Journal: Temperature (Austin) Date: 2020-06-16